Anatomie, an American brand of fitness-oriented apparel, has set out to build a network of distributors in Europe. The brand was established in 2005 by Katalin Posztos, a former Hungarian gymnast, who has found a market for the brand in the U.S. with a mix of function and sophisticated fashion.
An ebullient businesswoman, Posztos emigrated from Hungary to France to finish high-level business studies, just as her country was starting to open up. To finance her studies she trained a team of teenage girls who won the French aerobics championships three years in a row. She then bought a sewing facility in Hungary and established a brand of sportswear called Borneo, sold in multi-sport chains. However, she later moved to the Caribbean and the U.S. and decided to focus on a more stylish brand of apparel, Anatomie, which she established in Miami in 2005.
The products are still manufactured in Hungary, using up all the capacity of the sewing facility, and leaning on other manufacturers in Italy and France. Anatomie is positioned as a classy and decidedly feminine brand along the lines of the Stella McCartney range for Adidas, or the Casall brand from Sweden. The company is owned at 80 percent by Posztos and her business and life partner, Shawn Boyer, a former American bodybuilder with Greek and German roots, who is the brand’s creative director. The remaining 20 percent is held by the investor Scott Rhodenizer.
Anatomie has built up its distribution in the U.S. market to reach about 150 retailers, most of them resort-based stores, high-end health clubs or department stores. With nine salespeople around the country it achieved sales of about $2 million last year. The brand already made some inroads in the European market with a mono-brand store in Paris, and a store opened during two summer months in Saint-Tropez. But this year, it intends to set up a more structured distribution network around Europe and the Middle East.
Still based in Miami, the company has already witnessed the enthusiasm of consumers beyond the U.S. through online orders. This business should also be expanded through the launch of an upgraded website and online store at the beginning of February.
