The Interview: Lorenzo and Alessandro Boglione, Co-CEO’s of BasicNet, on K-Way’s 60th anniversary and UK growth plans

Brothers Lorenzo and Alessandro Boglione, recently appointed as Co-Chief Executive Officers of BasicNet, the Italian fashion group that owns K-Way, Sebago, Superga, Kappa and others, which was founded by their father Marco in 1994, were in London this week for an exhibition in celebration of K-Way’s 60th anniversary.

Called ‘Sixty Years of K-Way: In Y/Our Life -The Hidden Side of Everyday Things’, it’s part of the 10th edition of Photo London currently running until Sunday 18 May at Somerset House.

As well an archive deadstock K-Way rain jacket and prints of old advertising campaigns, the exhibition space the brand has taken consists of three rooms including work by various photographers and artists, much of which is around the theme of ‘Let it Rain’.

Inside the K-Way Exhibition at Somerset House

The most stand-out is the room K-Way shares with like-minded brands it invited to share its celebrations with. Brands and products that, like K-Way’s first pack away rain jacket in 1965, have a cultural relevance and, in the words of Lorenzo Boglione invite “a trip down memory lane.” They include Polaroid – of which Andy Warhol’s original camera is on display – Bic, Post-it, Moleskine, Rollerblade, Moon Boot, Pongo, Chupa Chups, Borsalino, Borotalco, Bialetti and Scotch. The idea is they all “join the narrative, revealing the hidden side of everyday”.

Here's what the Boglione brothers had to say about the exhibition and their plans to grow K-Way in the UK, including the search for a second location in London following the opening of the combined K-Way, Sebago and Superga store on the King’s Road in February.

Why have you decided to celebrate K-Way’s 60th anniversary by participating in the Photo London exhibition?

Lorenzo Boglione:  We decided to take this route for K-Way’s 60th anniversary because we like the brand to be associated with the world of art – colour and innovation are values that are extremely close to the values of the brand. For the anniversary, we could have had a party and celebrated ourselves, but we decided to celebrate with a bunch of other innovative brands who share the same values and have a similar history to us. Brands that take people down memory lane very quickly, such as Bic, Polaroid, Moon Boot, Post-It, Rollerblade, Moleskine and Scotch. We decided to tell our stories together and involve artists for this exhibition. It’s about being relevant from a cultural point of view. The fact that Photo London invited us here and gave us so much space is extremely important, and we are very proud of it.

Also, London is still arguably the number one city in Europe – from every point of view including business, culture and art.

The new K-way London flagship on King's Road

Why did you decide to open a new K-Way store in London?

LB: We know we need to invest to get the brand more known in the market. We opened the K-Way store, which also has our Sebago and Superga brands in the same space, because we want to grow the brands in England. It’s really like three stores, as each brand has its own space with its own furniture. You can walk through from one store to the other.

What happened to the previous K-Way store on Henrietta Street in Covent Garden?

LB: We were hit by both Brexit and the Covid pandemic, so that’s why we closed that one. We weren’t really organised for it – nobody was really organised to deal with Covid, of course! We opened it because we had the same vision at the time – to grow the K-Way brand in the UK – but that street ended up being more of a restaurant street. They (the landlords) told us they had a plan for the rest of the street, but it ended up going a little bit differently, so we decided to close it and look for a new location.

Why did you select the King’s Road?

Alessandro Boglione: In terms of brand positioning and people, the neighbourhood feels right, as well as the other brands which are near us. Spending time there, it just feels like the right spot to us.

Are you planning on any more UK stores?

AB: Yes, we are already looking for another London location, so the King’s Road is the first one – but not the last one. Hopefully we will find another location this year, but the priority is to find the right store. The sooner the better. With our experience of the store on Henrietta Street, we know that wasn’t the right place and how painful it is to not be in the right location. Location and cost are important. As soon as we get stronger brand awareness in London, I think we can start to look outside of London for another store, as there are a lot of opportunities in the UK for the brand.

How is K-Way doing in terms of wholesale in the UK?

LB: I think we are focusing more on the retail side for now. We believe that you need to create demand for the brand before taking the wholesale route. In the past, we went to all the big accounts, but then the product wasn’t selling through that well, so we decided to take a step back and create demand through showing the brand through our own two or three stores. Then the demand will come from the wholesale network naturally. That said, we speak with retailers constantly, but there has to be a proper project for the brand - not just picking some products and selling here and there.

K-Way is world famous for its colourful pack-away rain jackets

Dr. Martens owner Permira recently acquired a 40% stake in K-Way from BasicNet, is that what is fuelling this retail expansion plan?

LB: That deal finalised about two and half months ago, so it’s still very fresh. The decision to open a store in London was made well before that. I would say the drive for growth and to expand was already there – and that’s the reason why they invested. Now we have a partner to take decisions together with, and some board decisions are easier to take with a partner than alone.

AB: Permira has a positive track record because they’ve already done it – with both Dr. Martens and Golden Goose. So, moving forward with a strong partner means it is more likely to be a success.

In terms of the K-Way product, it was originally all about a pack away rain jacket, how has that now been developed?

LB: Colourful rainwear is still the core, particularly the original ‘Claude’ (full-zip front) and ‘Leon’ (half-zip), but we are already in almost every other category. We sell a lot other products, including knitwear, T-shirts, fleece and accessories. The brand is a total look lifestyle brand today, with the style and imagery of the original windbreaker at the heart of it. The only category we are probably absent in is footwear, and we don’t plan to take that route any time soon unless we have an amazing idea.

K-Way's London exhibition features collaboration with brands and artists

What markets is K-Way strongest in?

AB: Italy is our number one market and France is second. Benelux is a strong market for K-Way too, and then we also sell in Spain, Germany and the UK. The UK market is small for us at the moment, but we are now really focusing on it.

As K-Way was founded in Paris in 1965, and acquired by BasicNet in 2004, how do you maintain the original DNA of the brand?

LB: We dig deep into the history of the brand and its archive. We also find vintage pieces to create products that look familiar to someone who hasn’t seen a K-Way product for 20 years or whatever. The brand is still very recognisable from its origins. If you look at the archive deadstock K-Way jacket on display at the exhibition, which still has its original tag, and one that is currently in-store, you can see that they come from the same place. That is very important. You immediately understand that all of the products we have in the store come from that. Sometimes we may lose business opportunities because of that, but we want to remain true to the original brand identity.

Main image: Alessandro (l) and Lorenzo Boglioni. Courtesy: K-Way.