Fashion|According to Leino, the current year already looks better.
Former NHL hockey player Ville Leino does not mince words when commenting on last year’s results of his Billebeino company.
“A rough year.”
Billebeino made a loss of around half a million euros with a fair turnover of 4.1 million euros. According to Leino, overall, the clothing industry is going through difficult times. As the most recent example, just on Wednesday, the R/H Studio clothing brand ceased operations.
Leino lists several reasons for Billebeino’s problems: after the corona, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the energy crisis and rising prices came right after. At the same time, the company has, among other things, increased its collection.
“We have tried to do things very professionally. Of course, there is a small risk involved.”
It was good last year too. According to Leino, the inventory has been reduced and more production brought to Europe, but at the same time this has resulted in additional costs.
My own new expenditure item has been the establishment of my own store in Helsinki last year.
“It’s not the easiest thing to do, but we are working hard for it. We want to have a place where people can smell the atmosphere and see the whole picture.”
According to Leino, the current year is already clearly better than last year. It’s not easy, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
“Especially recently it has picked up. We get things done very smartly. Compared to last year’s figures, the situation is quite good.”
A few more years ago, Billebeino invested in padel halls, but since then the company has almost completely withdrawn from the padel business. All that remains is the Kuopio hall and a small part of the Padel X hall chain.
“Padel is quite challenging in many areas. It’s completely overheated now and halls are popping up everywhere and it’s not sustainable,” says Leino.
Billebeino designed padel halls for example in the centers of Helsinki and Turku, but these plans have been abandoned.
“When the Ukrainian war came, all construction melted away. Now it’s actually the same situation, that is, those projects withered away.”
#Fashion #Ville #Leino #comments #Billebeinos #difficult #year
