Ben Mears
Ben Mears
Premium leisure and swimwear brand Chucs will launch a transactional website this November, as part of a “new era” under new chief executive Ben Mears.
Mears joined Chucs from Tommy Hilfiger in May this year, replacing Charles Finch, who stepped down in 2015. Speaking to Drapers, he said the launch was part of his mission to “update and modernise the essence of what the brand is about”.
Alongside the shop function, it will feature travel and lifestyle content.
“The website is an intrinsic part of moving forward,” Mears said. “Our customers travel, at any one time they’ll be in a number of different countries. We not only have to be there with them, but we have to sell to those markets we can’t reach with our retail stores.”
Chucs has two London stores, on Westbourne Grove and Dover Street, and had a pop-up store in St Tropez over the summer this year.
Mears plans to roll out pop-up stores to other holiday destinations over the coming years, citing Capri and Portofino in Italy as targets.
He is also in early-stage discussions about a move back into wholesaling, which he describes as a “great opportunity” for the brand. Mears said he wants retail, pop-ups, wholesale and online to be “the four masts for the business”.
Mears and his team have been working on evolving the Chucs collection, focusing on quality, design and fit. The first pieces are in store now as part of a “bridge” collection, and the new look will launch in full next spring, with menswear and a capsule womenswear collection online and in stores.
“When I joined the brand there was a lot looking back, looking at the brand’s history and what it stands for. These are valid things but I think for a new era I wanted to modernise it,” Mears explained.
“While we have and will continue to look back at the icons of the 1950s or 1960s, I want to make it relevant for today.”
Source: https://www.drapersonline.com/news/chucs-to-enter-new-era-with-transactional-website/7012779.article
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