Bogner has signed a joint venture agreement with a subsidiary of Bosideng International Holdings, a leading Chinese apparel group, to establish a strong presence for the Bogner and Fire+Ice brands in the Greater China area with the support of experienced managers.
The business plan calls for strong social media activities in the market to build up an extensive online presence for the two brands in the “athluxury sports fashion sector” as well as the opening of around 80 retail stores within the next five years. The first points of sale will be located in two well-known luxury malls, Plaza 66 in Shanghai and SKP and WF Central in Beijing.
The joint venture will be run by experienced professionals. It will be headed up by William Yang, former general manager of Amer Sports for Greater China, who has been named as Bogner’s general manager for Greater China. Tracy Han, who has worked for the LVMH group, will be in charge of finance. Flora Zhang, described as an expert in brand community building who has led the entry and development of brands such as Lululemon in China, will serve as marketing director.
Born in 1975 and based in Shanghai, Bosideng is said to be the largest vendor of down-filled clothing in Mainland China, with an estimated combined market share of over 36 percent through its six own core brands, which are sold in more than 7,500 stores. The stock-listed company has an annual turnover of more than €5 billion and a stock market capitalization of more than €6 billion.
The group has a long-standing Gore-Tex license. It has been working with Ennio Capasa and other designers who gathered experience at Ralph Lauren, Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton. In 1999, Bosideng was the first Chinese brand of clothing to enter the Swiss market. It held its own show at the Milan Fashion Week in 2019 and the London Fashion Week in 2020.
Bogner and Bosideng expects a major expansion in the number of fashion and winter sports enthusiasts because of the Winter Olympic Games scheduled to start next February in Beijing. They are projected to attract some 300 million new participants in winter sports activities.
Konstantinos Balogiannis, director of international sales at Bogner since 2017, said in his LinkedIn profile that it took more than 18 months negotiations, and even longer to observe and evaluate the brand’s market entry in China.
Bogner has been available in multi-brand ski shops in major Chinese cities since 2005. Handing the distribution in the country directly, Bogner opened a partner store in Thaiwoo in 2018. Last September, just before the joint venture agreement with Bosideng, it opened a pop-up store in Shanghai.
