In the current retail climate - with competition from both online and overseas retailers - Australian businesses are broadening their product offering and expanding beyond products that may have been working for them for decades.
In the last six months alone, Shoe Trader has reported on seven brands, including Billini, Champion Australia, Alice McCall and Von Routte, expanding into or outside of, footwear.
Recently, Shoe Trader spoke to Aquila's head menswear developer Anthony Longo, as the footwear brand is celebrating its 60th year in business with a menswear collection.
He delved into diversification in the shoe business and what Aquila is doing to stay relevant in the current retail climate.
"For us, we like to diversify. Because we're not really a business that is traded on highs and lows, peaks and troughs – especially I think also because we're in menswear – we like to see a steady climb, a steady increase, rather than you're hot for six months and then you drop off.
"So we diversify more to offer our customer some extra things to bite into and to stay relevant with trends.
"I mean there's this whole sneaker thing now – which we're not really renowned for sneakers – but within the next six months we'll be introducing some casual sneaker options.
"[This is] just to give our customer – who some of are a little bit more mature and probably don't want to be walking around in a Nike – just to give them something that they can wear and still feel stylish and relevant, without feeling perhaps like their 20 year old son.
"Even through the menswear range, even the suiting, we're pulling back on that and introducing more separates.
"So still, 'wear to work,' but it's not the full top-to-bottom suit look, and it gives the customer some variation in how they can wear it.
"So it's not just your work uniform or your weekend uniform, it's just your wardrobe, and you can just wear whatever you want on any day, rather than pigeon-holing types of clothing for certain daily events."