An experience shop is how the young Swedish car brand Polestar calls its new showroom in the Van Baerlestraat 2-4, close to the Vondelpark.

The Swedish electronic performance car brand Polestar shows its models in a modern space. You can touch the models, the Polar 1 and Polar 2, and through interactive displays and virtual reality, learn more about a car that is characterised by Scandinavian simplicity and transparency. Demos are also available for a test drive.

‘We have made our cars as uncomplicated as possible,’ says Thomas Ingenlath, ceo of Polestar. ‘We also do this with our experience shops, which are more reminiscent of an art gallery than a traditional showroom.’

He explains that the Polestar staff who welcome interested parties to the Polar Spaces are not on commission and are not targeting targets, but rather want to convey their enthusiasm for everything that makes a Polestar unique.

Polestar is an independent Swedish car market, which was founded in 2017 by Volvo Cars and Geely Holding. The car brand now has branches in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Eindhoven and Leidschendam.

At the end of 2019, the car brand debuted in the Netherlands with the Polestar 1, which combines two electric motors with a powerful petrol engine. Three years later, the Polestar 2 followed, an all-electric performance ‘fastback’ with room for five people, an output of 408 hp, 660 NM of pulling power, four-wheel drive and a driving range of up to 470 kilometres. It is the first car in the world with an integrated Android infotainment system.

Polestar plans to introduce new versions of the Polestar 2 in the near future, making the car available to an even broader public. All Polestar branches can currently only be visited by appointment. You can find all the information on polestar.com.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Those who live within the ring of the A10 can now order products, which will be delivered to their home the same day.

This is an initiative of Peddler, a young company (start up) that wants to support local Amsterdam shops and the local economy. Via the website www.lokaalamsterdam.com it is currently possible to order products from around fifty shops. These are delicatessens, florists, clothes shops and wine shops. More and more retailers are joining this delivery service.
Bicycle couriers ensure that the purchased products are delivered the same day, completely contactless.

The corona crisis is severely affecting the middle city. Retail advisor Bureau RMC reports a drop in the number of shop visitors of more than 70%. As a collective, united in Local Amsterdam, local retailers can guarantee their continuity and improve their online visibility, the initiators say.
Click here for more information.

Recently, Schaap en Citroen Jewellers opened a ‘Pre-owned & Vintage Watches’ boutique in the 5-star Conservatorium Hotel in Amsterdam. With this boutique, next to ‘The Schaap & Citroen Diamonds Boutique’, the jewellers add a brand-new concept to their portfolio. The boutique is located in the so-called ‘Van Baerle Shopping Gallery’ in The Conservatorium Hotel and is designed by Rob Feenstra.

For over 130 years, Schaap en Citroen has been active as an authorized sales-address of many leading Swiss watch brands. The knowledge of mechanical clocks, extraordinary complexity and unique models cover the complete watch spectrum. This knowledge and the increasing demand for pre-owned watches was the best combination to open a ‘Pre-owned & Vintage Watches’ boutique.

If a customer likes to sell a watch or a collection, the watch can be traded or a new product can be chosen. Advantages of selling a watch through or to Schaap en Citroen is the fact that the customer does not have the high-security costs, the price is realistic and in line with the market conditions of the watch and the smooth handling of the whole process.

Valuation

After the valuation, the customer is given the options to trade the watch to the Jewellers or have it sold with consignment on the Internet. Even if the client is unable to visit one of twelve Schaap en Citroen Jewellers stores, the entire procedure can be arranged online via schaapcitroen.nl.

Schaap en Citroen is a Dutch jeweller’s brand with a history going back as far as 1888. Nowadays, there are twelve Schaap en Citroen establishments throughout the country, in cities like Amsterdam, Den Bosch, Den Haag, Eindhoven, Groningen, Haarlem, Rotterdam and Utrecht. Schaap en Citroen Jewellers is definitely aiming for the future yet valuing their traditional morals.

Longines

This house of jewellers offers names like Rolex, Patek Philippe, Hublot, Roger Dubuis, Zenith, A. Lange&Söhne, Breguet, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, Cartier, Panerai, Piaget, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Longines, Blancpain, Breitling, Rado, Chopard, Christiaan van der Klaauw, Omega, Chanel, Tag Heuer, Tudor, Baume &Mercier and IWC.

