Melbourne-based men's footwear company, Aquila, has celebrated its 60th anniversary with a menswear apparel line.
The line, which took 18 months to formulate, has been designed in Melbourne and manufactured in Italy with high-quality Italian linen and Australian wool.
Titled, The Altair Collection, the range presents Aquila customers with woolen and linen suit options in time for the Spring Carnival.
Speaking to Shoe Trader, head menswear developer, Anthony Longo, said that the menswear range is something different for the brand, but fits in well with the overall ethos.
“When we had 50 years we brought in a range called 1958, which was a shoe range to celebrate 50 years.
“So for 60, we thought let's do a clothing range – beautiful Italian fabrics, made in Italy.
“It sits really well with our brand. For us it's all about quality and it's about fashion [and] it's also about timeless style.”
Longo said that there will also be some new footwear styles launching to complement the range, as well as some consumer-facing competitions to add to the celebrations for the big six zero.
“We've got some premium loafers and also some fun kind of loafers in there as well.
“Dress shoes we've always got there, so if [the customer] wants to stick a brown dress shoe with [the Altair range], they can, but there are some other more light Italian [shoes] that will complement that part of the range.
“There [will also] be a few competitions to reward our customer base – think like a $1000 wardrobe giveaway and those types of things – just to show our appreciation for the last 60 years.”
The line starts at $200 for a shirt and ranges up to $1000 for a full suit including pants and item blazers.
The Altair Collection launched on October 8 and is set to be an exclusive, limited-edition line, however Longo said that if it is well-liked by customers, it could stay on.
“It's really limited in numbers to keep it exclusive, so we'll run it until after Spring Carnival, but if we find that it's received well by our customers, we plan to continue on with it as a capsule within our range,” he said.