Streetwear brand G-Star has revealed it is in the midst of a restructure to facilitate the launch of a new Southern Hemisphere collection, set to launch in Australia next year.
The Southern Hemisphere collection, which is set to launch via sales campaign in February and in stores in July 2013, will see product designed and developed specifically for this region.
The range is expected to have the same scope and volume as the current G-Star collection available in Australia – about 700 SKU’s, and will include staples of non-seasonal products with approximately one-third of the range to be seasonal relevant product for the Southern Hemisphere.
In order to ensure all designs for the fledgling collection are on-trend and suitable for the Southern Hemisphere market, G-Star country manager Piet Poelmann said the brand is also in the midst of ramping up its design team in the Amsterdam head office.
“This is a big step, a big commitment and a big investment for G-Star, not only for Australia but also for head office in Amsterdam, where further investments have been made in the design and development teams and a number of new designers have been added to the head office,” he said.
Poelmann added that the introduction of a G-Star Southern Hemisphere collection also marks a significant change in the brand's order, production and delivery cycle, including benefits which will flow on to its 24 mono-brand stores and boasts 200-plus stockists across Australia and New Zealand.
“We always wanted to have the right product in the right season, but had to work with the same production runs as the rest of the world. Hence, we waited with delivery another six months for the right relevant moment of the season. However, new customers did not quite understand how they could commit for orders with delivery 12-15 month later. That is now history,” he said.
“The creation of the Southern Hemisphere range will cut the order time by six months. So, where normally stores/stockists order the delivery for a delivery time of 12 months later, with this collection they will now order with a delivery time of six months later – a substantial cut in delivery times.”
According to Poelmann, the launch of the Southern Hemisphere line will also impact on G-Star's marketing and campaign process, with brand ambassadors going forward set to model both the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere collections on the same set, to ensure product in-store campaigns mirrors store stock.
