When Rebecca Davies first came to Australia from London in 1994 the canny marketer immediately sensed an overwhelming lack of local fashion, so she decided to stay and do something about it. "There really wasn't much in the way of Australian clothes at the time," Davies recalls, speaking from her holiday house in the NSW southern highlands. "As a models' agent I'd seen all the big fashion shows in Paris and London and in comparison Australia was Hicksville in terms of fashion. It was very amateur hour. People in the industry would poo-poo Australian product." And so the label known as 'Bare by Rebecca Davies' was born. Ten years later with nine stores in Australia, plus a further eight opening in the next few months, as well as a long-term contract with David Jones and a successful wholesaling business in Australia, the USA, UK and Asia, it is one of the many Australian fashion labels making a mark internationally. And it seems the global fashion community can't get enough of our antipodean style. Collette Dinnigan's range of feminine fashion has been shown on Paris catwalks since 1995 and is currently stocked in over 100 boutiques worldwide, including her own shop in London's exclusive Chelsea Green. Dinnigan's net worth, as estimated by BRW magazine, stands at $20 million. Hot jeans label Tsubi is on sale in over 150 outlets in Australia and the USA, including a flagship store in New York City, giving its three founders an estimated net worth of $19 million. The demand for Australian fashion in the USA has led to the opening of specialist boutique retailers, We of the Never Never and Sheila – both in Los Angeles – as well as stand alone boutiques for 'frock star' Leona Edmiston, who has a new store opening on LA's Sunset Boulevard this month. Fashion designers from Down Under regularly stage well-received previews of their ranges from Dubai (Camilla and Marc Jayson Brunsdon) to LA (Wheels and Dollbaby, Dogstar, Toni Maticevski) and every fashion capital in between. Davies explains the growing international appeal of Australian fashion as a matter of seeking out that which is unique and original. "In the '80s and '90s it was all about the designer label, the big fashion houses," Davies says. "Now customers are far more discerning and are looking for something unique, new and different. In a very short space of time the design entity in this country has pulled its socks up." Lydia Pearson, one half of the creative force behind luxe clothing brand Easton Pearson, has also witnessed a massive attitude change in recent years. When she and business partner Pamela Easton first launched their label from the back verandas of their Brisbane homes they couldn't even admit they were from Queensland for fear of instant rejection. "The fashion buyers in Sydney thought we were from Melbourne and those in Melbourne thought we were from Sydney," Pearson smiles. "We could never admit we were from Queensland or we'd never even get an appointment to see them." "The market is much more open minded now than it was 10 years ago," she continues. "Back then, if it didn't come from Europe then it wasn't worth having. Now people are keen for something individual and unusual. They don't mind where it comes from, and it's almost an exotic advantage to be from somewhere almost unheard of in the fashion sense." Some fashion writers have suggested the Brisbane-based brand may indeed be Australia's first ever true luxe fashion line, and buyers around the world seem to agree. Over 65 per cent of Easton Pearson's product is exported. In dollar value their most important export market is the USA, closely followed by Japan. They're also very popular in boutique fashion stores throughout Italy and in the Middle East's Dubai, Kuwait and Qatar. And it's not just Australia's female lines of clothing with which the world is falling in love. Four years ago an upstart brand by the name of aussieBum appeared in the men's swimwear and underwear market. Its founder, Sean Ashby, was very quickly told by major department stores that nobody would ever buy his nylon swimwear – so in order to prove them wrong he built a website and began selling online. The aussieBum brand now turns over $10 million annually, and is growing at a rate of 20 per cent per quarter. Amazingly, Australian sales make up just 10 per cent of aussieBum business. Europeans account for 40 per cent of sales, and Americans a further 35 per cent. "It's really a lot of bloody hard work," Ashby, a self-confessed 'Aussie bum', laughs. "I used to boast about how I'd work in the morning then go to the beach in the afternoon. The only time I do that now is when I go to meet with one of the surf clubs we sponsor. I really do have a great level of respect for Australian designers as I now know how much crap and bullying they endure to do what they love." Ashby claims Australian fashion is so well accepted around the world because our designers are thinking in global terms. "For Australian fashion to survive it really needs to be relevant globally and not just in our own backyard. There was once a time when only Australian men would wear 100 per cent nylon swimwear – now our swimwear is selling in over 70 countries." Much of aussieBum's success though, Ashby says, is down to the fact that the brand refused to conform to the typical image of men's swimwear – always black, blue or red and always made from Lycra. After rejection by mainstream retailers he was forced to develop new and unique ways to market and sell his product, and while his brand is now found in retail stores around the world, the all-important web sales tool meant he could receive instant feedback from customers. It's this creative use of technology and closeness to market that Ashley Van Krieken, executive director of the Council of Textile and Fashion Industries of Australia (TFIA), says is a great tool to ensure the future success of the Australian fashion industry. "There is not one set of magic items that will guarantee success," he says. "But it's important to develop a brand, a name that is recognised both domestically and potentially overseas. Another important area to concentrate on is quality and finish. And quite a few companies can successfully trade on their closeness to market, meaning less inventory needs to be held and designs can change more quickly due to feedback. Companies that maximise the use of the internet, for selling and for improving supply chain logistics, are also going to have greater chance of success." Research supplied by the TFIA says Australians spend more than $11.5 billion annually on clothing and accessories, and another $2.5 billion on footwear and related services. It's a very large pie for designers to split between them and does not even begin to take into account the sales and profit potential of the massive global market. "It's a modern, vibrant, technology driven sector," Van Krieken says, "and Australian companies are beginning to discover they have a real advantage. We're really seeing the successful companies coming through right now." As with any high-stakes industry, success is never simple. Rebecca Davies says it's too easy to design a wonderful couture gown which will end up costing $5000, but nobody will buy it. The real trick is to develop a range of items of superb quality which sell at a reasonable price. "You need to come up with something that's innovative, fashionable, well-priced and good quality," she says. "It must appeal to the press as well as to a wide age range of the public – that's where it's hard." It is an industry, however, where starting small with little outlay is absolutely possible. Amanda and David Briskin have amassed an estimated fortune of $17 million with their Mimco accessories range, which began with just six small PVC bags. Adelaide-based lifestyle brand Happy House boasted worldwide sales of $45 million last financial year in more than 20 countries, but the brand began modestly when Tiffany Manuell designed gift tags and hawked them around to local gift shops. "When we started we put in $8,000 each," says Lydia Pearson. "We worked off our back verandas and had one girl who used to help us make patterns and another who made samples for us. Now Easton Pearson has about 100 stores worldwide and we employ 35 to 40 full time staff and a lot of part time staff." "It's very hard work, but we have a very exciting and wonderful life because of it," Pearson concludes. "We get the chance to meet people all over the world who are passionate about the same sorts of things that we're passionate about. It's completely fulfilling and we still have fantastic fun every single day." Hey, Big Spenders Women's clothing: $4.2 billion © Chris Sheedy/the hard word |
