The hard sell

Despite retailers, manufacturers and designers continuing to be substantial importers of clothing, IBISWorld predicts the clothing wholesale industry will grow consistently in the short to mid-term future. The business information firm forecasts that over the next five years, revenue in the Australian industry will grow at an average annual rate of 2.2 per cent a year to reach $6.85 billion in 2014/15. Ragtrader invites Robert Garland, director of sales at Garland Sales and Marketing, to comment on how times have changed for the sector since he started out in the 1980s. Garland has close to 30 years experience in the industry, having been an agent for Lisa Ho, Supre, Discovery and Table Eight.

My first foray into the ragtrade was when my father threw a newspaper at my head while was I was 16 year old lying in bed and hungover in Perth. I heard this strong Yorkshire accent say " Get out of bed and get yourself a job you lazy little sh#t" . I found a job working in retail for then national chain Peter Shearer Menswear and ended up staying there for 15 years, being transferred all over the country. I loved my job and the company, but In 1982 I made the big decision to start out on my own. I decided on a career as a wholesale fashion agent and in my career I have been the agent for Table Eight, Lisa Ho, La Dame Knitwear, Supre, Discovery, Sirocco (from The Hopkins Group) and many other labels.

Wholesale sales were completely different back then, you didn't' have the massive expansion of chain stores, so independent boutiques and small chains were thick on the ground, giving us a much broader market. Cheap Chinese imports were not as strong back then, we were therefore selling a much stronger component of "Made in Australia" and although it was equally competitive, the volume of retailers were much stronger. Being an agent your business is only driven by how successful the product is and in my opinion volume talks. When looking at new brands to represent we are always keen to look at products that complement yet not conflict with the labels we currently look after. We also also look at the value for money component from the consumer point of view, however that does not necessarily mean it has to cheap.

We represent in Sydney metro, four very strong brands from Breakaway Apparel, Black Pepper, Extra Pepper, Yvonne Black and Breakaway. One of the fortunate elements about the brands we represent is that it fits into more mature demographic and that is more financially stable and is not as highly competitive as the younger market. All labels we represent have strong, consistent design and quality at affordable price points and fairly recession proof. Another label we are very proud of is Me First, an Australian made label new to our stable but we believe has a lot of potential.

We are pleased that despite the global financial crisis we have even had strong growth this season by 30 per cent, which my wife jokes that is due to her joining the business after making the move from advertising sales. The key to a successful fashion agency hasn't changed in all the years. It's as strong as it's brands you represent; well presented in a modern, attractive showroom; strong relationships with both your clients and suppliers and of course hard work.

What are your thoughts? Does it make good business sense to specialise in more mature age fashion categories?