COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 1
Index introduction 03 ESSENTIEL AT a glance 07 OUR MISSION / VISION / VALUES 10 our SHOWROOM 11 our stores 13 CONTACT 21 COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 2
Essentiel A success story unique in the Belgian fashion landscape What started out as a basic T-shirt collection in 1999 grew into a colorful Ready-to-Wear collection for men and women. Besides 30 + own points of sales in Belgium, France and UK, you will also find our collection in numerous multi-brand stores both nationally and internationally, including most European countries, but also the USA, Russia and the Middle East. The Essentiel success story - which is intertwined with other stories and chance events - is unique in Belgium. A love story Esfan Eghtessadi, the son of Nicole Cadine (fashion designer), grew up in a world of textiles, sketches and fashion collections. On the evening he first met Inge Onsea, he immediately saw in her the incarnation of grace and femininity. An Icon This encounter evolved into a love story, a passion that led to a wedding, the birth of two children and Essentiel. becomes a life story In 1999 Esfan and Inge take their chance and launch a T-shirt collection on the market. The range consisted of four models in twenty different colours, essential basic garments that are necessary in every wardrobe. The young couple's apartment served as a showroom, and the T-shirts sold like hot cakes. After a year, the first store opened in Antwerp. Four seasons later, knitwear, jackets, dresses, shirts and trousers in trendy colors, new materials and an entire new range of accessories were added to the collection. Essentiel was born as a full-fledged Ready-to-Wear collection. An out-and-out success! Following an unexpected triumph at the Who's Next fair in Paris, Essentiel opens boutiques in Knokke, Brussels, Antwerp, Leuven, Hasselt and Bruges. From one victory to another, the determination to undertake a next step is as great as ever. In 2004, Essentiel launches its first men's collection. The existing stores are complemented with a Men's Corner, while men only stores are opened in Antwerp, Knokke, Leuven and Hasselt. This development has also spread abroad, with new points of sales opening in France and the UK. COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 3
COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 4 Esfan Eghtessadi & Inge Onsea
the next chapters Essentiel nowadays stands for refreshing, offbeat & luxurious fashion, renowned for its graphic or floral prints and trendy mixes of color. Both the men and women collections are rich, unique and accessible. Essentiel s international ambitions have been growing over the last three years. In France, it has begun its expansion through the opening of own stores in Paris (Le Marais, Saint Honoré), in parallel with corners in the best French department stores: Le Printemps, Les Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marché. This expansion will continue throughout Paris and France in order to increase both Essentiel French-international exposure and brand awareness. In the UK, after Fenwick, it opened a corner at Harvey Nichols, and is now looking for opportunities allowing it to broaden its London footprint. Essentiel has been exploring new territories and found seasoned business partners to represent it widely within Europe and also globally, in the USA, Canada, Ex-CIS Countries As of early 2014, partners will be opening numerous Essentiel stores across Korea and Australia. to be continued... COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 5
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Essentiel AT a glance 1999 Creation of the Belgian fashion brand ESSENTIEL Antwerp 2000 First international showing at the Who's Next trade show in Paris (Women) Opening of our first Flagship store in Antwerp In-house visual merchandising team 2001 Dramatic increase of the number of wholesale points all over the world 2002 Major wholesale Agent in France 2003 Major wholesale Agent in The Netherlands, Spain & Italy 2004 Creation of our first Men's collection First showing at the White Trade Show in Milan First showing at the Copenhagen International Fashion Fair Reinforcement of the styling studio to increase focus and specialties (woven, Jersey, knit, accessories ) 2005 First steps in the strategic plan of a new lifestyle concept: women and men's clothes, furniture, cosmetics and decoration 2006 First store in France: Paris Creation of a new program of dynamical bi-weekly visual merchandising 2007 Opening of our Asian office in Hong-Kong Second flagship store (600m²) on Brussels' most famous avenue Corner in London Fenwick Department Store First showing at the Pitti Uomo Exhibition in Firenze (Men) First Men's store in Antwerp 2008 Second store in France: Lille Corner in the Parisian Bon Marché 2009 Reinforcement of the retail chain and start of refurbishing existing stores Fashion Show with the international press for ESSENTIEL's 10 years birthday 2010 Adding of intermediate Flash & Capsule collections to the seasonal main collections own shops 2 3 4 6 9 10 12 15 20 23 COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 7
