Fashion chain e5 opens first outlet store

Belgian fashion retailer e5 shifts up a gear this weekend, opening new stores in Kampenhout and Ninove. In addition, the chain opened Wednesday and first “real” outlet store in Denderleeuw.

“World champion take-back”

On Saturday, the chain will open two additional regular stores, in Kampenhout and Ninove. With the two openings, e5 is closing two holes in its store network, bringing the chain a little closer to its goal of covering the entire Flemish Region.

The same day of the opening also marks the start of the latest edition of the “Refive” clothing collection campaign, in which e5 calls on its customers to turn in reusable clothing. The good pieces (“over three-quarters”, CEO Peter De Sutter told RetailDetail in April) the chain then donates to Oxfam Belgium, which puts the clothing back into circulation. Last season the campaign was such a success (with 1.7 million pieces of clothing collected, or 415 tons), that De Sutter called e5 “world champion in take-back”: “No other fashion retailer does it in this proportion.”

However, e5’s sustainability story does not end there. “Due to the large turnout at our temporary outlet sales at our headquarters in Sint-Niklaas and through our online store, we have decided that there was potential for a full outlet store”, Peter and his brother Kristof De Sutter state in a press release. And they also walk the walk: the chain opened its first permanent outlet store on Wednesday, in Denderleeuw (between Ghent and Brussels).