(Filed Under wholesale Lingerie News). Van de Velde profit in the first half of 2021 rose 266.5% to m€ 18.2 (million euros, about $21.5 million at today’s exchange rates), as sales rose 32.1% to m€ 97.6 (about $115.5 million).

The company also announced that, after just closing one of its Rigby & Peller stores at 5th Avenue and 16th Street in Manhattan in August, it plans to close yet another U.S. shop soon. “We have decided to limit our owned and operated retail activities in the United States to three stores where we continue to strive for excellent consumer experience. These three stores contribute to a positive result.” As of now four Rigby & Peller stores remain here: Chicago, Atlanta, Boston and at 1252 Madison Avenue in New York City. The company did not reveal which shop will be closed next.

In the first half of 2020, Van de Velde earned m€ 5.0 (about $5.9 million) on sales of m€ 73.9 (about $87.5 million).

Van de Velde owns the PrimaDonna, Marie Jo and Andres Sarda lingerie brands, as well as the Rigby & Peller and Lincherie retail chains, the latter of which operates exclusively in Europe.

Discussing the various components of its overall sales the Van de Velde reported “The comparable wholesale turnover increases by 15.8% to m€ 83.7 and the retail turnover (own store network and retail sites) grew by 21.3% to m€ 12.9. In Europe, retail turnover increases by 16.4% and in the United States by 64.0%. The stronger results in the United States reflect that there were no lockdowns in 2021 compared to prolonged lockdowns in 2020. In both segments, wholesale and retail, the following trends can be observed:

• In the first half of this year, in many European countries we were confronted with a prolonged lockdown and shop restrictions due to COVID-19. Despite the impact of this, we noticed strong growth in the first half of the year.

• Lingerie sales recovered very strongly and almost reached the level of the first half of 2019.

• Swim sales has not yet recovered due to the many restrictions and uncertainties related to travel in spring 2021 and to high stock levels with our retail partners.

• The strong 360° marketing support ensures an optichannel consumer experience across the different channels. In addition to that the improved digital platforms strongly stimulate sales. The various campaigns have had a positive impact across all channels, both offline and online.

• Retail partners with locations outside shopping centers or shopping streets and with strong digital focus grew faster.”

Looking ahead the company stated: “Growth was achieved in the first half of the year, even though the start of the year was difficult due to the many shopping restrictions in the various countries. It is our ambition to realize growth in the second half of the year by further implementing our strategic vision: ‘Sustainable growth through brand activation and servicing retail partners, with segmentation and digital acceleration’.” — NM

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Published 08-31-2021 by Nick Monjo