Expansion of Marimekko's collaboration with Crate and Barrel

04 Feb '11

3 min read

Marimekko is expanding its distribution and reinforcing its position in the United States by extending its collaboration with Crate and Barrel, a prestigious home furnishings retailer. According to the contract which was signed on 3 February 2011, Crate and Barrel plans to open 22 new Marimekko shop-in-shops by the end of the year 2013.

Crate and Barrel will have exclusive rights to retail Marimekko interior decoration products in the US and Canada in the home specialty and department store chain category; these exclusive rights will not apply to clothes, bags or accessories. In addition to furnishing products imported from Finland, the product range for Crate and Barrel's stores will also include Marimekko products made under licence such as bedding and bath textiles.

In October 2010, Crate and Barrel opened a Marimekko shop-in-shop in its SoHo store in New York City. The first four of the new shop-in-shops will be opened this spring: on Madison Avenue in New York as well as in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The shops' range focuses on interior decoration products, including home textiles, ceramics and glassware, and some bags and accessories will also be on sale. Crate and Barrel will also open an online shop specialising in Marimekko products within its website in the spring, making available a comprehensive range.

“Marimekko has been known in the United States since the 1960s. We are now taking Marimekko there on a distinctly more significant scale. We will initially be concentrating on boosting the brand's awareness and extending distribution on the East and West coasts. We have longer traditions in these regions and we believe they have greater natural demand for our products. Our long-term goal is to extend our distribution in the US through high-end department stores and specialist retailers and by opening new Marimekko stores.

“The new contract with our long-time partner Crate and Barrel is a truly significant step for Marimekko. Crate and Barrel's stores are in the best locations in their cities and they are very well-known and successful, so in them Marimekko will have excellent opportunities to reach new audiences interested in original design. The collaboration is expected to boost our international sales in the years ahead, but it must also be borne in mind that long-term development work of this kind also requires investments,” says President and CEO Mika Ihamuotila.

In 2010 Marimekko started a subsidiary to manage and develop its US operations in cooperation with the brand-management firm C2Group and opened a showroom in Manhattan.

Marimekko Corporation

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