Off to New Horizons

BOGNER

OFF TO NEW HORIZONS

90 years of Bogner – the perfect occasion to briefly reminisce before immediately refocusing on the future. For Heinz Hackl, Barbara Holzer, and Konstantinos Balogiannis, product remains paramount.

Interview: Stephan Huber. Text: Nicoletta Schaper. Photos: Bogner

Bogner looks very fresh as it celebrates its 90th anniversary. What has been accomplished in recent years?

Heinz Hackl, Co-CEO Bogner: As a team, we have launched many initiatives simultaneously and defined five strategic core topics. One project was, for example, the independent positioning of our two brands, Bogner and Fire+Ice. Building on that, the modernisation of the collection and further internationalisation, especially in the USA, APAC, and Russia, are key drivers. We have developed two very distinct brand images, which we consistently apply at all levels. Bogner combines ready-to-wear and active sportswear at the highest level to create “athluxury sports fashion”. Fire+Ice is autonomously positioned and will also offer functional sportswear in addition to its performance wear styles.

Back to the roots, so to speak?

Heinz Hackl: Our roots are strong and healthy. Innovation and modernity have always been defining brand values. At the same time, however, it is a question of implementing these values in the here and now, and thus reaching today’s consumers in a rapidly changing global market. One approach that we find very exciting involves capsules and collaborations with artists and other brands on an interdisciplinary level – beyond the scope of fashion. Barbara Holzer, Director Design + Product at Bogner: These capsules and collaborations create value on many levels. Everyone involved evolves in the process, and a dynamic of its own emerges. Allow me to provide an example. In December 2021, we launched a brand collaboration between Fire+Ice and super-trendy US womenswear lifestyle brand LoveShackFancy, designed exclusively for the US market. At first glance, it seems an unusual combination of sporty func-

Surprising and successful: the collaborative collection by Fire+Ice and LoveShackFancy was sold out immediately.

Bogner merges ready-to-wear and active sports into athluxury sports fashion.

tionality and playful, flowery femininity. But that is exactly the point. We always strive to surprise, yet still remain true to the brand. It is apparent that the customers enjoy such projects as much as we do. The styles from the collaboration sold out in no time at all.

Clearly, then, an ideal solution to enthuse new, younger consumers?

Konstantinos Balogiannis, Director Global Wholesale at Bogner: It is also an intelligent approach to uniting globalisation and regionalism. Diverse cultures and codes are so important and thankfully cannot be equalised. Generation Z in particular, which is constantly exposed to marketing measures on all channels, picks out all the more selectively what it can identify with. It is a matter of community and affiliation – a question of establishing a genuine emotional connection to a brand or product. This differentiation harbours great potential. Barbara Holzer: This is exactly the potential we strive to tap into. Everything we do must complement the brand on the one hand, but also surprise our customers on the other. In the market segment that Bogner competes in, arbitrariness is the last thing you can afford. That is why a clear concept of Bogner as an athluxury sports fashion brand serves as such an invaluable foundation. Konstantinos Balogiannis: We are pursuing two key goals in parallel as the basis for our global sales strategy: international growth and brand building. The launch of a showroom in New York at the beginning of 2021 was a strong statement regarding our commitment to investing in a market that is so important to us. At the same time, by pushing pop-ups in triple-A locations in major cities, for example at Bergdorf Goodman, La Rinascente, or Browns London, we conveyed the message that Bogner and Fire+Ice are more than just active brands, that they are up and coming and successful brands in the athluxury sports fashion and performance sportswear segments. Naturally, a key pillar of this strategy is China, where we will open around 80 of our own stores over the next five years through our newly founded joint venture with Bosideng. These plans will be supported by powerful marketing measures. This will certainly also have a positive effect on our already established presence in Japan and South Korea.

While the name Bogner continues to enjoy a high reputation in international markets, the image in the DACH market is, to put it delicately, somewhat outdated. How can that be remedied?

Konstantinos Balogiannis: Although globalisation remains a top priority and the collection will be aligned accordingly, the DACH market is, of course, very dear to us. Barbara was absolutely right in saying that everything we do must ultimately align with the brand, and we are convinced that both the globalisation and capsule strategies will have a positive impact on the DACH market. This is why we constantly evaluate our partnerships and the brand environment to see how they contribute to our strategy. Barbara Holzer: We intend to resolutely continue down this path in line with our claim “Off to New Horizons”. To celebrate our anniversary, we are launching a very special capsule, entitled Frozen Riviera, for the autumn/winter 2022 season. It organically combines both worlds that Bogner represents – ready-to-wear and active sports. And in doing so, we are moving towards the future of the brand, in which there should and will no longer be any separation between these worlds.