Future sales

Australian designers are now starting to sell autumn/winter 2013. Assia Benmedjdoub talks trends with international brand distributors who have already sold the season in line with the northern hemisphere.

If there was one definitive trend to emerge from the international autumn/winter 2012/13 selling season, it had less to do with garments as the pockets lining them. While global brand distributors such as Style HQ, International Fashion Group International (IFG) and Nick Mascitelli Imports (NMI) specialise in the importation of designer European and US fashions, financial insecurities from these markets is also shifting south of the hemisphere.

“Buyers are coming to the showroom less and less and prefer to make orders from their offices – the trend now seems that no-one puts quantities down while viewing a collection,” NMI sales director Stacey Lamble says, noting an increase in requests for SOR. “Buyers now have less time to spend with the collections to understand them and this means that they are also trying to negotiate more with the suppliers of taking responsibilities for sell throughs.”

Lamble’s portfolio includes coveted designer brands such as Pierre Balmain, Just Cavalli, Karl Lagerfeld Paris, Galliano, American Retro, Ermanno Scervino, Piazza Sempione and N.21 by Alessandro Dell Aqua. For her sales director colleague Shaun Malavich, who handles Eton and Lagerfeld, accessories have proven to be a recessionary relief.

“The downturn has affected the suiting market a little more; shirts, shoes, accessories and scarves in particular are still holding up with some solid growth. People don’t mind paying more if the product is right. Slim is becoming stronger as the male likes the fitted look without too much excess fabric [with ] a trend towards slim-fit shirts. The Eton 8080 twill fabric - priced around $249 - sold well.”

While Lamble reveals agents are now being asked to share the burden for sell throughs, there are strong selling price points. Wholesale prices for her portfolio start from $190 for printed jeans to $350 for some dresses, with $250 having the strongest pulling power.

“Dresses are still selling well, along with the simple black jacket with discreet details and printed jeans sold particularly well in the Just Cavalli collection and knits, cotton and mixed,” she says. “In terms of trend shirts and skirts, which were not selling as well a few seasons back, are now selling a lot better. Skinny jeans are still the winner over all other jean cuts and printed silk seems to be particularly popular.”

Over at Style HQ, which imports a broad spectrum of UK and European designer brands, smarter spending has been felt over the last few seasons. Brands at the firm range from luxury collections such as Paule Ka from Paris and Marc Cain from Germany to more commercial ranges such as Lauren Vidal, Deion, Betty Barclay, Solsen, Gerry Weber and streetwear player Firetrap. Like NMI, its products can be found anywhere from small specialist boutiques and retailers to department stores. Firetrap and Deion brand manager Vanessa Cognetta backs her Style HQ colleagues in noting that buyers have had more definitive budgets this season. Her top selling items were chinos, military jackets and shirts for the men’s category (wholesaling from $59 to $120) to metallic jeans and printed dresses (priced from $69 to 129).

“Conservative buying is back,” she says. “Customers in my segment are reluctant to take risks with the more edgy styles and are keeping their depth in product lines quite tight.”

For Meg Ashpole, who is responsible for designer brands such as Marc Cain and Paule Ka, buyers are also balancing this cautious spending with statement investments. The top-selling pieces from her portfolio this season were 50s inspired dresses and little jackets with a modern edge, with wholesale prices under Paule Ka ranging from $249 to $699. 

“I think that retailers are buying and budgeting with a lot more care, but the good buyers are looking for more unusual and interesting pieces to entice the end consumers rather than just buying safe.”

Style HQ national marketing manager Carys Elliott says that feeding sell through intelligence to suppliers enables the firm to improve its offerings each season. For wholesale orders over autumn/winter 2013, she notes key trends emerging across its many brand offerings.

“Our brand executives across the board noticed a move to more relaxed dressing with knitwear, with oversized and relaxed open styles still very popular in the commercial ranges. However, in high-end Paule Ka and Marc Cain, this trend was bucked as buyers were looking for a more fitted silhouette, moving away from the layered tunic look of the previous season.

“Leather detailing and clean lines were a key trend across all the brands, and skinny leg trousers with stretch fabrication were popular with buyers in all our market segments. Customers were going for natural fabrics and easy care blends. Seasonal colours included winter white, cognac and neutral tones paired with highlights of bright colours; a nice change from the usual darker subdued tones of winter, though they were still present for more conservative buyers.”

In a bid to protect its buyers from added price pressures, Sydney agency IFG has struck a number of deals with US brands to prevent the sale of products to local consumers through international etailers. As reported in Ragtrader’s May edition, this blackout includes True Religion, Paige Denim and AG ADriano Goldschmied with plans to extend this to other labels in its portfolio. Unlike Style HQ and NMI, which count spring/summer as their deepest selling season, the US fall/winter period is the strongest for IFG as deliveries from June to October represent key denim months for Australia.

Similar to selling trends for Style HQ’s Firetrap brand, the distributor has noted strong sales for coated denim, this time across both bright colours and monochrome. IFG brand sales for the season included Paige Denim, True Religion, Fine Collection and Da-nang. Top-selling denim styles included the Paige Ultra Skinny Silk Coated ($RRP299), Paige High Rise Ultra Skinny Stripe ($RRP299), True Religion Coated Denim ($RRP329) and True Religion Leather Jeans (POA). IFG’s Jodie Rogers says prints including stripes, floral and geometrics have continued to be big sellers in black, white, marine, navy and camel.

“Fabrics are super-soft with either a tencel content or silk coating for a luxurious hand feel and superior comfort. Zips have made a strong appearance, either on the side seam or below the front pockets as a statement detail.”

While Australia’s autumn/winter 2013 season might prove challenging on retail floors next year, the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Retail Trade figures hold signs for optimism. The figures, released last month, show that Australian retail turnover rose 0.5 per cent in May 2012 following a rise of 0.1 per cent in April. Coming into the winter season, this saw a majority of industries record a rise including department stores (0.3 per cent) and clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (0.3 per cent).