The Interview: Olivier Gay, vice president and general manager EMEA, Kipling

Bag and luggage specialist brand Kipling has just refurbished its Regent Street flagship shop, with plans to roll out the new design concept in other major capital cities around the world. Kipling vice president, Olivier Gay, talks us through the brand’s past and future plans.

How long has the brand been established and how has it grown?

The brand is over 30 years old, having been founded in Belgium in 1987. We started selling in the UK in Harrods and Selfridges in 1989. We then saw big growth throughout Europe, and also in the US, in the 1990’s. In the second part of the 90’s we also starting selling in Asia. Today the brand is well represented in more than 80 countries and we have over 400 Kipling stores, about half are our own and half are partner stores. The US market is probably are largest, but we also have a big presence in Japan and China. For Europe, the UK is a big and strong market for us, also Belgium and Germany. In the UK, aside from the Regent Street flagship, we also have stores at the Cheshire Oak Outlet, the McArthurGlen Outlet in York and at the Gunwharf Quays Outlet in Portsmouth.

What did Kipling see early success with?

It was really the bags in our crinkle nylon fabric. That is what the brand is really known for. When the brand started out it was focused on adventure and exploration, so our backpacks were very popular. The three brand founders were inspired by the film “Out of Africa”, and also “The Jungle Book” and author Rudyard Kipling. That’s where the name of the brand stems from. A leather collection which was more urban was then added to the offer. We are currently relaunching products that we first produced in the 1990’s to rediscover our heritage and brand DNA.

The Boost It Teen line

What’s the current brand strategy?

In our recent past we’ve been targeting more of female consumer, but we’ve decided to be a little bit more disruptive to attract new customers, and also appeal to our loyal customers who want something new and fresh from the brand. In the 1990’s the brand was very inclusive, so for both men and women, and we want that again. We have quite a new designer, Denielle Wolfe, who joined as VP, global product and design about 18 months ago. She has great experience in the bag and luggage industry, having worked with many brands including Kate Spade and Tumi. Based on the brand’s heritage, she relaunched the styles from the 1990’s under the working title of “New Classics”, so with more of modern touch – to appeal to both women and men. There’s also a new reflective material we are using for bags in our “Boost It” collection, which is a very urban and based around commuting on bicycles. There’s backpacks, shoulder bags and cross body styles. There’s also bum bags, which we are relaunching. That’s a trend that’s back that we had a lot of success with in the 90’s.

Kipling's Boost It line

How important is your recently refurbished Regent Street store?

It’s really our window to the world. Unfortunately, the store is not that big at 700 square foot, but we are really happy to be on Regent Street. We’d love to have a bigger space there, as in London you have a lot of diversity in terms of consumers coming from all over the world – especially on Regent Street. But, we’re proud of the store we have, and that’s why we piloted our new retail concept there. The refurbishment now meets the new creative vision. Previously the concept was very female orientated, but we don’t want that anymore, so we’ve used completely different materials in the store design. It has a bit more of an industrial feel and was designed to appeal to male customers as well as female.

What’s special about the new store concept?

There’s a big focus is on personalisation, as we have a lot of accessories that you can put on our bags to make them different. This is a key element of the experience of the brand. There is also another part which is about discovering the city you’re in, but in your own way. We’re calling that “Go Your Own Way”. That’s all about luggage and travel pieces and, in key stores – as in Regent Street now – we will now have a map of the city you are in on the wall, and everybody can put on it the places that they love the most, or where they’ve had their best experience. We want the store to be much less formal than it used to be, for more of an experience. We are also asking a local artist in each city to paint a wall in the store, which is inspired by the monkey – which is our brand mascot. The idea is to interpret the monkey with each city. The one in Regent Street is fantastic.

The new Regent Street store

Will the new Regent Street concept now be rolled out to other Kipling stores?

Yes, completely. The next one will be in Belgium. Our headquarters are in Antwerp and we are going to relocate the store we have there to the old city – where it’s very stunning with lots of tourists. We will have several new concept stores in Asia, especially in China, because we are faster at finding new locations there. In Europe, we will also have two stores in Italy which will have the new retail concept. In some cases, they will be completely new stores, others will be relocations to better positions with the new design – such as in Paris and Milan. We’re looking at busier more tourist driven areas, and bigger retail spaces where we can. We are initially focusing on the main capitals in Europe with the new concept, then eventually we will roll it out to secondary cities.

The Monkey takes pride of place in Regent Street

Are there plans for more stores in the UK at all?

We are currently working on opening a second store in London. It will be within the next year. I can’t reveal whereabouts as yet, it’s a surprise!