Clean, simple, and bright. The stark white interiors of the new Sledgers store in Glorietta 4 easily shows off this chic yet laid-back Parisian style, while at the same time puts the spotlight on the shoes and leather accessories from the French brand.
But we weren’t just there to admire the interiors of the store. We were invited to speak to Sledgers’ International Brand Director Glenn Bennington to talk style, the Sledgers brand, and how the brand is received by the typical Filipino man.
Describe the typical Sledgers customer.
It’s slightly different between our European customer and our Asian customer. In Europe, Mr. Sledgers is between 50 – 55 years old, a more mature guy. In Asia, our average age is slightly younger [around 35 to 40 years old]. One of our ambitions is to reduce the target age of our audience in Europe. We want to broaden our appeal. We’d love to have both.
Are there style differences between these markets?
There is. One of our challenges is to harmonize those areas. At the moment we tend to develop two separate collections and there is an area of commonality between the two. One of our challenges now is to try and get those two teams working together so we reduce any duplication. But you do have to acknowledge that there are some styling differences between the European flavor and Asian flavor.
What are the products you offer here in the Philippines? What’s your edge against your competition here?
We would argue have several edges. It’s not just one. Our philosophy is comfort, quality, and style. We’re almost a hundred years old. We have a great heritage and history to be able to develop those attributes. We strive to be a little bit more comfortable than the competition, a little bit higher quality than the competition, and a little bit more stylish than the competition. When you make those gains in several different areas, the overall product becomes very appealing.
There are three main themes: Classic, which is the more formal, very discreet, for a formal occasion. The next is Contemporary, which is a bit more versatile. These you can dress up and still look comfortable or dress down. Then we have a Casual line, which is a bit more relaxed. It’s all about creating variety.
One of the ways to do that [or to have variety] is to create a structure to the line, you create a good, better, best philosophy. We have an affordable line to try and drawn new customers and to get them to experience our style. We maintain our core customer, that mid-level, and we’d also like to introduce premium products so that we have genuine choice.
It’s like how smartphone manufacturers work.
Absolutely. That’s exactly it. The Philippine customer is very loyal. If we can bring the consumer into the brand, they are fiercely loyal, as long as you deliver with your promise. You have to deliver on your promises. Once you attract them in one level, then they will stay with the brand then maybe try the next level.
Since you’ve mentioned the Philippine customer, what have you noticed is unique about the local market?
The Philippine consumer is very demanding. The leathers have to be super soft. The consumer here likes really nice, really light footwear. They prefer slip-on style. That’s slightly different to Europeans where the choice would be much more between slip-ons and laces. But lightness, suppleness of leather are important. They have a word in the UK called “savvy” or very knowledgeable. The Philippine consumer is very knowledgeable and very demanding. They know what they want.
What’s coming next for Sledgers? What can we expect?
We’re working on the three elements mentioned earlier. We want to improve all of those areas. We have design teams working on the styling based in Asia Pacific and in London. Quality is maintained throughout. On the comfort side, we’re currently working on new technology which we will launch in the future, which will really elevate our products again to the next level. You can’t afford to stand still. You go backwards if you stand still.
Sledgers is distributed in the Philippines by the Primer Group of Companies. It has thirteen Sledgers stores nationwide, and is also available in ResToeRun and other leading department stores across the country.
