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~ Chiquelle ~

common for more than 500 people to wait in line for hours moment, following the trends, and so have relevant stock.
before the opening. For them, a pop-up store is more than And whatever sells out, we can re-stock within one or two
just an easily accessible selling point. It is a place where they weeks again. We never have too much stock or financial risks,
can interact with the brand, employees and teams behind due to this set-up and our supply-chain strategy.”
the collections. It is a place where our community gets a full
customer and brand experience,” says Boland. “For us, that is Innovative frontrunner
great. We like to be close to our customers and like them to As we follow this innovative production strategy, it can be ex-
feel the quality we offer in the products that we usually only pected that Chiquelle will focus on more shopping innovations.
sell online. It is a great moment to measure consumers’ needs Boland confirms the company is looking into tech solutions
as well. And, as a bonus, we see our online revenue increase in that improve the shopping experience. One of these develop-
the areas where we have opened a pop-up store,” he says, as ments is in the field of augmented reality (AR). “We recently
he illustrates the benefits for both consumer and brand. launched our AR-app. With this app, you can create your own
avatar, based on your looks, measurements, body type, skin, hair
Ultra-fast collections and eye colour. It is literally a lookalike of yourself. With it, you
Another USP of the fashion brand is that it, contrary to can try all of our products in 3D and AR-mode, in different
traditional brands, launches limited collections every week. “It environments and places. It gives the consumer the possibility
takes us two to three weeks to launch a collection from idea, to mix and match our clothing and see if it actually fits them
to concept, design, production, transportation, IT, warehous- or not. We are very proud that our app got the number one
ing and getting the products online,” says Boland. “That downloaded app spot in Sweden, beating apps like Snapchat,
basically means we can produce whatever the consumer wants Instagram, WhatsApp and Netflix.”
at any moment, as we do not do mass production. Rather, we
produce on the spot, on-demand, which gives us the most Developing these new features is part of Chiquelle’s growth
trendy stock and products,” he adds. strategy. As growth continues, the company undoubtedly
faces challenges as well. “For sure,” confirms Boland. “Growth
Traditional retailers produce six months to a year ahead. “This brings challenges. While it is amazing to grow, this means
means that they have products which are out of date once you need to adapt to new ways of working or change struc-
they launch them, or that they basically guess and think a tures that no longer function. What worked yesterday might
specific product or trend will be fashionable. As they produce not work tomorrow, as you might outgrow structures all the
such a long time ahead, they need to mass produce, since they time. For us, our biggest challenge is to keep our partners
can’t re-stock within one or two weeks. This results in prod- growing with us at the same time. We are preparing for mas-
ucts being left in stock. It means they need to use discounts sive steps in the market, to become one of the largest pure
to get rid of them, and discounts put pressure on profitability fashion brands worldwide.”
and can bring them financial problems. We produce in the

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