The Swedish brand of value-priced sports apparel is being re-launched with a new logo, a new fashion-oriented collection and a stronger focus on large key accounts all over Europe. Five Seasons has also signed new agency and distribution contracts with experienced partners in Central Europe.
It's all part of a three-year business plan conducted by the 31-year-old Erik Johansson, who took over a year ago as chief executive of Five Seasons from his father Gunnar, who founded the company in Gothenburg in 1982. It was one of the first European suppliers of sports clothing to source it in Asia.
The younger Johansson said the plan is to double the company's turnover, which was declared at 66.3 million Swedish kronor (€7.1m-$8.8m) last year, including revenues from licenses. Total retail equivalent sales are set to increase this year by more than 20 percent, with growth in Sweden as well as abroad, and reach a level of around SEK 230 million (€24.8m-$30.5m) this year
Johansson's publicly stated aim is to turn Five Seasons into Europe's leading supplier of ski, outdoor and sports clothing in the low-medium price segment, offering a brand with a strong heritage and interesting margins, similar to the private label offerings of some big retailers.
Five Seasons makes most of its turnover with independent retailers, and that will continue, but most of the growth is now coming from key accounts such as the very dynamic XXL chain in Norway, which is its biggest client and expanding into Sweden and Finland.
The company wants to intensify its collaboration with major retail groups such as XXL in Norway and the rest of the Nordics, Team Sportia in Sweden and Top Sport in Finland. It has just signed a deal with Sportigan, the third-largest sports retailer in Denmark, giving it national exclusivity. It is about to set up key account contracts with other major retailers in other parts of Europe where it is expanding rapidly.
Five Seasons has signed a contract with a new German distributor, Arnold Sports, which will act as its agent with key accounts and as a distributor for independent retailers in Germany as well as the Netherlands. The company is also entering the Swiss and Austrian markets through an agency deal with Lukas Müller, who was previously covering the Swiss market for one of Five Seasons' main competitors, the Icepeak brand of the L-Fashion Group.
The company will present its new corporate identity at a newly designed stand at Ispo next February, where it will show a totally revamped collection for autumn/winter 2015/16 that should be more appealing to customers in Central Europe. It has been put together with input from three new designers stationed in Finland and Germany. Next to its more technical “Scandinavian performance” range, it will feature a more fashion-oriented line with different colors.
