SYDNEY: Marine lifestyle brand Musto is already capitalising on the collapse of its competitor Line 7.
Musto Australasia has secured a three-year contract with the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), replacing Line 7 as its official uniform supplier and sponsor of its Youth Sailing Academy.
Line 7 Australia was placed into liquidation earlier this year, while its parent company in New Zealand was recently bought out of receivership by fabric powerhouse Charles Parsons.
Musto Australasia managing director Duncan Curnow said the CYCA contract was just the first step in his bid to dominate the sector.
Since taking over the licence three years ago, Curnow has inked seven other agreements of this nature, including the Southport Yacht Club in Queensland, the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania and New Zealand’s Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club.
However, it is Musto’s lifestyle offering which will benefit most from Line 7’s demise, Curnow said. In addition to producing technical clothing for the marine and sailing sector, Musto also creates casual, ready-to-wear collections for men and women.
“It’s really just on the lifestyle front where we’ve taken our opportunities,” Curnow said. “We’ve certainly picked up a lot of business across the Tasman with New Zealand formerly being [Line 7’s] core market.
“In terms of wet weather gear, their collapse has really just led us to strengthen our position as their attempts to take us on in this segment were pretty inconsequential. They really hadn’t made much of a dent in relation to our market dominance.”
Musto Australasia plans to further boost its profile through a sponsorship agreement with Jessica Watson, the 16-year-old aiming to be the youngest person to sail solo around the world.
As part of the agreement, Musto was granted exclusive merchandising rights for Watson’s record attempt, with a range of specially branded polos, rugby jerseys and caps attracting orders from the US, Croatia, the UK and New Zealand.
The range is available exclusively online and includes items for men and women, sized 6-16 and small to XXL respectively.
“She knew exactly what gear she wanted and what her ambitions were,” he said of Watson’s approach.
“We started discussions with the agency representing her as to how we could leverage this from a commercial perspective [and] part of the agreement was that I wanted official merchandise.”
Watson has attracted worldwide attention for her sailing bid, including coverage on Good Morning America and ESPN in the US.
Assia Benmedjdoub