Two brothers intend to fill the gap in women-oriented French sports retailing by launching a fresh format called Attractive. Christophe and Nicolas Deconinck will open the first store under this name on 150 square meters in Paris next September, and they are planning to build up a network of about 12 outlets by 2012.
The brothers describe the concept as a cross between Sweaty Betty, an established British chain of 12 fashion-oriented women’s sports stores, and Sheactive, a British e-commerce website that appeals more strongly to performance-oriented sports women. Targeting middle-aged women, the first Attractive stores will be located in various shopping malls in the Paris region.
Along with the women’s lines of generalist brands, Attractive will offer the likes of USA Pro, a British brand of women’s sports apparel, and ZBra, another brand specializing in women’s sports underwear. Attractive stores will be decorated like dance studios, with wooden boards and floor-to-ceiling mirrors.
The venture was set up by Marketing & Business, a French company controlled by Eric Deconinck, the father of the two brothers, who previously worked for a raft of luxury brands from Lancôme to Christian Lacroix. Christophe Deconinck, 25, followed in his father’s footsteps by consulting for numerous brands. To launch Attractive he teamed up with his brother Nicolas, 30, who previously ran several Go Sport and Intersport stores in France.
Under the current set-up, Marketing & Business owns 40 percent of the Attractive venture, while another 40 percent belongs to Nicolas Deconinck, leaving 10 percent each for Christophe Deconinck and Stéphane Goddard, creative director. As a former executive at the French offices of Leagas Delaney, the advertising agency, Goddard claims to be behind “La victoire est en nous”, the well-known Adidas slogan for the French team ahead of its improbable victory in the 1998 football World Cup. He also took care of the women’s area at Citadium, the large-scale French sports retailer.
The launch of Attractive is based on the premise that women’s products make up less than 20 percent of sales in the French market, while about half of the people who regularly work out and play sports in France are women.
Another Frenchman, Jacques Krauze, appears to have latched on to the concept as well. This veteran of French sporting goods retailing has announced his plans to launch another women-oriented format, called Lilysportive, on a larger surface of about 400 square meters. Yet Krauze, who stood at the cradle of Citadium, the sports superstore in the middle of Paris owned by the PPR group, has not yet finalized the locations or the financial backing.
