French Heritage, Global Vision
With more than 100 years of love for women and a passion for beautiful lace, expertise and innovation, Etam was born in France and built around a deep understanding of femininity, confidence and freedom. Here, RLI speaks with Jose Gomez, Board Member and Chief Development Officer of Etam Group, to learn more about what makes the company so special and how it has continuously evolved with women, society and retail.
Much more than a lingerie brand, Etam is a global lifestyle company with an international presence, a strong omni-channel ecosystem, a powerful emotional connection with customers and a clear ambition to keep reinventing the retail experience.
“Our heritage gives us credibility, but our strength comes from our ability to modernise it,” says Jose Gomez, Board Member and Chief Development Officer. “We combine French know-how, creativity, product expertise and innovation with a very contemporary vision of what customers expect from labels today.”
Since inception, Etam Group has evolved into a broader multi-brand platform, featuring Etam, Undiz, Maison 123, Ysé and LIVY, each with its own identity, customer universe and growth potential, giving the Group a rich ecosystem and strong foundations for international development.
Within this, Jose’s role is to build sustainable, international growth while strengthening the desirability and consistency of their brands. Wanting to grow intelligently and with a purpose, for Etam this means reinforcing their presence in strategic regions, developing stronger flagship and experiential formats, expanding with high-quality partners and making sure the business is expressed with the same level of ambition around the world.
As we move the conversation onto the topic of today’s Etam customer, Gomez says they are modern, connected, demanding and very conscious of what a label represents. “She is not looking only for product. She is looking for emotion, identity, service, experience and authenticity.”
He continues by saying customers today expect their experience to be seamless. They do not think in terms of “online” or “offline”, they expect one coherent experience. “They also expect brands to feel alive. They want names that create content, community, experiences and a sense of belonging,” Gomez points out.
Stores remain central in the world of retail, but their role has changed somewhat throughout Etam’s history. Previously the store was mainly a place to sell. Today, it has become a place to express the brand. It is a showroom, a service point, a content space, a community hub and above all, an emotional experience. Because of this, a successful flagship today must have more than a beautiful design, it needs a soul.
Of course, location remains fundamental. They look for strong retail destinations, the right customer profile, visibility, footfall and the quality of the surrounding environment. Beyond that, they look at how the store can become a true destination.
This led us on perfectly to their latest flagship in Mexico City, which features the introduction of Etam’s first café concept.
“The Mexico City flagship was a pivotal project as it represents the evolution of what we believe physical retail can become. The idea behind the café was not simply to add hospitality to a store. It was to create a destination. We wanted customers to spend more time with the brand, to feel part of the Etam universe and to experience the store in a more emotional and lifestyle-oriented way,” Gomez comments.
He feels retail today cannot only be transactional. Customers are looking for places where they can discover, connect, relax, share and be inspired. The café allowed them to create that additional layer of experience and Mexico City was the perfect place to do this, as a dynamic, sophisticated, creative market. The Masaryk flagship gave them the opportunity to present the world of Etam in a very visible and ambitious way.
While the CDO sees concepts such as this café becoming a larger part of the Group’s global store strategy, he highlights the point that it needs to be done in a selective and thoughtful way.
So not every store needs a café, what matters is that every important store creates a stronger emotional connection with the customer. In some markets, this may mean a hospitality offering. In others, it may be additional events, services, community activations, styling, digital experiences or even partnerships.
“The overarching point is that retail is moving towards lifestyle and community. Customers want brands to offer more than product. They want moments, experiences and reasons to engage,” Gomez highlights.
As the company looks to continue its expansion push, they see strong opportunities across several regions, but their focus is always on the quality of development, rather than the speed. Following the launch of the recent flagship, Mexico remains a very exciting market for Etam and the wider Group. Meanwhile in Europe, they see interesting opportunities for several of their labels.
As for the Middle East, this remains a very important region for the group. They are already present in Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia and they continue to see strong potential in the region due to the quality of retail infrastructure, ambitious retail destinations and customers’ appetite for premium international brands.
They are currently looking for the right partner in the UAE, which they believe is another extremely strategic market for the future. Gomez highlights that Dubai especially is one of the world’s leading destinations for experiential retail, lifestyle and entertainment concepts, which fits perfectly with the direction the Etam brand is taking internationally.
No longer separate from business strategy, sustainability has to be integrated into the way companies develop, design, operate and grow.
“For Etam Group, responsibility is part of our long-term vision. Becoming B Corp certified was a very important milestone for us because it reflects a real commitment to balancing business performance with social and environmental responsibility. It pushes us to think differently about growth and about the type of company we want to build for the future,” explains Gomez.
As our time with Jose nears its end, he looks ahead and what excites him most about the future is how physical retail is being reinvented. For many years, people said stores would disappear, but he never believed that. Instead, poor retail is disappearing; stores without emotion, without service, without experience and without purpose. The future of retail is much more exciting. It will be more experiential, more omni-channel, more local, more human and more connected.
“For Etam, my ambition is to continue building internationally with strong partners, stronger concepts and a clear point of difference. I want us to be recognised not only as a leading French lingerie brand that it is today, but as one of the most exciting international retail names in terms of experience, emotion and innovation.”
