“You don’t need a big evening event” to wear the label, he added. We want to be protected, we want to be nonchalant while conveying certain style, and we want choosing clothing to be easy,” he explained. “Effortless luxury is a combination of product know-how, luxury know-how, while at the same time, it’s a style that suits the current environment.
“We passed a milestone when it comes to closing the frontiers between retail and digital worlds,” he noted.īaume described the brand’s approach to luxury as modern, emphasizing the idea of being effortless. Zadig & Voltaire previously generated around 15 percent of sales through digital channels, but now has surpassed the 20 percent level, he said, cautioning that it remains to be seen how the figures will stabilize in the future. “For me, this was a big message from consumers that they want Zadig products in their lives,” he asserted, noting that even during the most anxiety-ridden period, in the beginning of March, the brand saw a strong acceleration in online sales.
Meanwhile, online sales reached new levels. “During the second phase of the confinement, as we started preparing to open, the teams did a lot of clienteling, reaching out to our clients through WhatsApp and through text messaging to present the upcoming collections,” he said, noting the focus was on local clients. The second phase centered on reaching out to clients. The lockdown period prompted a review of product schedules with retail and merchandising teams, as well as discussions with suppliers - which he sees as partners - as factories closed. It had also already undergone a review of collections, working to better anticipate the needs of various countries and recalibrating men’s and women’s collections with a tighter focus. The company had been doing well when he joined, with a healthy store network and overall growth of around 20 percent, explained the executive. “I was lucky because the team in place is good and people knew what had to be done,” he said, noting that the unusual circumstances allowed for a sped-up adapting period. Just as he arrived in his new position, the wave of lockdowns swept through Europe and the U.S. “I saw firsthand how 16 different labels worked in fashion in very different universes - it was an enriching experience that serves me well here,” he said.
Zadig & Voltaire was founded in 1995 by Thierry Gillier, who remains majority owner.īaume, a business school graduate who started his career in mergers and acquisitions, noted his past position taught him about navigating a fragmented sector - which he sought to consolidate in a manner similar to that of Luxottica in eyewear - as well as giving him an understanding of how a variety of creative visions operate. The company’s previous investor, TA Associates, helped it double in size and expand into the U.S. Recruited at the beginning of the year, Baume arrived along with a new minority investor, private equity firm Peninsula. The executive was previously ceo of Kidiliz Group, a company that created kids clothing lines for brands like Kenzo, Paul Smith, Jean Paul Gaultier, Levi’s and Catimini. The company is well-positioned on this front, with a fourfold increase in Internet traffic during the lockdown period, a much higher rate than competitors, estimated Baume. That includes digital business, which has gained considerable ground as people do more from home. “There’s a reassuring side to this - it’s not a completely new world that we have to discover without knowing the rules, but we have just jumped two or three years ahead on certain subjects,” added the executive.
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