Resurrected fashion brand Mexx is considering entering the China and India markets over the next two years.
Meanwhile, the once Turkish-headquartered label has rolled out a mini-collection including fashion for men, women and children, with a comprehensive footwear collection to follow. Its spring collection next year will be a full brand launch integrating accessories and bags, with a clear Mexx signature and brand DNA, says the company.
Mexx will relaunch the brand in retail in Canada, France, Austria and the Netherlands in autumn. Those markets will be followed by Belgium, Germany, the Middle East, Russia and Egypt in Spring 2019. Flagship stores are planned for Paris, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Berlin and Munich starting in Spring 2019. “Possible market entries in India and China during the course of 2019/2020 are being discussed,” the company said.
With the relaunch, Mexx aims to become the leading brand in the upper-low segment, positioned just under Massimo Dutti.
For fragrances, Mexx will continue with its licence partner Coty.
E-commerce is one of the highest priorities in the brand’s distribution strategy. As well as developing its own platform, Mexx will team up with platforms such as Amazon and the Otto Group.
For physical distribution, Mexx is taking a decentralised approach aimed solely at markets where it has been present for more than 25 years. The main channel focus is on controlled distribution through franchise and department store environments, major multi-brand chain stores and a limited number of smaller stand-alone multi-brand stores.
An important element of the relaunch is a fresh and innovative store concept with its format reduced to a 200sqm lifestyle box.
“We see immense potential for Mexx to play a highly relevant role in today’s fashion landscape,” says Mexx International CEO Leo Cantagalli.
Mexx was founded in the 1970s by fashion designer Rattan Chadha and his business partner Adu Advaney who supplied private label clothes to department and wholesale stores in the Netherlands. By 1980, this had resulted in the creation of two well-known Dutch clothing brands – Moustache for men and Emanuelle for women. The two brands merged in 1986 to create Mexx, with the company name coming from M (from Moustache) and E (from Emanuelexx, plus XX (an abbreviation for “Kiss! Kiss!”). The brand achieved revenue of over $1 billion.
However the company collapsed in 2016 and the global IP of Mexx was acquired by a new Dutch entity Mexx International BV in August last year.