Orchestra

 In July 1995, Chantal and Pierre Mestre founded Orchestra. Their aim was to create a children’s clothing brand and develop a unique distribution model. Orchestra started by opening a few small branch stores, then developed its franchise business from 1999 onwards. In 2006, the concept changed, with the development of out-of-town stores. These "Big Orchestra" stores featured a wider selection of products and offered more services. From 2006 to 2009, Orchestra continued to develop its out-of-town stores near French cities, as well as expanding into seven new countries.

oosted by the success of the scheme in the pilot stores, Club Orchestra was rolled out in Spain, then in France, Belgium, and Switzerland. Orchestra also continued to expand its network of stores, opening a new flagship in Paris. This was followed by further stores in Madrid and Barcelona in 2011. A new online store was also launched, along with a subsidiary in Greece. Orchestra continued to expand abroad in 2012, creating subsidiaries in Turkey and China with a view to developing distribution networks for the brand in these markets. The first Orchestra store opened in Istanbul in September, along with two flagship stores in China: the first in Beijing in August (250 sq. m, 2,700 sq. ft), and the second in Shanghai in September 2012 (550 sq. m, 5,900 sq. ft).

In 2012, Orchestra also branched out into the childcare market. Orchestra had been an active player in this sector since 2002, when it purchased Swiss network Babycare. In April, it opened the largest childcare store in France, located just 5 minutes from Montpellier and covering 3,000 sq. m (32,300 sq. ft) of retail space dedicated to young parents, babies, and children.