Abstract
Product innovation is not limited to technology-push and market-pull strategies but includes design-driven innovation. This form of innovation must be associated with the meaning conveyed by the brand and its corporate business model. We describe such a connection between design-driven innovation and meaning strategy as exemplified by French, Paris-based upscale shoe brand Repetto. Our study starts with the historical development of the company, an overview on its core market (dance shoes and equipment), then moves on to Repetto design innovations for professional dance shoes and everyday dance-inspired products. CEO Jean-Marc Gaucher strengthened the company’s dance-based expertise by structuring Repetto’s whole business model around dance-world meaning and aesthetics. He has thus revived a declining enterprise in the 1990s with fresh inspiration, meaning and energy. Superb communication and large investments in their stores revitalized Repetto which promoted a series of stylish capsule collections signed by renowned designers and artists. The resurgent French brand renewed its business model and has obtained consumer recognition in the high-end premium segment. Repetto has secured a niche in the upscale sportswear market based on their recognition for long-standing expertise in dancewear. They have extended their collections into urban wear and expanded into international markets. The chapter devoted to this French brand shows their endeavor to move from premium into luxury. It ends with managerial implications.
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Notes
- 1.
A movie directed by Roger Vadim in 1956 which launched the global career of French sex symbol Brigitte Bardot (IMDB, 2017).
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Masè, S., Cohen-Cheminet, G. (2018). Repetto, a Paris-Based Craft Enterprise Growing into a Global Brand: Design-Driven Innovation and Meaning Strategy. In: Jin, B., Cedrola, E. (eds) Product Innovation in the Global Fashion Industry. Palgrave Studies in Practice: Global Fashion Brand Management . Palgrave Pivot, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52349-5_5
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