In the highly competitive and product-heavy market of fashion jewellery, how does one company or one design stand out from the crowd? Fabienne International’s Robyn Wilson tells Ragtrader how it’s done.
For someone who doesn’t have a technical background in jewellery design, Fabienne International’s founder and head designer Robyn Wilson has done rather well for herself since starting the business over two decades ago.
An early interest in psychology gave way to another passion, fashion and jewellery design, while she was on the stereotypical backpacking tour of the world after graduating from university.
During four years spent in the US, Wilson began designing her own jewellery and marketing her designs through trade fairs on that country’s west coast. Upon her return to Australia, she re-established her company as a design and wholesale jewellery business servicing a range of fashion clients, from gift shops and small boutiques to Myer and David Jones.
It has not always been easy – Wilson still can’t believe how an already saturated market still manages to absorb new designers and new products – but jewellery seems to have a tendency to ride out the economic waves that affect other fashion businesses. Even in today’s economic uncertainty, the market is going well.
“From September last year retailers and wholesalers were worried about the economic crisis,” Wilson says. “Retailers in particular were being cautious with their purchases, anticipating a downturn.”
Wilson says her company has just completed the August gift fair, which turned out to be a very healthy, strong exhibition. “Retailers have become more confident,” she says. “Jewellery seems to survive these sorts of situations quite well.”
Having said that, the market does have its ups and downs. It wasn’t that long ago that the market was heavily flooded with very cheap product and prices were crashing. Now, however, it seems to have taken a turn for the better and there is now a strong surge in the higher end of the fashion/silver jewellery market.
This is possibly due to brands such as Pandora, a range of charm bracelets that have proved hugely popular in the teenage and young female market. “Consumers seem to be happy to pay for higher priced products now with good quality components, and this has also given more confidence and revenue to the retailers. Consumers are spending $100 to $300 for a bracelet with charms, whereas not too long ago people were buying things for $19.95.”
Wilson’s own ranges are aimed at the middle market, which in addition to the fact that the products are designed – and the colours and combinations controlled – by Fabienne, means the company has survived and thrived in a cluttered market.
Fabienne produces seven main ranges, including a bronze range incorporating semi-precious stones, enamel and Swarovski crystal; a sparkly range featuring simple yet classic designs in crystal and glass; and a sterling silver range featuring shiny, matte, ice and diamond-cut finishes.
There is also a French range, designed and made in France featuring elaborate, turn-of-the century stampings and castings; and an Etruscan range from Italy, which uses traditional designs with semi-precious stones, freshwater and glass pearls.
There is also the main fashion range, aimed at fashion boutiques, which incorporates the current season’s colours and design trends for summer and winter with supplementary updates throughout the season.
Wilson herself creates many of the designs, predominantly while she is on her international travels. “What is exciting is when you see a lovely colour palette,” she says. “If I go into shops in Europe and they have beautiful colours, that is where I often get the inspiration from.”
She is also very hands on when working with other designers and jewellery makers, collaborating with the designers for the French and Etruscan ranges.
“I do the bulk of my own designs when I’m travelling because I have a great variety of materials there to work with,” she says.
“I go and sit cross-legged in India with a circle of threaders and makers around me and put together designs and get them to make up the samples on the spot. It’s a very grass-roots way of doing things but I find it much easier when I can put my hands on materials and finalise the designs at that time.”
Wilson has also been supplying David Jones with the Fabienne brand and Myer with the Robyn brand for many years, and has been able to put together collaborations that are flexible enough to react to local fashion trends.
“We are supplying a great semi-precious range out of Europe at the moment which is working very well, especially since the market is accepting of higher price points. We have also just introduced a men’s range and a children’s [collection] as well.”
These two new additions are small ranges to start with until the market can be assessed properly, she says. The men’s range consists of simple woven leather wrist-bands, which she will market through existing retailers, while the children’s collection is again an experiment to see if there are enough mums out there who like to buy “fun and cute” jewellery in natural materials such as cotton, bone, metal and shell for their kids: “sort of mini adult versions of trends”.
Overall, the market is healthy and accepting of new products and ranges in the current climate, and it is willing to pay good prices for fashion-forward products, Wilson says.
Innovation is probably the key. “Whatever is happening in fashion in terms of colours, styles and materials, we try to keep up with. It’s always exciting when we get a strong response to a new season’s collection.”