Phone bags maker Golla seeks step to catwalks

BERLIN |
Mon Sep 5, 2011 2:39pm IST

BERLIN (Reuters) – Helsinki-headquartered design firm Golla, one of the pioneers in making bags for cellphones, is seeking to become a household name and a fashion brand in the coming years as consumers increasingly seek to protect their gadgets.

“We want to become a considerably larger consumer brand,” main owner and Chief Executive Petri Kahkonen told Reuters in an interview on sidelines of the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin.

Privately-held Golla focused on bags for cellphones in the early 2000s, starting out as a subcontractor for Nokia (NOK1V.HE), but later broke free from direct ties with the Finnish phonemaker and widened its offering to include products like bags for digital cameras and laptops.

Kahkonen said for further expansion the firm would have to widen its product offering, expand its sales channels and increasingly tap into the fashion industry, including taking part in major fashion weeks.

“To reach our vision, we have to get there,” Kahkonen said.

Golla’s small, colourful phone bags or wallets are sold for prices starting from around 10 euros ($14) at Best Buy stores, through O2 and Vodafone outlets in Europe and Softbank in Japan. Its rivals include firms like Tucano and Built.

Kahkonen said 2011 sales would grow to above 30 million euros from 28.5 million last year as economic slowdown and Apple’s (AAPL.O) surging popularity hits success of other brands. Apple sells a lot of its own accessories for its products.

Kahkonen said smaller purchases have proved to be more resilient to the weakening economy than larger purchases, but electronics chains have been hit, seeing fewer visitors, and that means a fall in impulse purchases.

“Retailers are more cautious, especially electronics chains,” Kahkonen said.

($1 = 0.704 Euros)

(Reporting By Tarmo Virki; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

Article source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/INtechnologyNews/~3/MVWBmHb8bnQ/idINIndia-59149820110905

Tags: Latest Gadgets, Tech news