Gérald Marolf

I think it's bad because it takes a piece of aspiration away from the brand and it will make them do stuff on the product that is not necessarily nice.

And you see that with LV or with other brands as well, right, where you distinct a bit more just to be a bit more special, where actually the simplicity or that it's super plain or super, super normal or whatever quiet luxury you want to call it is the power of the product.

And through the imitation, you take a lot of gravitas away.

I'm not worried the moment someone moves.

So I think as people use the product for sports, I'm not worried, but there are definitely other places.

I mean, you said the airport shoe, right?

I think that's complex to solve because it's a compliment.

You make a great, comfortable product.

product, but it's also challenging because, yeah, the product can do more.

And so, yeah, it's not easy to navigate.

I think they anticipated really well and they went to a playbook that was unexpected.

I mean, when the 550 came, no one thought that anyone needs another basketball shoe and it was just Air Force Ones.

They were able to create that with a bit of an outsider mentality and people wore it for a while.

What they did with Teddy's...

Teddy's brand, Emile Andorre, right?

Same thing.

And now it's tough because how do you replicate without just doing more and more and more?

But what they, I think, did incredibly well is that they understood better than others that in that space, it's not necessarily a global market anymore.

They were much more hyper-local, even though it was big, but it felt very local to the right communities at the right time.

They did that exceptionally well.