Jewellery of the brands Pomellato, Piaget, Chantecler, Pasquale Bruni, Serafino Consoli,Piaget, Roberto Demeglio, Casato, Royal Asscher, Tirisi, Tamara Comolli, Shamballa, Oromalia, Noor, Tirisi Moda, Christian Bauer, Mattioli en Bigli.

And of course, the fabulous Jewellery collection by Schaap en Citroen.

Schaap en Citroen Vintage Watches
Van Baerlestraat 27
Amsterdam

A mobile clothing store where customers can order a tailor-made suit, shirt, pair of jeans or shoes. A tailor coming to your home or office to take measures, using a state-of-the-art full-body scanner. Sounds futuristic? Travelling tailor Rutger Vlaming makes it happen with his Suit Truck, causing a bit of a stir in the traditional world of made-to-measure clothes.

His Suit Truck, painted in dark grey metallic, attracts attention wherever he goes. In the back of his truck, Rutger Vlaming uses the espresso machine to make a nice cup of coffee and sits down on a brown leather bench. The broad-shouldered fashion entrepreneur is a keen sportsman who used to play football at a high level. 

Seven years ago, he set up fashion brand Frederik George, the predecessor of Suit Truck. His mission? Making the process of buying clothes easier, faster and more efficient. He started out selling shirts but extended his range to suits, jackets, jeans and shoes – all made to measure. “Men don’t like trying on lots of clothes; they want something that fits straightaway.”

Mobile tailor

Vlaming used to sell Frederik George and a few other brands in his pop-up shop in Amsterdam, but he soon came to the conclusion that waiting for people to walk into his store was not for him. “The modern businessman has hardly any time to find a good tailor. I’d rather visit my customers, but driving to their doorstep in my Smart Car didn’t seem a good idea to me.” 

When walking around at a food truck festival he saw a sushi truck and the penny dropped. However, an old-fashioned food truck, as romantic as it sounds, has a lot of disadvantages. For example, because of the emissions it is not allowed to enter most Dutch cities. So he approached a van and truck manufacturer. “This edition was especially designed for Suit Truck and made in Poland. By the way, the word ‘suit’ in the brand name doesn’t refer to a ‘man’s suit’ but rather to the ‘fit’, as the truck is in fact a luxurious fitting room.”

Thousands of fabrics

With his Suit Truck he drives to companies during office hours to sell their employees perfect-fitting tailor-made clothes, but he also pays home visits to his customers. “Recently I received a special request: a groom-to-be was organizing a dinner party for his best friends. He asked me to drop by and measure a suit for every dinner guest.” 

At the moment there are two Suit Trucks on the road. One truck is fitted with a rack of garments. “The customer puts on a shirt or jacket and I use pins to get the perfect fit. The customer can choose from more than a thousand fabrics.” He opens a sample book: “Everything is possible: plain colours, chequered, pinstripes or a bold pattern. The type of buttons and the lining can be personalized as well. It’s my job to guide the customer through this process. Usually, fitting and choosing a design, fabric and all the details is done within one hour.”

Revolutionary

The other truck, which he uses half of the time, is equipped with a full-body scanner in order to make measuring easier and more accurate. Vlaming explains how it works: “Wearing only his boxer short, the customer steps into a sort of fitting room, closes the door and presses a button. Several cameras take pictures while a grid pattern is projected onto his body. Within two seconds we receive all the measurements we need. The customer can check his avatar online and see how a piece of clothing looks on him. This way it’s very easy to change the colour or the type of fabric.”

This advanced technology is still in development and Vlaming is busy experimenting. “I use the truck with the full-body scanner for two weeks in a row and then I’m fine-tuning it to adjust it to the demands from the market. And I’m working on setting up a link with our web shop.”

Less textile waste

Suit Truck is not the only company experimenting with a full-body scanner. “But I dare to say that we’re the only ones who are making it work, thanks to a couple of secret applications”, Vlaming says with a wink. Most companies use a body scan to help customers find the size they need for a particular brand, in order to reduce the number of returns.

