National Post (National Edition)
Lolë’s growing ambitions
Plans to increase stores worldwide and add menswear
Bin Toronto ernard Mariette has only had good things to say about Lululemon Athletica Inc. and its founder Chip Wilson as the two entrepreneurs followed a parallel path from snowboarding into yoga wear and the budding world of “athleisure” apparel.
Before Mariette became CEO of Quebec-based Coalision Inc. and set the stage for a vast expansion of its women’s apparel line Lolë, he was president of surf wear and board sports company Quiksilver Inc., and has long shared Wilson’s passion for active wear.
“We are close friends, it’s a small world, and when Chip was doing a snowboard brand (Westbeach), Quiksilver was pretty big in snowboard too. We used to meet at trade shows.”
Mariette left Quicksilver in 2008 and was named CEO of Coalision in 2009. He quickly realized the potential of Lolë, whose sales are divided in equal measure between activewear, outerwear such as coats and so-called lifestyle garments — everyday wear products such as sweaters, T-shirts and tunics.
“Lolë was a brand waiting to blossom,” he said. “In Canada, we have something unique — the relationship to nature, which is very strong; a relationship to business, which is very strong because it is a North American attitude. The proximity to Europe gives an edge to (Canadian) fashion.”
It’s an apparel niche that is getting a lot of traction, with mass merchants such as Gap and Target expanding their selection of active and casual wear. According to market research firm NPD Group Canada, sales of so-called “athleisure” apparel that can function as clothing for exercise or everyday wear climbed more than 15 per cent in the year ending March 2015 to $2.9 billion, accounting for 12 per cent of the Canadian apparel market.
Mariette set up Pelican Invest- ment Funds LP with partners in 2011 and took a 21 per cent stake in Coalision. Last year, with the support of partners, including members of the Hermès family, André Desmarais, Herb Simon from Simon Equity Partners, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Investment Quebec, he bought 70 per cent of the company for an undisclosed sum.
Lolë now has 23 retail stores in Canada and 250 Lolë shop-in-shops in Canadian retailers such as Sports Experts, and is sold as a brand at 1,600 stores globally, competing with Lululemon in yoga wear and casual lifestyle apparel. Lolë has also opened seven stand-alone stores in the U.S. and seven in France, Switzerland and Spain.
Mariette says he is inspired by his direct competitors and is similarly determined to grow Lolë as a global brand. The brand passed the $100-million mark in sales last year and has been growing at an average of 29 per cent a year for the past five years.
“Lululemon is an incredible brand with a great team behind it,” he said. “We are very similar in terms of what we dream as a brand, and we are close in some of our product, but we address it differently. We have got each other, and we are going to enhance each other. When you have two tennis players — Nadal and Federer — you have the same game and the same rules, but they are so different in terms of personality.”
However , Mariette said, there is a critical competitive difference between industry innovators and imitators who knock off brands.
“The threat really comes from the mass-market guys who are not going to have creativity and are going to (copy) the product and make it cheaper. It is definitely something we have to be careful about from a business point of view,” he added.
Unlike Lululemon, Mariette has no designs on taking the company public. He aims to have up to 50 Lolë stores operating in Canada within the next three years — the bulk of them opening in Western Canada, as two-thirds of the current store network is in Ontario and Quebec, and 75 to 100 global stores. His sales growth target is a rate of 20 per cent to 25 per cent a year for the next three to five years, targeting sales of $210 million by 2018.
Beyond store growth, Mariette is interested in taking Lolë into new categories, in particular accessories and menswear.
“Women buy for their husbands and boyfriends — I am frustrated to not have my own Lolë clothes,” he said, laughing. “I want to have some for me.”