Lefties, owned by Spanish parent company Inditex, once started out as an outlet store for left over stock from Zara, now appears to be in the process of reinventing its brand image. Although Lefties first began selling last season Zara stock,
hence the name origin from the phrase 'left over,' little by little the name began building up recognition and eventually developed its own separate men's, women's and children's wear lines. At first the brand was mainly known for its 'low budget' clothing and simple store style, but recently Lefties rolled out a new store concept, which strongly echoes Zara's new store design filled with clean lines and minimalistic interior. One of the first Lefties store to feature this new, clean concept opened in September this year, in shopping center Marineda City, in A Coruña.
The
store logo was also renovated, to bear the name Lefties in simple black and white font, a theme encompassed throught the store. Planet Retail, global retail analyst firm, recently wrote a news report which stated, “lefties becomes a fully fledged brand,” and details the changes Inditex has been implanting into the brand image over the past few months, such as its new store concept, adjustments to the collection and the launch of its online page. Lefties launched its first online page this week, which was previously under construction.
According to Spanish newspaper Modaes, the new online page and product photos “show a style more consistent with [Inditex's] other brands.” When visiting the online page, visitors are shown a Christmas slide show of the brands festive collection, modeled by young men, women and children. Certain pieces for women bear strong resemblance to Zara's winter line for women and Trf. For example, a furry winter coat modeled on Lefties welcoming page bears strong resemblance to one found on Zara's Trf section of its site. Although there is still a difference between styling, it can be noted that product design for Lefties now follows a similar vein of Zara and Bershka.
Speculation
has been mounting that the introducement of the new store concept and brand image are signals that Inditex is getting ready to relaunch the brand as a value chain to compete against the growing threat of value chains, like Primark, in Spain. Some sources indicate that Inditex is currently testing Lefties in the lower end of the retail market to see if the brand gains momentum in the near future. Primark already has a growing number of stores in Spain and shows little sign of slowing down. Inditex registered the brand name 'Anxeri' in March 2011, at the time it was believed that Inditex would open a new chain for accessories and shoes, but now some sources think it could be a new name for Lefties, according to Spanish magazine Expansión.
So far Inditex has neither denied or confirmed rumors surrounding Lefties. Internal sources in the company have revealed that Inditex was planning on “renewing the image of Lefties,” but also mentioned that brand reinvention was “very common” and currently there were no plans to launch a “new low-cost chain,” according to Retail Detail.
Lefties was founded back in 1993 and since then has expand to operate over 104 stores throughout Spain and Portugal. Lefties has established is own center of logistics and management in Barcelona, separate from its sister brand Zara and seems ready to continue growing on its own.
Photos: Lefties new store in Coruna, Zara fur coat and Lefties fur coat
