Summer in Spain

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TWO brands under the Spanish Tendam group, Women’secret and Springfield, held a party and fashion show at the One Ayala Mall on April 19. Ice cream and chips were in everybody’s hands, while models walked on the runway wearing the latest summer styles from Spain.

Springfield is all about “elevated casual,” according to Cris Agloro, SSI Merchandise Manager for Springfield. This season, the Icons Collection is focusing on minimalist, clean looks alongside washed-effect designs. On the runway, this translated to preppy pieces for men, and for women, boho chic looks and toile de jouy style prints.

As for Women’secret, the lingerie and loungewear brand focused on things you can wear at the seaside: the Hibiscus collection showed robes and wraps in bold leopard and subdued floral prints, as well as chic black and white staples, tempered by warm yellows.

Tendam was previously named Grupo Cortefiel, and has its foundations as a haberdashery at Romanones Street in Madrid in 1880, and a shirt factory in the same city in 1933. It came out with its first brand, its former namesake Cortefiel, in 1945. The company changed its name from Grupo Cortefiel to Tendam in 2018. In a tweet from its account @TendamRetail announcing the name change, they said, “Our new name is a reflection of a new impulse to the company that we were, are and always will be.”

The group has several brands, numbering 11, and four of them are in the Philippines: Women’secret, Springfield, Cortefiel, and Pedro del Hierro. Of these, all brands are available in the Philippines through the SSI Group, save for Pedro del Hierro which is available in Rustan’s, SSI’s sister company. The brand representatives did not give any indication that Tendam is bringing in any of the other brands to the Philippines soon.

According to Tendam’s website, it is present in 80 countries with 1,836 points of sale, 37 of them in Asia. Its strongest market is still its home continent of Europe, with 1,348 points of sale there.

Speaking of which, we asked Ms. Agloro how the clothes fit into the Philippines’ record-breaking heat this season. “Summer in Spain is very similar to our summer here. Super hot. You’ll see that our linen pieces, especially from Springfield, are perfect for the Filipino summer.”

Nancy Chua, SSI Merchandise Manager for Women’secret, meanwhile, said, “It’s summer all-year-long for us.” — JL Garcia