Damartex, owner of the French Damart brand of thermalwear and other products for senior citizens, is opening its first Damart Sport flagship store in a central location of Strasbourg, measuring 80 square meters, after a test with a pilot shop in Brussels. Others may follow in the next months if the company can find the right locations, especially in the vicinity of mountain areas.
To optimize its cost and price structure, Damart sells all its products directly to consumers through its own stores, its mail-order catalog and the internet. Mainly known for its thermal underwear, the company has been broadening the range of its products in recent years, acquiring other brands, adding other types of clothing and introducing other fibers that reduce stress or keep the body cool or moist, but it continues to concentrate on a clientele made up of senior citizens. In 2008, it launched Damart Sport as a sub-brand, targeting mainly older men and women between the ages of 55 and 64, noting that 67 percent of them practice some kind of sport.
The Damart Sport collection has been available so far only online in France and Belgium, with excellent results. Company officials indicate that sales of the line are now higher than €1 million and lower than €10 million on an annualized basis, and that there are no plans to market it in other countries or to make it available at wholesale. On the other hand, the first Damart Sport mail-order catalog came out in September for the back-to-school season. It has been followed by a winter sportswear catalog this month. Another one will follow next February.
Furthermore, the Damart Sport collection includes a line of children’s wear for the first time, at the request of its customers. The full fall/winter collection consists of about 150 SKUs and comprises first-layer and second-layer garments as well as some rather technical outerwear.
The Damart Sport project is run by Loïc Bouquet, new business development manager of the company. To back up the functional aspects of the brand, Damart Sport signed a partnership with the French Ski School (ESF) last October. It has also signed up five sports champions as testimonials: Vincent Vittoz (ski), Hélène Cazier (speed sailing), Isabelle Patissier (climbing), Brian Joubert (figure skating) and Christine Arron (light athletics).
Damartex saw its sales grew by 3.8 percent to €522.3 million in the financial year ended last June 30, with a 4.2 percent increase on a currency-neutral basis and sales in France of €326 million. It generated 61.8 percent higher operating earnings of €18.5 million and a 73.4 percent increase in net profit to €15.9 million.
Damartex established a new and more international structure in 2009, setting up an international design office in order to obtain a stronger presence in foreign markets such as the U.K., especially through e-commerce. The company also sells its products in Germany and Switzerland. It has no activities in the Netherlands or in Japan any more.
The company’s mail-order catalogs generated 63 percent of its sales in a recent year, its stores 34 percent and the internet 3 percent, but most of its sales in Belgium go through its own stores and most of those in the U.K. through the internet. Damart currently operates 142 boutiques in Europe. There are 80 of them in France and their number is set to double in the next five years.
