Within the panorama of Spanish eCommerce, the fashion sector has been one of those that has achieved greater stability and profitability. To the point of becoming one of the main engines of the economy in the country in the last two years, which has also served as the basis for projects to promote startups in this market.
This growth trend around fashion has been going on for a few years, and based on it, Ramón Barbero and Iván Monells decided to launch Brava Fabrics, a sustainable option for casual fashion, which has gradually carved out a place for itself in the European market. .
According to both founders, their arrival in the world of fashion was not premeditated, since neither had experience in this sector, although they had tried to create other startups before. Barbero and Monells met while doing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at ESADE. From then on, they worked together on a project and finally decided to start their own startup, starting with an initial investment of €25,000.
The choice of a fashion eCommerce was purely strategic, since both saw a growth trend in this sector, so they bet on it backed by their knowledge of e-commerce. Since then, the company has grown to have more than 200 multi-brand points of sale throughout Europe and two of its own stores located in Spain.
In its beginnings in 2015, Brava was dedicated to selling printed shirts for men, a model that has diversified to include both male and female garments, including shirts, sweaters, blouses, pants and even underwear and swimwear. Currently, although prints continue to be a strong point, the brand is more focused on projecting a lifestyle, based on its model of sustainability and native manufacturing, with manufacturing based in facilities in Portugal and Spain.
As they explain on their website, “we are committed to fairness and transparency throughout the entire supply chain. We work closely with our workshops in Spain and Portugal, getting to know our tailors personally and connecting with them on a regular basis. Fair working conditions, reasonable working hours, a safe working environment, a legally binding employment relationship and living wages for the people who make our clothes are essential prerequisites for us in times of fast fashion and excessive consumption."
In addition to its sustainable proposal, Brava has managed to consolidate its growth based on omnichannel. The company began fully as an eCommerce and currently 80% of its turnover comes from the online channel. However, Monells and Barbero realized that the physical factor is very important for fashion, so they soon decided that the next step was to evolve their business model to a hybrid level. In this way they began to market through multi-brand points of sale and, finally, through the couple of physical stores they have in Spain.
Similarly, the importance of foreign markets in Brava's turnover is notable: in 2020 only 8% of sales came from Spanish customers. Therefore, reinforcing the international arena has been one of the latest challenges for the brand, opening a new store in Berlin. Germany accounted for around 35% of total eCommerce sales in fiscal year 2020, making it one of its strongest markets. In addition, it also plans to strengthen its presence in Italy where the brand has been well received by the public.
Sale of Brava Fabrics items at Zalando
Six years after its foundation, the company has a team of 20 people, has managed to acquire more than 60,000 clients and has a solid presence in Europe. By 2019 it had achieved an annual turnover of 2.5 million euros.
On this basis, Barbero and Monells carried out their first round of financing, through Crowdcube and its micro-financing format. Unlike financing through business angels and large venture capital companies, this platform allows investment from 10 euros, something that, according to Iván, allows creating a better visibility strategy and creating brand ambassadors by being able to incorporate the same customers in the process.
Through this investment round, the company managed to raise 430,000 euros, exceeding its initial expectation, which was around 260,000 euros. This capital investment will be directed to improving the brand's catalog and reinforcing the online channel, with the goal of reaching 23 million by 2023.
As part of the drive to achieve this future goal, Brava was selected a few months ago to enter the Lanzadera program, the startup accelerator run by Juan Roig, president of Mercadona, which has supported the sustainability project on which the project is based. Spanish eCommerce business model. With this help, they not only hope to achieve greater growth for the brand, but also to completely eliminate their environmental impact.
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