Editor's Note: Judge not lest ye be fashionable
They are very smart, they are very accomplished, they have very straight hair. But even still, I do not envy Kate Vandermeer or Sarah Gale.
The two industry heavyweights have just wrapped up judging one of the most hotly contested categories of the 2009 Ragtrader/TNT Fashion Retailer Of The Year Awards: chains with over 20 national stores.
Cue, Country Road, General Pants, Cotton On and Sportsgirl are all finalists this year, with the award ceremony taking place at the Sydney Opera House on October 21. And Mr Utzon thought he had a battle on his hands.
After conducting a series of mystery shopping tours across the country and meeting with executives at head office, Gale and Vandermeer sound, quite simply, beat.
“Where do I start?,” Gale exhales as I meet her after a day of judging retailers in Sydney.
Gale has worked as a senior buyer for major fashion companies across Australia, including Portmans, Witchery, Jacqui E, Target and Sportsgirl. She also runs her own fashion consultancy firm, offering strategic advice to clients with annual turnovers in the hundreds of millions. In other words, this is not a woman who is easily flummoxed.
Surely this year was easier to judge than most, with all that economic upheaval sorting the best from the rest? “Not all all,” echoes Vandermeer, who is playing judge for the second year in a row and boasts 15 years of industry experience across brands such as Mimco, French Connection and Decjuba.
“It was a difficult category to judge because all five retailers are exceptional in the first instance – and then each has individual strengths in different areas of the business.”
There were two particular trends that stood out to Gale and Vandermeer this year – the first was a move by retailers to localise store design concepts. Instead of unleashing ‘cookie-cutter’ outfits across the country, chains are starting to adapt in-store branding, fitting and visual merchandising strategies to suit individual suburbs, towns and cities.
The other was “incredible” staff retention policies at two companies in particular – both went beyond succession planning and had specific programs in place to ensure the day-to-day welfare of their employees. No mean feat during a period of dramatic shifts in the job market.
We don’t want to let too much else out of the bag just yet, but here are the finalists for the small chain category: Farage, Armani Exchange, Metalicus, Marcs, Satch and Sheike.
They are very smart, they are very accomplished, they have very straight hair. But even still.
Assia Benmeddjdoub