(Filed Under wholesale Lingerie News). Some recent changes at the U.S. division of Triumph International, including a modification of its retail strategy, were confirmed in an email message from John Gorman, a company manager for North America.

Recently BODY received reports that Triumph had closed the company’s Canadian office, and Gorman confirmed the move. “We did indeed close [the] Canada office as I prefer the team in one place for efficiency, communication, etc.” The executive added that he has replaced Mario Pace, who had been VP of sales and marketing for the U.S.

In 2013 Triumph, as part of its increased focus on the U.S. market, opened two mono brand stores on Long Island in New York, one in the Roosevelt Fields mall, one in the Walt Whitman mall. At a Triumph event in July of 2013, company executives talked about the likelihood of additional retail stores, including one in SoHo in Manhattan. And then in December of that year, a mall in New Jersey, the Westfield Garden State Plaza, announced in a press release that Triumph would be opening a store there in March of 2014. That store was never opened, and the only Manhattan location to open so far was a month-long pop up store, “House of Triumph,” which offered spa events and a sample sale. That location was active in August and September 2014.

“Retail is part of our overall strategy for the USA but I have altered the chronology,” Gorman wrote in his email message to BODY. “I prefer wholesale development first to enable consumers to find the brand as opposed to retail which is a narrower market penetration. We are in negotiations with a number of selected department stores here in the USA. We are also growing the specialty channel as we believe in the high importance of these.”

Another part of the Triumph retail strategy was its acquisition, at the end of 2012, of a “majority stake” in Journelle which was operating three stores in Manhattan. Claire Chambers, founder and CEO of Journelle, said at the time, “We trust that Triumph will profit from our market and consumer knowledge in one of the world’s most sophisticated fashion capitals. We have found a strong partner with whom we can set about to grow both our online and brick and mortar business.” The company press release announcing the acquisition said the partnership would “drive the successful expansion of the Journelle business model across the U.S.” To date Journelle has not opened any additional stores, although it does operate an “atelier” within its Manhattan corporate office, where it offers various personal shopping services.

Worldwide, Triumph claims to operate “more than 2,000 stores in more than 120 countries” according to its website.

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Published 12-22-2014 by Nick Monjo