7/10/12

"Custo Barcelona cannot be understood in a strictly local market"

Pere Guirao

< 1 min.

Pere Guirao

What is Custo Barcelona's international presence today?
Internationalisation can be considered from a commercial standpoint and from a production standpoint. At the moment, we are much more involved in the commercial internationalisation of the company with a view to opening new markets because Custo's traditional market was very depressed and it was clear that we needed to expand. We are in the process of making contacts to open up new markets, but many projects are still in a study phase.
What new markets are you targeting?
We have a presence in Asia because everyone goes there, it's an emerging market and is of interest to us, but we're currently focusing more on Latin America, countries like Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela. In fact, we've already set up business there and are currently negotiating the opening of stores in Brazil. All in all, the continent has proved to be quite interesting. We are also in China, the UAE, Russia...
I imagine that exporting the image of Barcelona to the rest of the world is a big responsibility. How do you deal with it?
Adding the Barcelona tag to the name Custo was an idea that was decided on at a certain time and many initiatives were undertaken to promote the brand, such as painting a Transmediterrània ship and a Vueling plane, making posters for the Feria de Abril in Barcelona, creating beer bottles for the Olympics and making designs for cava bottles with Custo graphics. Obviously, if we are to carry the name of Barcelona, we have to be responsible enough to make sure we live up to it.
What is the secret of Custo's internationalisation success?
I think it is strongly marked by the personality of Custo Dalmau and his brother, but mostly Custo, who is the visible face of the company. He has always been very international, to the extent that he took a round-the-world trip by motorbike when he was younger and even found sponsors to fund it. He spent a year and a half travelling around the world with his friends, discovering new cultures... it's part of who he is.
So he has an innate international vocation.
Absolutely. Custo has always wanted to be everywhere, travelling constantly, and he is thoroughly involved in everything he does; he has a lot of energy. Also, he is always surrounded by talented people who have promoted Custo Barcelona very well. And there have been many coincidences along the way. For example, Julia Roberts once visited one of our shops in New York, purchased the entire collection and later wore pieces in some of her films. This provided a real boost that no one could have planned.
What are the advantages of internationalisation?
One advantage is that the risk is dispersed. In other words, your entire business is not concentrated in one market that may suffer a depression, which is what has occurred in Europe. Having sales channels in other countries has helped us to overcome this critical period that has also had a bearing on our company.
And what are the disadvantages?
I don't see any disadvantages. The only things that aren't so positive about internationalisation are the time zone and language differences, which means that the people who work for you need to speak more languages. We have offices in New York to overcome some of these disadvantages because it would be impossible to operate the shops we have around the world from here. Even from the standpoint of production, we work with China and South America, which are in completely different time zones: when the Chinese are going to sleep, the Peruvians are just waking up.
I suppose experience teaches you how to coordinate everything.
Of course, you learn gradually. Nobody has a magic wand that tells you the specific structure or map to follow. All of this is made possible because internationalisation from a production point of view is not just about being present in other countries, but also about having very specific goals that can only be met in those countries. For example, South America grows excellent quality cotton and, given that we were going to buy it from there, we decided to produce there too. We are in India because it is the best place for certain types of embroidery. We are in China for competitive reasons and because they have everything there, so it makes sense.
To what extent is internationalisation compatible with corporate social responsibility?
This is a more complicated issue. At Custo, we demand that all internationally recognised rules are applied and are reflected in our contracts with suppliers, but we do not carry out excessive monitoring. Of course, we ensure that our factories follow the applicable regulations. It is also worth keeping in mind that the realities in other countries are different; for example, we may come across more lax environmental regulations and we do not demand that our factories go beyond what each country requires.
Environmental regulations are not the same in every country.
No, they're not. In Asia, for instance, we impose the strictest environmental regulations in all Custo factories. We haven't yet implemented the carbon footprint policy, which consists in measuring the levels of contamination caused by each carrier. We are quite sensitive to this issue, though; Custo certainly is. Respecting the environment and not using fur are essential values for Custo.
What aspect of internationalisation is sometimes not taken into account, but is important to you?
Internationalisation is an intrinsic part of who we are. Custo Barcelona cannot be understood in a strictly local market. In fact, Custo often talks about "fusion"; he likes to mix things and this is reflected in his collections. Apart from having a high graphic design content, he blends many types of fabric and uses different finishing processes and dyes... He really likes all of these things; his vocation is to be everywhere.
Does the final product reflect this fusion and internationalisation?
Yes, absolutely. We take ideas from wherever we may be, be it Peru or India or elsewhere. Custo Dalmau is always absorbing ideas from our factories around the world and this is reflected in the final product.

Press contact

You may also be interested in…

Loading

Most popular