REPLAY REVAMPS
Byline: Alessandra Ilari
ASOLO, Italy — Replay has gone from meat loaf to sushi.
The Italian jeans and casualwear manufacturer that built a $184 million company on home-grown stores and all-American work jeans is changing its image. The radical makeover of its flagship stores — which saw wooden bridges over streams replace Coca-Cola memorabilia — is the first step in Replay’s new direction. Changes in design, distribution, personnel and logistics are also under way.
“Two years ago, after the company had been growing healthily and steadily, I decided it was time to change,” said Claudio Buziol, owner and chairman of Fashion Box, which also produces E-Play, a younger line inspired by streetwear, and Replay & Sons, clothes for children up to age 15. “Basic jeans have lost ground to styles with an old-time feel and an artisanal flair. Today, ideas aren’t enough anymore. You must research, experiment and risk.”
Replay is also planning to step up its presence in the U.S, where it says it is close to sealing a deal for a joint venture with an American jeanswear partner. Buziol declined to identify the firm, but WWD has learned that Replay has been in discussions with Azteca Productions, City of Commerce, Calif.
Paul Guez, an owner of Azteca, confirmed that negotiations have been ongoing since June.
Back here, Buziol has shifted his focus to product and marketing initiatives to support Replay’s new look.
“We started the country-store idea because we were making jeans that the Americans weren’t making any more,” Buziol said. “We need a context and it was very useful for our growth.”
Sure enough, when Replay started elbowing its way through a saturated and cutthroat jeans and casualwear market in the early Eighties, it found its niche thanks to work jeans in double-ring weaves and casual shirts, all mustered with an Italian flair.
But in the fast-moving fashion world, where ideas can become obsolete faster than you can hitch up your overalls, it didn’t take long for the country-store look to became stale. So Replay did a U-turn and headed east to pick up inspiration from architecture and nature. “We feel that, at least in our segment of the market, there’s nothing similar to our approach,” said Buziol of the philosophy behind the new stores.
The revamped stores in Florence and Milan best portray the makeover. They house collections that are not only broader but that are increasingly trendy, with many ethnic references.
Designed by interior decorator Mauro Bacchini, the store features natural elements such as wood, slate and steel with a strong Eastern flair, provided by low tables, a wooden bridge over a pond, soft lighting and Japanese hieroglyphics. By the end of the year, there will be either new or redone Replay stores in Cologne, Berlin, Rome, Hamburg and New York.
“In the next two years, between us and our U.S partners, we plan to invest $16 million in this project,” said Buziol.
Founded in 1978, Replay has always sponsored an aggressive expansion plan. The collections are available in 50 countries with 200 directly owned stores and 4,000 points of sale. In 1999, Replay posted sales of $184 million and each season, Replay turns out an average of 1,200 pieces, complete with accessories.
For spring-summer 2000, the collection is colorful, inspired by hippies, Saint-Tropez belles and Latin American peasant girls. There are lace-trimmed fleece sweaters over jeans, checked slipdresses, tie-dyed and crinkled jeans and ruffled-hem tops in vivid floral prints.
The Replay brand is also growing thanks to licenses. Replay Fragrance debuted in 1996, and an eyewear collection produced and distributed by Marcolin bowed the following year.