Bestseller Brings Iconic Brands Back Into Culture With Influence at Scale

About the brand

Founded in Denmark more than 50 years ago, European fashion group Bestseller has a wide portfolio of international ready-to-wear brands spanning womenswear, menswear and childrenswear. With a presence across Europe, North America and Asia, the group brings together brands with strong, clearly defined identities, each speaking to a specific generation, style and mindset.

In France, Bestseller runs 19 active brands, ranging from youth-driven labels to more established names. That diversity is both its strength and its challenge, especially when it comes to influencer marketing.

The challenge: relaunching an icon while managing influence at scale

When Topshop officially returned to France, the pressure was on. Once a cult-favorite British fashion chain, Topshop had been absent from the French market for nearly a decade. Its relaunch at Printemps Haussmann, the celebrated Parisian department store, was more than a store opening — it was a cultural moment designed to reestablish the brand in brick-and-mortar retail while supporting its e-commerce business.

“Topshop is a very global, very iconic brand,” said Corentin Lardy, Bestseller's marketing and PR coordinator for France. “The challenge was to reconnect with people who already knew the brand while also making it relevant for a much younger generation.”

But Topshop is just one brand in a much wider ecosystem. In France, Lardy oversees influencer and PR activations for 19 Bestseller brands, each with its own audience, tone and calendar, from youth-oriented labels to more classic fashion players.

“With that many brands, you can't work on instinct,” he said. “You need structure, segmentation and visibility across everything you're doing — and that's where Kolsquare comes in.”

The strategy: structured influence, brand by brand

Rather than treat influencer marketing as a single channel, Bestseller approaches it as a brand-by-brand discipline, closely tied to PR, events and cultural moments.

Using Kolsquare, Lardy organizes activations across Bestseller's key French brands, including Vero Moda, Selected, Pieces and Only, alongside major launches like Topshop. The platform lets him segment creators by brand, audience, geography and platform while keeping a clear view of what each brand is doing.

“Kolsquare gives me access to a huge database and lets me really segment and activate the right profiles for each brand,” he said. “I use it for everything — gifting campaigns, paid activations, events, even press trips.”

That structure also lets him run more local, tactical activations. During a summer festival activation in Cannes, for example, Kolsquare helped him find creators based on the French Riviera — a network he couldn't have reached through personal contacts alone.

“Kolsquare helps me focus my efforts on the profiles that actually make sense,” he said. “I can see the data, validate the profiles and move fast.”

Creator selection and content: heritage meets Gen Z

The Topshop relaunch shows how Bestseller balances brand heritage with youth culture.

For the launch event at Printemps Haussmann, Lardy deliberately built a mixed creator lineup: fashion creators with long-standing ties to Topshop alongside younger profiles discovering the brand for the first time.

“We had creators in their 20s who knew the brand name but not the history,” he said. “And others in their 30s, 40s or even 50s who remembered Topshop very well. What was interesting is that their audiences reflected that, too.”

Kolsquare's audience filters were key to striking that balance. Instagram was the main platform, backed by TikTok to reach younger audiences and tap into current fashion conversations.

Kolsquare's role: a daily tool, not just a campaign platform

For Lardy, Kolsquare isn't a nice-to-have — it's an essential part of his workflow.

“I use it several times a week,” he said. “Kolsquare lets me manage all my brands with a global overview while still going deep into the details when I need to.”

Beyond discovery and segmentation, the platform helps him track who is already talking about Bestseller brands, monitor performance and spot creators with long-term potential.

“It's really useful to see who mentions the brand organically,” he added. “When someone performs well, it immediately opens the door to bigger collaborations.”

During large-scale events like the Topshop launch, the platform also proved essential on the operational side. With about 200 guests, including roughly 150 creators, managing invitations, approvals and post-event content took tight organization.

“Kolsquare really helped us manage everything,” Lardy said. “From guest lists and approvals to pulling content after the event, it made a big difference in our ability to track and report results.”

Results: strong engagement and renewed cultural relevance

The Topshop relaunch delivered strong, tangible results. Content generated around the event hit an engagement rate close to 5%, with an estimated Earned Media Value approaching €500,000 and reach nearing one million — all driven by a single launch moment.

“These were very good results, especially for a return to the market,” Lardy said. “The level of engagement really proved that people were excited about the comeback.”

Beyond the launch itself, the biggest result is structural. Today, Lardy estimates he works with close to 1,000 creators a year across organic and paid initiatives for Bestseller in France, all managed and tracked in Kolsquare.

From bringing an iconic UK brand back into the spotlight to managing day-to-day influence for some of Europe's most recognizable fashion labels, Bestseller has turned influencer marketing into a structured, scalable growth lever.

“Kolsquare really supports me in everything I do,” Lardy concluded. “It saves time, brings clarity and lets me be much more strategic.”

Want to bring structure, culture and performance together in your influencer strategy? Book a demo with Kolsquare and see how influence works at scale.