Palladium to rely on direct retail and apparel line to double revenue in three years

Palladium has launched a summer retail offensive in Parisian department stores. The French footwear brand is operating a corner at the BHV department store until August 12, and has recently opened two pop-up spaces at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, on the first floor of the menswear building and the fourth floor of the womenswear one. The Palladium spaces are visually striking, and have been developed by a Hong Kong-based design company and built in France. They are meant to replicate the look of an aircraft’s cabin, a nod to Palladium’s past, since the company was initially a manufacturer of aviation tires, and turned into a footwear brand in 1947.

More than a simple nod to Palladium’s past, the Parisian pop-up spaces give a glimpse of the next steps for a brand that in the last two years has been busy overhauling its image and positioning.

“For us, operating these pop-up stores in Paris during the Olympics is an opportunity to showcase our products and tell our story to international tourists,” said Victor Yang, managing director of KSGB, the company in charge of international operations for Palladium and K-Swiss, a business that was acquired in 2019 by Chinese group X-tep.

The retail concept featured at Galeries Lafayette will in fact be deployed in the brand’s next store openings. Product-wise, the new capsule collection, developed especially for a summer characterised by the Paris Olympics, anticipates future models by Palladium, a brand recognised for its outdoor activity shoes. The collection includes for example new, ultra-lightweight versions of the iconic Pampa model, one of Palladium’s best-sellers, re-interpreted with high-tech materials, and featuring references to Paris on the uppers and zips. The range is completed by the Palladune sandals, with the brand’s signature rubber sole. Notably, Palladium has also presented for the first time a range of apparel products developed by its South Korea-based design team. The line combines lightweight performance materials with Asia-sourced fabrics, aiming to showcase Palladium’s urban outdoor concept. The line will be deployed more extensively from Spring/Summer 2025.

“The weather is increasingly unpredictable. We’ve observed that people are looking for functional garments to protect themselves from the sunshine and bad weather. People are looking for waterproof and wind-proof garments, but don’t necessarily want mountaineering gear. They want urban clothes that are also functional,” said Yang, who is based year-round in Shanghai. Yang attended the new collection’s launch in Paris, and underlined that the new range is replacing a line of essentials that was previously commercialised in China.

Volume-wise, the EMEA region is Palladium’s main market, but the brand has also established a significant retail presence in China with a network of monobrand stores, which contributed a sizeable share of the €140 million revenue generated by the brand in 2023, a marked increase from the €100 million reported in 2022.

Doubling sales between 2023 and 2026

“We have approximately 250 monobrand stores worldwide. We have 140 stores in China, and we also have a retail presence in Japan, Hong Kong and Vietnam,” said Christophe Mortemousque, president of Palladium. “In the EMEA region, we have stores in South Africa and in Poland. We’re planning to open flagships in key cities like Paris, featuring our new retail concept, but not before 2026,” he added.

Palladium is based in Lyon, France, and is reportedly looking to open a new store in the city, another development planned for 2026. In the meantime, Palladium is keen to grow further. Its staff reckons the new brand identity is firmly in place, and the product range has been aligned with it. Palladium’s leading products are now consistent with the brand’s shift towards greater technical performance, for example its waterproof shoes, highly popular in Asia.

Yang has confirmed Palladium’s ambitious plans. “It’s very simple, we’re still aiming for sales of €300 million in 2026,” he said. “This means doubling our current sales. We have the opportunity to open more stores in Asia and China. And in Europe, developing new footwear and apparel products will be an important growth driver,” he added.

Palladium’s ambitious plan is going hand in hand with a strategy to boost visibility. The brand has linked up with opinion leaders in several markets. In Asia, it recently enlisted Chinese singer and actor Tan Jianci as brand ambassador. Unknown in Europe, Jianci has enabled Palladium to generate e-tail sales worth $7.5 million in a few days. Besides this local initiative, Palladium will release a global advertising campaign in the coming months, in an effort to accelerate its growth.

The plans of the Chinese group behind Palladium aren’t limited to 2026. Yang and his staff have also repositioned K-Swiss, the Californian sneaker brand originally specialised in tennis. They are working to relaunch the brand, and have revamped its footwear range, introduced an apparel line, and deployed a new store concept in California and Asia, having recently staged an event in Macau. Following these upgrades, the wholesale revenue of both Palladium and K-Swiss has increased, and the management is targeting further international expansion. “We continue to invest in our brands to establish them as global names. K-Swiss is a sportswear brand and Palladium is an urban-outdoor activity brand. We’re planning to grow the two brands’ business to €1.5 billion by the end of 2028,” said Yang.

A target that may seem very ambitious but, despite the current geopolitical uncertainties, Yang is predicting that the global economy will bounce back in 2025. And he is keen to see Palladium benefit from this.