IT Holdings is eyeing the U.S. as its next big market for its Plus IT concept stores, which puts under the same roof all the accessories the Italian firm produces for its stable of proprietary and licensed brands.
Over the next three years, the firm has ambitions to open 20 stores in the U.S. featuring handbags, belts, small leather goods and footwear by the likes of GF Ferré, Just Cavalli, Extè, C’N’C Costume National and M by Missoni. The first 1,000-square-foot boutique will open in November in Florida’s Bal Harbour Shops. Stores are expected to follow in Las Vegas and Manhattan’s SoHo district by the end of the year, although locations have not been confirmed.
IT Holdings unveiled its first Plus IT store last fall and now has 25 locations around the globe, including doors in Paris, Warsaw, Moscow and Milan. Its goal worldwide is to open 300 more points of sale in the next three years, including standalone boutiques and in-store shops within specialty and department stores.
“We always produced ready-to-wear, but we found out the accessories we started designing about two years ago always had high sell-throughs,” said Enrico Di Muccio, president and chief executive officer of IT USA, the U.S.-based branch of IT Holdings. “So we began to approach accessories not only so they would complement the ready-to-wear, but also so they would stand as a collection in and of themselves. The big point of the Plus IT stores is that a customer will have the opportunity to buy these accessories collections from all these brands from one supplier.”
Plus IT stores, which average around 700 to 1,000 square feet, are mostly franchised and owned by independent operators. IT Holdings seeks to minimize the investment by designing the stores with minimal shelving and display units, while maintaining their luxury sensibility. The owner has the opportunity to place reorders for products for the store daily via IT Holding’s Web site.
“Here in the U.S., the names of the designers we carry in the stores are very well known,” said Di Muccio, adding he anticipates generating $10 million in wholesale sales over the next three years in the U.S. “Consumers will go in to seek out the product because they are attracted to the name, quality, value and price. Also, because the positioning of the brands is different from one another, they won’t cannibalize each other.”
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Prices for the Plus IT assortment open at $80 retail for belts and climb to $600 for handbags and boots.