LPP invests in creativity and builds the position of reserved as a polish hit export

To 2018, LPP intends to employ more than one thousand employees and spend nearly PLN 200 million in the area of R&D (research and development). This is a way of increasing the global competitiveness of the company that is present on 20 markets. In 2016, the value of LPP exports, driven primarily by the flagship brand Reserved, amounted to PLN 3 billion. The Gdańsk-based company also plans other investments – to the end of 2020 it will spend PLN 1.5 billion for the development of showroom networks in Poland and abroad.

Already in the area of research and development, LPP employs 1,200 people and spends for this purpose over PLN 160 million. “We are aware that in the global economy, the added value of a product, with its source in the creativity of the company, is the most important element of competitive advantage” said Marek Piechocki, founder and owner of LPP. “We create this added value here in Poland and we export it today to 19 countries in which Reserved is present. In 2016 the value of our exports amounted to PLN 3 billion. This money returned to Poland and has been invested here” added M. Piechocki.

Measures to promote the development of LPP are carried out in three main areas:

1. Today, 810 designers and other people involved in product development work on the research and development of the product, creating annually 40 thousand new projects. More than 75 percent of them are turned over for production.
2. The second area is related to the development of the feelings and shopping experiences of customers. In the LPP Design Office there are 40 architects and coordinators working daily on the design and implementation of new solutions used in the showrooms of individual brands. This team creates and tests an average of 100 experimental solutions per year, spending for this purpose approximately PLN 10 million.
3. The third field of the company’s activity is new technologies and the development of sales forms, mainly e-commerce. 250 developers test and implement technical solutions to improve the sales effectiveness of Reserved and other brands in the very fast changing realities of retail trade. For this purpose, LPP spent PLN 60 million in 2017.

“By the end of 2018 we want over 2 thousand people working with us on various research or development projects” says M. Piechocki. “It is creative force that constantly drives the development of LPP and our flagship brand Reserved, and also the entire Polish economy. These people, here in Gdańsk, Kraków and Warsaw, create value that we can offer customers not only in Poland but also in other markets. This is why it is worth supporting Polish export products – money from their sales abroad strengthens Polish producers and indirectly the Polish economy. Thanks to that we create jobs for highly-qualified professionals” added the President of LPP.

65 percent of Reserved’s product value is generated in Poland, at the premises of LPP located in Kraków, Gdańsk and Warsaw. It consists primarily of the value of the design and preparation of the collection, logistics, marketing, preparation and implementation of showroom concepts and customer service standards as well as taxes, duties and other types of fees paid by LPP. The remaining 35 percent of the product value is generated in production facilities located in 15 countries by order of the company. It is primarily the value of the materials and the sewing of the product itself.

In addition to R&D, LPP also invests in the development of its sales networks in Poland and abroad. To the end of 2020, the company intends to spend PLN 1.5 billion for this purpose. The funds will be used for the maintenance and modernisation of existing stores and opening new showrooms. LPP cooperates with nearly 300 subcontractors, who together employ 3,500 employees dedicated to cooperation with Gdańsk-based company in the sphere of investments related to the maintenance and development of the sales network. Among them are construction companies, design offices as well as carpentry, installation and service companies. LPP works with some of them for almost twenty years. “We value long-cooperation with our partners” says Olimpia Patej, the Director of Investment Department of LPP. “Some of them started as a two-person business and today employ more than 100 employees. In the last 7 years we have spent PLN 3.5 billion on the development of our showroom networks. It can be seen that these funds not only contribute to the development of LPP, but they also build the strength of small and medium-sized Polish companies with which we cooperate daily” added O. Patej.

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LPP SA is one of the most dynamically developing clothing companies in Central and Eastern Europe. The company has been consistently pursuing its business both at home and abroad for 26 years, successfully operating on the demanding apparel market. LPP SA manages 5 fashion brands: Reserved, Cropp, House, Mohito and Sinsay. The company has developed a network of nearly 1700 retail stores and on-line stores of all its brands and created 25,000 jobs in offices and sales structures in Poland, Europe, Asia and Africa. LPP SA is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange within the WIG20 index and is a part of the prestigious MSCI Poland index.