“We primarily scan for production but in the future we will also use it to produce a size chart. A nice way to battle textile waste as returned articles won’t need to go back into the store. Tailor-made clothing is sustainable by definition. We only sell what people are really going to wear and that means we produce a lot less.”

Former pro footballer Levchenko as brand ambassador

Vlaming believes that reusing textiles has the future. He recently launched an exclusive bespoke suit made of hundred percent recycled fabrics: unique in the textile world. For this project he worked together with the Dutch-Indonesian weavers collective Khaloom. 

The first suit was made for former professional footballer Evegeniy Levchenko, a brand ambassador for two fashion start-ups. During a photoshoot at the stadium of AFC football club in Amsterdam last summer, Levchenko wore a self-designed recycled suit made by Suit Truck,. Vlaming: “These days, sustainability is still being used as a marketing tool, but it should really become the standard.”

Ripple effect

The fashion entrepreneur makes no secret of his ambitions: he wants to scale up as quickly as possible and roll out more of these trucks in order to achieve nationwide coverage. Then he is going to set up a franchise system to cover other European countries and in the near future he would like to enter the US market. 

“I feel the concept could work well over there because of the vast distances. Moreover, there are a lot of clustered areas with a high concentration of people. We could drive to a business district or to a college campus. Suit Truck is aimed at progressive, fashion-conscious men with little time and it is my mission to provide an efficient service to them.”

Suittruck
T 085 514 6431
E welcome@suittruck.com
W www.suittruck.com

A very personal way of getting into the realm of fragrances, that’s what Otentic Perfumes offer in their shops. And guess what, they’ve just opened a new store in Stadshart Amstelveen!

The world is flooded with new fragrances: all the big brands are trying to lure consumers with beautiful vials and impressive media campaigns, using celebrities as ambassadors. There’s just one issue: these companies shy away from talking about what’s really important – the vial’s content, the personal preferences of individuals and the way different ingredients work together to form a harmonious scent.

Otentic Perfumes offers their clients the opportunity to choose their own perfume, providing a different, more personal way of getting into the realm of fragrances. And you sense that as soon as you walk into their tastefully decorated store: the various perfumes are presented in a unique way, so you can concentrate on the thing you’re looking for: a wonderful perfume that smells so nice it seems to be made especially for you.

The delicate, high-quality compositions are not classified into ‘dreams’ and ‘stories’, but into eight popular fragrance styles stemming from classic perfumery, with each fragrance divided into eight different scents. Crucially, Otentic does not believe in the traditional difference between fragrances for men and women. Flowery scents are not just for women, nor is wood a typical fragrance for men. It is all about the scents you as an individual like, finding a perfume with a smell that’s pleasant to you and ‘connects’ with you as a person.

Otentic Perfumes
Binnenhof 35
Amstelveen

Eighteen months ago, Laurens Jan Blok was appointed CEO of Van Gils Fashion, the oldest Dutch brand in men’s fashion. Van Gils is best known for their suits, but they have so much more to offer, including two brand-new collections every year aimed at the middle and higher segments. Their flagship store at Van Baerlestraat is a showcase of the iconic Van Gils experience. 

For fifteen years, Laurens Jan Blok wore navy blue tailor-made suits, just because that’s what was expected of him in the finance positions he held at Ahold, Heineken, Nestlé and Sara Lee. But now, even though it is still winter when we meet him, he’s walking around in white trousers, blue loafers, a jeans shirt and a stylish blue chequered jacket with a white pocket square. “A few years ago, I would never have worn this but I feel really good in it.”

Since he became CEO of Van Gils Fashion in 2017, Blok has been trying to change people’s dress sense at his men’s club and in his circle of close friends. “Men often know how to dress formally but they’re making a hash of it when it comes to leisure wear. They often wear a sweater in their spare time and that just looks awful, I think. I started wearing a jacket in a different colour than my trousers and that looks stylish and sporty. In a joking manner, I asked the members of my club via Whatsapp if they could please wear something more stylish next time and most of them actually started doing that, which is very nice to see.”

