Carrefour introduces its own textile brand

Carrefour will introduce its own clothing brand Tex after the EU accession and could contract out the manufacturing of some of these products to Romanian textile mills. “Some of the products in our own Tex brand will be made in Romania, following very precise conditions of contract. We will review factories in this regard,” stated Andreea Mihai, the marketing manager of Carrefour Romania. The Carrefour hypermarkets on the domestic market have a number of products listed under their own label, such as the No. 1 brand, which comprises the cheapest food and non-food products in the stores, Carrefour (foods imported from France) and Blue Sky (electronics and home appliances). All these aim to ensure customer loyalty and cover certain price segments. “Creating our own brands on the textile segment is intended to improve quality and ensure both basic and fashion product lines that cannot be provided by our current suppliers,” Andreea Mihai explained. The Tex line will be medium priced and some of the products will be imported from Spain, Greece, Portugal, Asia and Turkey. Carrefour intends to increase imports after the accession, from the regional acquisition hubs of the French group, as part of its strategy to cut shelf prices. Most international retail chains operating in Romania have chosen to list products under their own brands, manufactured locally and with packaging and labels customised by the retailers. None of them had introduced their own textile product brand, though.