LONDON — Aquascutum wants to play in luxury’s big league.
The 155-year-old brand that built a name on rain-repellent wool coats has named Kim Winser, who turned around Pringle of Scotland, to the new post of president and chief executive. The company plans to make an official announcement today.
“The most exciting thing for me is the brand’s potential,” said Winser, 47, in an interview Tuesday.
“Aquascutum is a clean brand, and the products were always beautiful, but it had fallen a little bit asleep. It needs energy and refinement — and global brand positioning,” said Winser, who quit Pringle earlier this year and who will take up her new post today.
Winser will report to Aki Kawashima, the chairman of Kaleido Holdings, a private equity fund that last year purchased a 20 percent stake in Aquascutum’s parent, Renown, a Japanese apparel company.
Winser, who also has an undisclosed equity stake in Renown, said Kawashima is the driving force behind the rejuvenation plans at Aquascutum, and the person who had been pursuing her for the job as company chief. Kaleido has earmarked an initial 40 million pounds, or $71.2 million at current exchange, for the project.
Winser declined, however, to disclose the full amount Kaleido and Renown would pump into the business over the next three years.
Aquascutum has flagships in London and Tokyo, and sales of 220 million pounds, or $392 million, a year. (All figures have been converted from the pound at current exchange.) In addition to the company’s two flagships, it has 200 shops-in-shops in Japan, 30 in the U.K. and 20 in South Korea, and a stand-alone store in Manchester. Winser said distribution in the rest of the world is small.
This is not the first time Aquascutum’s owners have attempted to revitalize the brand. Since Renown purchased Aquascutum in 1990, the Japanese company has wrestled with a string of management changes at the U.K. firm, inconsistent sales and expansion strategies, and the ups and downs of the Japanese economy. The brand still does the bulk of its business in Japan and the U.K.
However, Winser insisted that over the years, Aquascutum has remained pure. “There was never any discounting, a lot of the licenses are well-developed and solid, and there is a retail operation in place,” she said. “And it has always remained a luxury brand.”
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Winser said she won’t have to undo any major damage, and her work can begin immediately.
“There will be a major focus on the U.S. and continental Europe, especially Italy and France,” she said, adding the group would reenter the U.S. market with a flagship. “It will happen quickly — and with a big retail partner.”
She said she’s hoping to double Aquascutum’s sales volume by 2009 via store openings and an updated image. The first signs of a shift in direction will be evident as early as the winter 2006 men’s shows, and a new image campaign will be out before Christmas.
She said she plans to move eventually into accessories. “There is enormous potential there,” Winser said, adding she has no plans to overexploit any logos. “I want this brand to be elegant — and cool.”
Aquascutum was founded in 1851 by John Emary, a tailor working on London’s Regent Street, where the flagship still stands. He was the first to develop waterproofing for clothing, and he specialized in performance fabrics. He dressed army officers in the Crimean War, and his company outfitted Edmund Hillary for his history-making climb up Mount Everest.
Although such style-loving celebrities as Cary Grant, Lauren Bacall and Winston Churchill all wore Aquascutum, the brand never truly exploited its heritage — or took a place beside other big British brands, most notably Burberry.
Last fall, Aquascutum launched a runway collection known simply as Aquascutum, designed by Michael Herz and Graeme Fidler, and aimed at injecting a dose of youth into the brand. The duo’s fall 2006 collection, which won plaudits from the press, featured a belted navy coat with white flower and leaf appliqués at the waist, and cropped khaki trenches with ruffled collars.
On the creative side, Winser said she still had to evaluate the talent at the company.
“Initially, the brand is going to need a creative team, with designers, a brand guru, marketing and p.r. experts,” said Winser, adding that she likes the work that designers Herz and Fidler were doing, and has not made any decisions yet about who will stay or leave.
“I think, eventually, as the brand develops, it will at some point need a creative director,” she added.
Winser said she’d also be reevaluating products, communications and licensing deals. “Some of those deals will be brought into the new image while others will be closed,” she added.
Winser said the brand sells alongside Nick Hart and Burberry in men’s wear at Isetan. In the women’s area, it’s next to Burberry, Celine and Marni. Winser said she’d like that positioning to remain as the brand expands worldwide.
Winser said she wants luxury consumers to think “Aquascutum” when they think of coats and trenches. She said these same customers will be wearing Hermès ties, or carrying Chanel handbags.
The strategy is similar to the one Winser used at Pringle, which she transformed in five years from a U.K. golfwear company — its key account was American Golf Discount — to a luxury brand selling at Saks Fifth Avenue and Harvey Nichols.
On her watch, Pringle’s sales grew from 10 million pounds, or $17.8 million, to $178 million. She joined Pringle from Marks & Spencer, where she began her career in 1977 and where she eventually ran the women’s wear business.
In February, Winser was awarded the Order of the British Empire as part of Queen Elizabeth’s annual New Year’s Honours. Winser received the award for her services to Scotland’s knitwear industry, and for helping keep the Pringle factories alive and thriving.