Clothing manufacturer Hollister Co. is trying to revive the old Gilly Hicks brand using a startup strategy.
The company announced the opening of four pop-up stores at once for its once-existing lingerie brand Gilly Hicks. The revamped lingerie and bra line is an attempt by the retailer to target a younger demographic and an experiment with a store format that many startups are eagerly adopting.
The Gilly Hicks brand first appeared in 2008. Marketers tried to come up with a whole story for him, that in fact this trademark appeared at the beginning of the century (by the way, Hollister itself also exploits romantic images). However, no advertising campaigns have helped. And five years later, all two dozen Gilly Hicks stores, decorated in the style of colonial estates, were closed. Abercrombie & Fitch maternal Hollister Co.., did not completely close the brand. Underwear sales, even if not particularly outstanding, continued through the Internet.
In 2015, the Gilly Hicks brand was taken over by Hollister. Under the new leadership, the brand did better. This is not to say that he can really compete with companies like Victoria's Secret or Aerie, but still in 2019 Gilly Hicks feels much better than in 2013. They even say that Abercrombie & Fitch wants to take back the stamp.
In the meantime, Hollister Co. does everything possible to make the brand as well known as possible. Thus, new experiments with small store formats are being made in order to attract new customers, as well as to avoid the cost of expensive large-scale real estate and expensive multi-year leases.