Bodytalk, the leading Greek brand of fitness and leisure apparel, has sealed a raft of international deals as it deploys its distribution across Europe. After a sales increase of more than 19 percent to about €8.1 million in 2006, it has embarked on a regional roll-out that should strongly accelerate growth over the next years.
The brand, which had a stand at the recent ISPO Sport & Style fair in Munich, was established 11 years ago by two young students, George Leoutsakos and Fotis Dandis, both from Kalamata in the south of Greece. While Leoutsakos has taken the helm of the company and owns 90 percent of its shares, Fotis is the general manager with 10 percent of the shares.
Bodytalk’s presence on the Greek market is supported by a network of 25 mono-brand stores around the country, including 11 franchises. In the small market of Cyprus, where the brand is sold by Sophie Papakyriakou, along with Speedo, Champion and Reebok, the brand has achieved a breakthrough with sales of nearly €1 million
Bodytalk has hired Vassilis Karamanlis to organize a wider distribution internationally. This former manager of Veto, a Greek distribution company selling brands from Skechers to Fila, Ocean Pacific and Russell Athletic, has started out by cutting out existing deals with small-scale distributors, to target larger partners in neighboring countries and in Northern Europe.
To begin with, Bodytalk has come to an agreement with a partner in Croatia that will cover all the former Yugoslav republics except Macedonia. This group is to be formed by the managers of Tradexco, a company that held distribution rights for Puma and Umbro, but stands to lose Puma since the brand will be setting up its own company in Croatia at the beginning of next year. For Bulgaria, Bodytalk has sealed a distribution deal with Sports Depot, a leading Bulgarian wholesaler and retailer.
Meanwhile the Greek company is establishing its own subsidiary in Romania, paired with two mono-brand stores to open in Bucharest next September and March. It will be headed by Michael Kalamaras, who until the end of last year ran the Romanian subsidiary of Elmec, the Greek distribution company that sells Nike and many other brands in Romania and Bulgaria.
Over the next months Bodytalk hopes to reach distribution deals across Northern Europe and in Spain. It already teamed up last year with Sportland in Italy and with an agent in Finland, but foreign sales still make up only about 13 percent of Bodytalk’s turnover.
Another mid-term project is to take up the distribution in Greece and throughout the Balkans for other brands, and to extend the Bodytalk range with footwear.