2011 New single HQ in Antwerp (1.500m² with a 500m² Showroom) own shops 27 New store in Le Marais, Paris 2012 Launch of our e-commerce online store 28 New store in the Quartier St Honoré, Paris Corner in the Le Printemps - Haussmann, Paris 2013 Development of the first pre- and beach/lounge collections, leading to 10 collections per year 29 Creation of a visual merchandising central laboratory Major wholesale Agent in the USA (Los Angeles) Major wholesale Agents in the UK, Switzerland and Austria First showing at new trade shows: Coterie (New York) and Scoop (London) Corner in Harvey Nichols, London Today, we count 29 own points of sales, 150 + collaborators, a 15 people styling office and are globally present in 35 countries via 700 + multi-brand stores 2014 -... Co-opening of a Showroom in Düsseldorf to develop Germany 37 Major wholesale Distributors for Australia and Canada First showing at new trade shows: Premium (Berlin), ENK (Las Vegas), Capsule (Paris) Corners in Galeries Lafayette and BHV, Paris Structured prospection in ex-cis countries Essentiel stores opening in 2014 2 in Séoul, Korea 1 in Melbourne, Australia France - Paris: Galleries Lafayette Haussmann & BHV - Department stores: Toulouse, Marseille and Lyon COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 8
clockwise from top left: brussels (dansaertstraat), GENT (HENEGOUWENSTRAAT), brussels (dansaertstraat), Antwerp (schuttershofstraat) COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 9
Mission-Vision-Values Our Mission The ESSENTIEL s mission is twofold bringing fun into fashion through a subtle mix of prints, colors and fabrics, at an affordable price plunging into the Essentiel s world should be an experience leading to a dream, emotion and happiness Our Vision We want to expand Essentiel's image globally through the right choice of local distribution become and remain the undisputed leader in affordable fashion increase the choice of accessories to broaden our customers' reach ensure constant sales dynamics through multiple collections per year optimize our internal processes and supply-chain to increase profitability Our Values Passion: be passionate and enthusiastic in everything you accomplish Innovation: be creative and innovative all the time; leave your mind open to emotion and feeling Consistency: spread your image coherently everywhere Permanent questioning: nothing is due or eternal; continuously question yourself to stay at the top Integrity: be respectful, human and fair with everyone COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 10
our showroom COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 11
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our stores THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE from top left: LILLE (Rue des Débris St-Etienne), ANTWERP MEN'S STORE (SCHUTTERSHOFSTRAAT), LILLE (Rue des Débris St-Etienne), brussels (Avenue Louise) NEXT PAGE: GENT (HENEGOUWENSTRAAT) COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 13
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THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE from top left: GENT (HENEGOUWENSTRAAT), ANTWERP MEN'S STORE (SCHUTTERSHOFSTRAAT), brussels (dansaertstraat), brussels (Avenue Louise) NEXT PAGE: LILLE (Rue des Débris St-Etienne) COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 15
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COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 18 PREVIOUS PAGE: brussels (Avenue Louise) THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE from top left: ANTWERP MEN'S STORe (SCHUTTERSHOFSTRAAT), brussels (Avenue Louise), LEUVEN men's store (L. Vander Kelenstraat), brussels (Avenue Louise)
THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE from top left: GENT (HENEGOUWENSTRAAT), brussels (Avenue Louise), LILLE (Rue des Débris St-Etienne), ANTWERP MEN'S STORE (SCHUTTERSHOFSTRAAT) NEXT PAGE: brussels (Avenue Louise) COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 19
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Contact head office Arenbergstraat 21, B-2000 Antwerp, Belgium Phone +32(0)3 201 13 80 Fax +32(0)3 201 13 81 Info@essentiel-antwerp.com www.essentiel-antwerp.com COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 21
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STORES BELGIUM ANTWERPEN (WOMEN) Schuttershofstraat 26 2000 Antwerpen ANTWERPEN LOMBARDENVEST (WOMEN) Lombardenvest 39 2000 Antwerpen ANTWERPEN (MEN) Schuttershofstraat 42 2000 Antwerpen BRUGGE (WOMEN) Noordzandstraat 42 8000 Brugge BRUSSEL LOUISE (WOMEN - MEN) Avenue Louise 66 1050 Brussel BRUSSEL DANSAERT (WOMEN - MEN) Rue Antoine Dansaert 76 1000 Brussel GENT (WOMEN - MEN) Henegouwenstraat 2 9000 Gent HASSELT (WOMEN) Aldestraat 29 3500 Hasselt KNOKKE (WOMEN) Kustlaan 146 A 8300 Knokke-Heist KNOKKE (MEN) Kustlaan 102 8300 Knokke-Heist LIER (WOMEN) Antwerpsestraat 63-65 2500 Lier LEUVEN (WOMEN) Bondgenotenlaan 9 3000 Leuven LEUVEN (MEN) L. Vander Kelenstraat 12-14 3000 Leuven LIEGE (WOMEN - MEN) Passage Lemonnier 48-56 Au coin Vinâve D'Île 4000 Liège NAMUR (WOMEN) Rue Saint Jacques 20 5000 Namur NIEUWPOORT (WOMEN) Albert I Laan 225C 8620 Nieuwpoort ROESELARE (WOMEN) Ooststraat 107 8800 Roeselare UCCLE (WOMEN) Chaussée de Waterloo 950 1180 Uccle WOLUWE (WOMEN) Rue St. Lambert 202 bte 45 1200 Woluwe-Saint-Lambert FRANCE Paris (Women) Rue du Marché St-Honoré 10 75001 Paris PARIS (WOMEN - MEN) Rue du Temple 44 75004 Paris LILLE (WOMEN - MEN) Rue des Débris St-Etienne 92 59800 Lille Printemps - Haussmann (WOMEN) Boulevard Haussmann 64 75009 Paris Galeries Lafayette - Haussmann (MEN) Boulevard Haussmann 40 75009 Paris BHV Rivoli (ACCESSORIES) Rue de Rivoli 52 75189 Paris Codex 4 Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche (MEN) 24, Rue de Sèvres 75007 Paris 2014 - Printemps - Marseille & Lyon - Galeries Lafayette - Toulouse UNITED KINGDOM Harvey Nichols - Knightsbridge (WOMEN) Knightsbridge 109-125 London SW1X7RJ COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 23
press agencies BELGIUM Oona Rijnkaai 22 2000 Antwerpen info@oona.be Tel: +32 3 213 99 90 THE NETHERLANDS Oona Nederland Rokin 75 Unit 5.4 1012 KL Amsterdam info@oonanl.nl Tel: +31 20 63 80 926 UK Lucy Wernick Fashion Agency 11 Bowling Green Lane Clerkenwell London EC1R 0BG info@lwfa.co.uk Tel: +44 20 7580 8644 COMPANY PRESENTATION PAGE 24