The birth of KARIBAN BRANDS
August 2020
Laurent Marti is the man of a thousand faces, but he also owes his success to his ability to renew. In this testimony, he unveils for us how the KARIBAN BRANDS were born.
Testimony of Laurent Marti, founder and CEO of the Kariban Group.
Why were several brands developed from the Kariban line?
“At the time of this fundamental re-think, which marked a turning point in the Kariban story, the clothing and accessory line was too general. Over the years, we had developed a very wide range to meet all the needs of a booming market.
Since its inception in 1996, Kariban had grown exponentially, and the brand strategy had lost some of its precision. In an effort to streamline the offer and prevent some sales cannibalisation, we first decided to separate sport with the acquisition of PROACT® in 2009. We then created the Kimood brand for bags and luggage in 2010 and K-up for headwear in 2014 following good advice from our employee Matteo Borri.
Each brand has thus had its own identity and a suitable marketing strategy, and our offer has become much clearer. This successful reshuffling allowed us to combine all our brands to form the KARIBAN BRANDS group in 2019.
To seize these opportunities, we are continuously reinventing ourselves. The first result was the 2021 launch of the WK. Designed To Work specialist workwear brand, followed by the elegant Kariban Premium range in 2022, offering superior quality to meet demanding requirements.
Our strength comes from the fact that KARIBAN BRANDS now consists of brands that provide a comprehensive, global offer. All this is part of a structured dynamic approach towards creating targeted ranges.
Today, a company that sells customised clothes can meet 95% of its needs at KARIBAN BRANDS.
Our priorities are eco-responsibility, a commitment to quality, innovation and safety. The Kariban adventure began 26 years ago and we’ll approach the next 30 with the same energy and one goal: putting our know-how to serve our customers.”