Target audience

Van Gils has a pretty broad target audience. “Basically, all men between 25 and 60 years old. In our marketing and advertising we deliberately use a ‘mental age’ of 35. Those who are younger would love to be 35 and the same applies for those who are older than that mental age. And I’m talking about real men, those who do not wear overly formal clothes.”

The Road to Success is pivotal to all marketing statements made by Van Gils. “Living one’s life means going through ups and downs. I don’t like the picture painted by Italian brands in which everything is just perfect. In my opinion, you need ugly things in order to be able to appreciate beauty; it’s all about contrast, the one cannot exist without the other.  And it’s alright if there’s a bit of friction – as long as it is done in style, with a smile and a healthy dose of self-mockery.”

Road to Success

And to achieve that Road to Success, Van Gils offers a formal business look, a smart casual look and an informal look. For just 399.95 euros, customers can buy a smart suit that fits very nicely. A tailor-made suit starts at 499 euros, going up to… whatever one’s budget allows. By mixing and matching you can use your imagination and create all kinds of stylish combinations. Customers will be spoiled for choice as twice a year Van Gils brings a new collection reflecting the latest trends. “That makes us unique. It speaks volumes that other companies are trying to copy us.”

The Van Gils collection consists of brand statements, fashion needs, seasonal essentials and an assortment of basics. “This company has so much more to offer than the suits most people associate the name Van Gils with.” They sell shirts, jackets, shoes and various accessories such as ties, bags and polo shirts – all very stylish leisure wear. Casual Friday? Van Gils has developed a separate line for this phenomenon, with trendy chinos, denim shirts and knitwear.   

Responsibility

The company’s Green Stitch line is testament to the fact that Van Gils is trying to help reduce waste in the fashion industry. “It is a special line containing recycled wool, for example. We find it important to follow these developments and we like to take our responsibility.”

At the Zuidas, Van Gils is available Gentlemen’s Place, although it mainly sells suits. To fully experience this iconic brand, go to the Van Gils flagship store at Van Baerlestraat in Amsterdam. This is where all new Van Gils collections are on display. Alternatively, one could go to the brand store at Stadshart Amstelveen. 

Less formal

“Here at the Zuidas, we notice that things are changing. Lawyers and bank managers are starting to dress more casually on Thursday – no tie, for example. Due to all the hip internet companies it has become more and more accepted to dress less formally. At the same time, whenever I attend fashion shows in Italy, I see that brands like Prada and Gucci – real trendsetters – are re-introducing the suit.”

“That’s why we’re not only offering tailor-made suits but a large collection of basics as well. These are easy to combine with other garments so customers can alternate between business formal and smart casual. And with those basics they’ve got something stylish to wear at the weekend as well – after all, that’s what everyone wants, right?”

Long tradition

The Van Gils fashion brand represents seventy years of experience, tremendous know-how and a long tradition. “This adds a lot of value to our company. And let’s not forget that we operate in many countries: Belgium, The Netherlands, Jordan, Lebanon, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Morocco and Iceland. Not that long ago, Van Gils was bigger than Hugo Boss – Italians really appreciate it when I remind them of this.”

Perhaps the love for this brand and its authenticity has ebbed away a bit, Laurens Jan Blok says, but that will surely change. “By using storytelling we’re going to communicate more clearly what Van Gils stands for and show people that we’ve got much more to offer than just a nice collection of suits.”

One thing is certain: brand awareness won’t be an issue. “It’s great to notice that practically everyone knows Van Gils! And if you ask someone which brand of car they associate with Van Gils they say:  Mercedes Benz. That’s wonderful, isn’t it?”

Van Gils Flagship Store Amsterdam
Van Baerlestraat 74
Amsterdam

Van Gils Brand Store Amstelveen
Binnenhof 18
Amstelveen

Caption: Laurens Jan Blok, CEO Van Gils Fashion
Photo: Unmask Photography

Seven female entrepreneurs join forces at House of Artisans. All products of the seven different brands are innovative, sustainable and tailored, or even custom-made. From heels without pain to stylish, yet comfortable, sports dresses and beautiful handbags.