company presentation | page 1

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INDEX
INTRODUCTION | 03
ESSENTIEL AT A GLANCE | 07
OUR MISSION / VISION / VALUES |10
OUR SHOWROOM |11
OUR STORES |13
CONTACT |21
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ESSENTIEL
A SUCCESS STORY UNIQUE
IN THE BELGIAN FASHION
LANDSCAPE
What started out as a basic T-shirt collection
in 1999 grew into a colorful Ready-to-Wear
collection for men and women. Besides
30+ own points of sales in Belgium, France
and UK, you will also find our collection in
numerous multi-brand stores both nationally
and internationally, including most European
countries, but also the USA, Russia and the
Middle East.
The Essentiel success story - which is
intertwined with other stories and chance
events - is unique in Belgium.
A LOVE STORY…
Esfan Eghtessadi, the son of Nicole Cadine
(fashion designer), grew up in a world of
textiles, sketches and fashion collections.
On the evening he first met Inge Onsea, he
immediately saw in her the incarnation of
grace and femininity.
An Icon… This encounter evolved into a love
story, a passion that led to a wedding, the
birth of two children and… Essentiel.
… BECOMES A LIFE STORY
The range consisted of four models in twenty
different colours, essential basic garments
that are necessary in every wardrobe. The
young couple's apartment served as a
showroom, and the T-shirts sold like hot
cakes. After a year, the first store opened
in Antwerp. Four seasons later, knitwear,
jackets, dresses, shirts and trousers in
trendy colors, new materials and an entire
new range of accessories were added to the
collection.
Essentiel was born as a full-fledged
Ready-to-Wear collection.
An out-and-out success! Following an
unexpected triumph at the Who's Next fair in
Paris, Essentiel opens boutiques in Knokke,
Brussels, Antwerp, Leuven, Hasselt and
Bruges. From one victory to another, the
determination to undertake a next step is as
great as ever. In 2004, Essentiel launches
its first men's collection. The existing
stores are complemented with a Men's
Corner, while men only stores are opened in
Antwerp, Knokke, Leuven and Hasselt. This
development has also spread abroad, with
new points of sales opening in France and
the UK.
In 1999 Esfan and Inge take their chance and
launch a T-shirt collection on the market.
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ESFAN EGHTESSADI & INGE ONSEA
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THE NEXT CHAPTERS
Essentiel nowadays stands for refreshing,
offbeat & luxurious fashion, renowned for its
graphic or floral prints and trendy mixes of
color. Both the men and women collections
are rich, unique and accessible.
Essentiel’s international ambitions have been
growing over the last three years.
In France, it has begun its expansion
through the opening of own stores in Paris
(Le Marais, Saint Honoré), in parallel with
corners in the best French department stores:
Le Printemps and Les Galeries Lafayette. This
expansion will continue throughout Paris and
France in order to increase both Essentiel
French-international exposure and brand
awareness.
In the UK, after Fenwick, it opened a corner
at Harvey Nichols, and is now looking for
opportunities allowing it to broaden its
London footprint.
Essentiel has been exploring new territories
and found seasoned business partners
to represent it widely within Europe and
also globally, in the USA, Canada, Ex-CIS
Countries… Since 2014 Essentiel opened
numerous stores in South Korea and the UAE
through local partners.
to be continued...
