Kanematsu textile to be lotto sport Italia licensee from 2004

Asian Textile Business, Sep 2003

Lotto Sport Italia, an Italian company based in Montebelluna and specialized in the production of football, tennis and five-a-side football footwear and technical sports clothing, will have a new partner for Japan as of January 1, 2004, Kanematsu Textile Corporation. The licensing contract will have a 3-year duration (January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2006), and will be valid throughout Japan. Kanematsu Textile will take the place of the current licensee, Royal Corporation.

The Japanese market is a very important key from the commercial and image point of view. Thanks to this licensing agreement, Lotto Sport Italia aims to increase its brand penetration in Japan. The objective is to achieve an 8-10% share of the football market and a 5-7% market share in tennis in three years. Moreover, the company has set itself the objective of reaching a sales turnover of 6,500 million yen (48,964 million euro) for 2006 (including leisure sales).

To meet this goal, Lotto Sport Italia and Kanematsu Textile have devised a strategy which includes realizing collections that are increasingly in line with Japanese consumers' tastes and needs, improving distribution, increasing the average price and creating targeted communications initially directed at the trade and sports people who play football and tennis.

Sales of the performance line (football, tennis and five-a-side footwear) will be split between the retail and wholesale channels. Sales of the leisure product, through the Vintage lines in particular, will be entrusted to specialized distributors. This distribution formula will allow Kanematsu Textile to focus on selling performance products (Lotto Sport Italia's core business), a segment in which the company counts on gaining a market share that will allow it to gain the number four position in football and five-a-side footwear and the number seven position in tennis footwear in 3 years' time.