SoHo’s New Finnish Line

Napapijria, the European sportswear brand owned by VF Outdoor Inc. (Montreal), is opening its first U.S. flagship, on Mercer Street in New York’s SoHo.

The store is scheduled to open in spring 2006. Though the outdoor lifestyle adventure brand was founded in Italy, Napapijria is derived from the Finnish word for Arctic Circle.

“It’s the part of the brand’s U.S. retail roll out strategy,” said Michele Colonna, director of marketing and visual merchandising. “SoHo represents a convergence of culture, art and fashion. We believe that the Napapijria brand, with its international appeal and iconic styling, is well positioned to take advantage of the eclectic group of visitors and residents who shop in SoHo every day.”

The new store will showcase the brand’s signature men’s and women’s apparel and accessories as well as a small assortment of childrenswear in 2000 square feet of selling space on one floor.

A glass entrance door and wall-to-wall steel-accented windows will allow natural light to stream in. Printed backlit glass walls will feature brand imagery utilizing a sublimation technique allowing them to change every six months to reflect a different theme each season. The dressing rooms will be discreetly positioned to the left of the entrance behind one of the printed glass walls. The accessories area will feature leather cube seating, wall product displays and floating oak cash wraps embedded in the staircase leading to the adjacent area.

The product will be displayed in the back of the shop, utilizing chestnut wood slices covering the floor and the two opposing walls. The fixtures will be removable in order to accommodate various shelving and steel bar configurations. The Napapijria brand will be infused into the environment via the use of signature overhead lighting, oak fixtures and sanded wood blades suspended from the ceiling and printed with the brand's iconic logo and graphics.

All furnishings and fixtures were designed exclusively by Studio DeCarlo Gualla (Milan), which has collaborated with Napapijria on recent store openings all over the world.

Napapijria was founded in 1986 in Aosta, Italy, and acquired by VF Corp., in 2004. There are currently 17 retail stores in Europe and an upcoming flagship in Tokyo. VF hopes o have 55 Napapijria brand stores worldwide by 2010.