In this episode of La Loupe, Charlotte Baris looks back on the success of Zara with Thibault Marotte, journalist in the Economy department of L’Express, where French brands have failed.
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The team: Charlotte Baris (presentation and writing), Marion Galard (editing), Jules Krot (directing) and Xavier Yvon (editing-in-chief).
Music and dressing: Emmanuel Herschon / Studio Torrent
Picture credits: Philippe Huguen / AFP
Logo: Anne-Laure Chapelain / Benjamin Chazal
How to listen to a podcast? Follow the leader.
Charlotte Barris: To start this episode, I’m not going to take out the teleporter from La Loupe to make you travel with me. This time, I’m going to ask you, dear listeners, to use your imagination.
You are walking through a rather large city center. You pass many real estate agencies, three optical stores, banks, a huge pharmacy that almost looks like a supermarket, a Maisons du monde boutique, a Fnac, a Mac Donald’s.
But you notice above all many curtains lowered and windows painted white: here before there was a Camaïeu, there a Gap, further on a Kookaï stuck to a San Marina, and in this little street a Sergent Major. All are now empty and display on their front a huge sign “premises for rent”.
However, passing near the main square, you hear music and you notice a crowd pressing into a store: a new Zara store. It is huge: two very large floors, in the heart of the city center, which are always full.
But how does the Spanish giant manage to resist the crisis that is going through the clothing sector? Why are French brands unable to follow, and are they condemned to multiply closures? These are the questions we are looking at today.
For further
PODCAST. Getir, Flink… The “dark stores” are disrupting the organization of our cities
Camaïeu, Pimkie, San Marina… The descent into hell of the clothing sector
Franchise: is clothing still fashionable?
Textile crisis: after Gap, Jennyfer, Sergeant Major… Who’s next?