Fabletics’ latest store is also, reports Fashion Network, its first one abroad. The U.S. brand has settled on Germany – one of the brand’s top markets, according to its managing director for Europe, Gerrit Müller – to begin its international expansion. The new store is located on the Kurfürstendamm, the famous thoroughfare in Berlin. It occupies 306 square meters, of which 150 are devoted to retail and the rest to a studio for fitness classes.
The brand started in 2013 as an e-commerce operation for fitness apparel and two years later began opening physical stores. The current business model is to offer both regular retail and a “flexible VIP subscription,” which promises discounts of 20 to 50 percent and access to items not sold to the public. Members are charged a monthly fee of $49.95 unless they opt to skip a month. Membership includes Fit, a range of on-demand fitness classes and meditation sessions that work through an app. (Fit is available to non-members for $14.99 per month). Fabletics’ stores in the U.S. – of which there will soon be 72 – offer appointments to shop one-on-one with a clerk. Many of the stores additionally offer appointments to use Hydrow, the brand’s rowing machine, for a “full-body workout in only 20 minutes.”
The store in Berlin is taking things a step further into the omnichannel world. The fitting rooms will be equipped with iPads with which customers can order changes of size or color, check the inventory and request a clerk’s advice. A system called Omnisuite will enable clerks to help customers buy from the Fabletics website and schedule delivery. A large screen will display the brand’s social media content. Opening day is Oct. 16 for the public and on the eve for selected customers, presumably VIP members.
