Lagoped completes €5.7 million funding round, wants to expand internationally
Nicola Mira
On September 15, French apparel brand Lagoped opened its first pop-up store in Paris, in a space belonging to the Vieux Campeur sport apparel and equipment store, at 38 rue des Écoles. While setting up shop in Paris was a milestone for the emerging French brand launched in 2018 and engaged in developing a range of sustainable outdoor activity apparel, its September 19 announcement took it one significant step further.
Lagoped, co-founded by Christophe Cordonnier, Julien Désecures and Pierre Derieux, has in fact announced the completion of a funding round worth €5.7 million. The label raised approximately €3.2 million from private equity firms HPF and Vox Capital. In the operation, Christophe Cordonnier retained a majority stake in the company. And as a bonus, Lagoped also managed to obtain a bank loan worth €2.5 million.
“We are delighted with this funding round, which marks a new stage in our evolution alongside solid shareholders, experienced in retail and business growth,” said Cordonnier in a press release. “This will not only enable us to open the doors of new international markets, but also to increase our online presence. We see the current apparel industry crisis as an opportunity to rethink the sector. Manufacturing clothes that are truly ethical and sustainable meets demand but is necessarily more expensive. It is not enough to modify the value chain to succeed, you need to do everything differently and have a very cheap fixed-cost structure, thanks to the digital solutions that lie at the heart of Lagoped’s model,” he added.
Lagoped intends to grow its staff from 10 people today to around 20 in 2025, and is keen to expand on several fronts. The brand, apparel partner of the Syndicat national des guides de Haute Montagne (the French mountain guides association), wants to partner other bodies and companies. But it primarily intends to strengthen its organisation in order to boost e-tail revenue. It also plans to open three flagship stores and expand internationally. Its investors’ expertise and capital ought to enable Lagoped to progress in two key countries within the European outdoor apparel market, Germany and the UK. Casting its sights further away, Lagoped is looking at Asia, especially Japan and South Korea. Making inroads into these markets should allow Lagoped to reach the €13 million revenue mark by 2028.
