TALLY WEiJL was founded in 1984 by Tally Elfassi-Weijl and Beat Grüring at Lohn in the Canton of Solothurn (Switzerland). The company today is represented worldwide in 31 countries with over 760 stores and employs more than 2'800 staff. In 2011, TALLY WEiJL generated external sales of 515 million euros.The headquarters of TALLY WEiJL, its Service and Support Center, is based in Basel (Switzerland) and the TALLY WEiJL Design Studio in the centre of Paris (France).
HISTORY
THE BEGINNING - All began in 1984 when Tally Elfassi-Weijl created her first fashion designs to bridge the waiting time for the Hotel School in Lausanne. In a small garage in the Swiss municipality of Lohn (Canton of Solothurn), she designed twelve collections per year while studying. Together with Beat Grüring, the company founders – still in their own car at the time – supplied the large Swiss fashion stores and boutiques. The revolutionary aspect was that the sexy trends by TALLY WEiJL were always in the fashion stores within two to four weeks, “just in time” was their key to success.
FIRST STEPS - The two company founders soon had the urge to also sell their new sexy collections in their own stores to be even closer to their customers. As a result, the first TALLY WEiJL store opened in Fribourg (Switzerland) in 1987. In 1993, the newly established TALLY WEiJL company entered the retail business at a very early stage, developed its own store concept and opened further stores in Switzerland with its first franchise partners.
NEW MARKETS - The founders enjoyed what they did and soon ventured into new markets. In 1997, they opened their first store in Germany and three years later the first Polish store. In 2000, already more than 50 TALLY WEiJL stores existed in Europe.
THE BRAND - In 2004, TALLY WEiJL created its first advertising campaign with the “totally sexy” slogan. This is how the brand identity evolved on the basis of the existing TALLY WEiJL values.
INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION - In the last few years, TALLY WEiJL has opened new stores throughout the whole of Europe, at times more than a hundred per year. Today, TALLY WEiJL has more than 760 stores in 31 countries.