» Don’t miss it!
The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships ATP tournament finals are on February 28. Tickets are available from the Box Office at the Dubai Tennis Stadium, Garhoud, 9am-9pm daily. tive, comfortable and functional. And we want to use all those assets to create the complete wardrobe — a seven-day wardrobe — for men, women and kids. And to be the leading player in the premium casualwear market. Would you ever aspire to be a luxury brand?
We need to be coherent. When you sell 35 million pieces with an average of $110 (Dh403) per piece, you cannot say you are a high-end luxury brand. We are a creative lifestyle premium brand. Personally, I don’t like the term ‘accessible luxury’. It doesn’t really mean anything.
Premium is the right word and I think globally there is a space for this kind of product. The high-end is settled. The mass products are there. Then there’s the premium, cool, edgy, functional and innovative segment for which there’s a lot of room for [growth] … from a product, price and business perspective.
Considering the brand
was founded by a tennis player, how important is the sport to the brand?
After I joined the company two years ago, we rethought the sports strategy. We segmented the sports into two pillars: one that is on-court, which has the performance-wear items. Then there’s the lifestyle approach: so, you’re a spectator, what do you wear?
So within this sports strategy we have our two main historical sports pillars: tennis and gold. And these are completely separate from the casual-wear segment. Where do you want to see Lacoste five years from now?
I think what I would love to see is to make it a premium lifestyle brand, an iconic wardrobe with a fashion angle, with very nice storytelling and strong windows and shop layouts. We want to be a very known brand and a very desirable brand. And I want our iconic polo shirts to become even more of a desirable item.