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ESSENTIEL
AT A GLANCE
own
shops
1999• Creation of the Belgian fashion brand ESSENTIEL Antwerp
2000
• First international showing at the “Who's Next” trade show in Paris (Women)
• Opening of our first Flagship store in Antwerp
• In-house visual merchandising team
2001
• Dramatic increase of the number of wholesale points all over the world
2
3
2002• Major wholesale Agent in France
4
2003• Major wholesale Agent in The Netherlands, Spain & Italy
6
2004 • Creation of our first Men's collection
• First showing at the “White” Trade Show in Milan
• First showing at the Copenhagen International Fashion Fair
• Reinforcement of the styling studio to increase focus and specialties (woven, Jersey,
2005
knit, accessories…)
• First steps in the strategic plan of a new lifestyle concept: women and men's clothes,
9
furniture, cosmetics and decoration
2006 • First store in France: Paris
• Creation of a new program of dynamical bi-weekly visual merchandising
2007 • Opening of our Asian office in Hong-Kong
• Second flagship store (600m²) on Brussels' most famous avenue
• Corner in London Fenwick Department Store
• First showing at the “Pitti Uomo” Exhibition in Firenze (Men)
• First Men's store in Antwerp
2008 • Second store in France: Lille
• Corner in the Parisian “Bon Marché”
2009 • Reinforcement of the retail chain and start of refurbishing existing stores
• Fashion Show with the international press for ESSENTIEL's 10 years birthday
2010 • Adding of intermediate Flash & Capsule collections to the seasonal main collections
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10
12
15
20
23
own
shops
2011 • New single HQ in Antwerp (1.500m² with a 500m² Showroom)
• New store in “Le Marais”, Paris
2012 • Launch of our ‘e-commerce’ online store
• New store in the “Quartier St Honoré”, Paris
• Corner in the “Le Printemps - Haussmann”, Paris
2013 • Development of the first pre- and beach/lounge collections, leading to 10 collections per year
• Creation of a visual merchandising central laboratory
• Major wholesale Agent in the USA (Los Angeles)
• Major wholesale Agents in the UK, Switzerland and Austria
• First showing at new trade shows: Coterie (New York) and Scoop (London)
• Corner in “Harvey Nichols”, London
27
28
29
Today, we count 37 Essentiel points of sales, 170+ collaborators, a 15 people
styling office and are globally present in 35 countries via 700+ multi-brand stores
2014 - ... • Four new stores in Korea
• New corners in France: Galeries Lafayette (Paris) and Printemps (Lyon)
• Major wholesale Distributors for Canada
• First showing at new trade shows: Premium (Berlin), Capsule (Paris)
Essentiel store openings in 2015
• Opening of a Showroom in Düsseldorf to develop Germany
• opening of an Essentiel store in Madrid
• 2 new stores in Dubai (UAE)
• 2 new stores in South Korea
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37
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:
KNOKKE (KUSTLAAN), GENT (HENEGOUWENSTRAAT), BRUSSELS
(DANSAERTSTRAAT), ANTWERP (SCHUTTERSHOFSTRAAT)
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MIS SI O N- V IS ION -VA LU ES
OUR MISSION
The ESSENTIEL’s mission is twofold
• bringing fun into fashion through a subtle mix of prints, colors and fabrics,
at an affordable price
• plunging into the Essentiel’s world should be an experience leading to a dream, emotion and happiness
OUR VISION
We want to
• expand Essentiel's image globally through the right choice of local distribution
• become and remain the undisputed leader in affordable fashion
• increase the choice of accessories to broaden our customers' reach
• ensure constant sales dynamics through multiple collections per year
• optimize our internal processes and supply-chain to increase profitability
OUR VALUES
• Passion: be passionate and enthusiastic in everything you accomplish
• Innovation: be creative and innovative all the time; leave your mind open to
emotion and feeling
• Consistency: spread your image coherently everywhere
• Permanent questioning: nothing is due or eternal; continuously question
yourself to stay at the top
• Integrity: be respectful, human and fair with everyone
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OUR SHOWROOM
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OUR STORES
THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:
MADRID (CALLE DE CLAUDIO COELLO), ANTWERP MEN'S
STORE (SCHUTTERSHOFSTRAAT), MADRID (CALLE DE
CLAUDIO COELLO), BRUSSELS (AVENUE LOUISE)
NEXT PAGE: GENT (HENEGOUWENSTRAAT)
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THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:
GENT (HENEGOUWENSTRAAT), ANTWERP MEN'S
STORE (SCHUTTERSHOFSTRAAT), KNOKKE
(KUSTLAAN), BRUSSELS (AVENUE LOUISE)
NEXT PAGE: MADRID (CALLE DE CLAUDIO COELLO)
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PREVIOUS PAGE: BRUSSELS (AVENUE LOUISE)
THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:
ANTWERP MEN'S STORE (SCHUTTERSHOFSTRAAT),
BRUSSELS (AVENUE LOUISE),
MADRID (CALLE DE CLAUDIO COELLO), BRUSSELS
(AVENUE LOUISE)
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THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:
GENT (HENEGOUWENSTRAAT), BRUSSELS (AVENUE
LOUISE), LILLE (RUE DES DÉBRIS ST-ETIENNE),
ANTWERP MEN'S STORE (SCHUTTERSHOFSTRAAT)
NEXT PAGE: BRUSSELS (AVENUE LOUISE)
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CONTACT
HEAD OFFICE
Arenbergstraat 21, B-2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Phone +32(0)3 201 13 80
Fax +32(0)3 201 13 81
Info@essentiel-antwerp.com
www.essentiel-antwerp.com
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