The Redcats catalog division of French conglomerate Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR) is considering bringing its VertBaudet catalog of children’s apparel to the U.S. In an exclusive interview with Catalog Age, Pascal Bazin, general manager of Redcats’ Specialized Brands division, says that the company would want VertBaudet to be a $100 million-plus business in the U.S. “We wouldn’t want to do only $50 million,” he says. “Our company expects much more than that.”
Bazin, along with strategic development manager Jean-Pierre Watteau, children’s brands general manager Antoine Leroy, and VertBaudet general manager Jean-Luc Jonville, visited New York in late August to explore the catalog’s options in the States. The four met with several people in the U.S. catalog industry, including Russell Stravitz, president/CEO of women’s apparel and home goods cataloger Brylane, which is owned by Redcats. If the expansion gets the green light, Brylane would operate the U.S. version of VertBaudet, Bazin says.
While in the U.S., the Redcats executives observed a focus group conducted in Tarrytown, NY, in which U.S. catalog consumers were given copies of the French-language catalog and asked their impression of VertBaudet. Jonville says that most participants equated VertBaudet with Lands’ End Kids. As of press time, Redcats had not made a decision about bringing VertBaudet to the U.S.