Pascale Bateira, Product Manager / Export Sales Manager for KARIBAN BRANDS
February 2021
Drawing on her experience in the textile industry, Pascale Bateira, an engaging woman with a big personality, tells us about KARIBAN BRANDS' positioning and how the market has evolved.
Drawing on her experience in the textile industry, Pascale Bateira, an engaging woman with a big personality, tells us about KARIBAN BRANDS' positioning and how the market has evolved.
We had the opportunity to write the beginning of our story almost 30 years ago with a business model that barely existed in Europe at that time. We developed quickly, moving from managing stock with index cards to the fully automated logistics we use now. The first thing that's changed is that back then we were one of ten multi-brand distributors in France and today there are still ten of us ... but in the whole of Europe!
At the same time, lots of brands have flourished in this market, including KARIBAN in 1997, now part of the KARIBAN BRANDS group alongside PROACT®, Kimood, K-up and the brand-new workwear brand WK. Designed To Work. We had to take risks at the start to develop our brand. Our CEO Laurent Marti had to do this to compete with the American brands that were well-established and powerful at that time. We've managed to adapt constantly thanks to a permanent presence on the ground. Organic, recycled, workwear, sports ... we have a complete offering now!
Our customer profiles have also changed: from early screen printers and embroiderers, we now rely on an extremely diverse and diversified client base, ranging from sports shops to online sellers and other workwear companies. The demands of our customers are more specific and we have to know how to respond very quickly. Service is first and foremost about reacting quickly and adapting immediately, as well as “supersonic” delivery!
I believe that the strength and success of KARIBAN BRANDS is based on long-standing relationships of trust and stable teams, but also on the way we see things. We believe in our brand every day, invest an incredible amount of energy in it, remain faithful to our values and work with a mindset of moving forward, not resting on our laurels and never losing sight of our direction.