Sass and Bide to open new doors
Speaking amid frantic organisations for their upcoming fashion parade in New York, the founders of Sass & Bide confirmed plans to boost their retail presence in Australia. True to form, Clarke said they would begin the campaign in their hometown of Brisbane.
While she added the company was also "quietly" looking for further locations in Melbourne and toying with plans for London and New York, the first stage of its rollout was set for the suburb of New Farm. Clarke said this was aimed at marrying their own life-long ambitions with strong local demand.
"Obviously, we'd love to cover every major area here and overseas one day but it's important we find places that represent our brand. Brisbane was crying out for it and of course, we have a special connection with our home town."
The store, located on James Street, is positioned in an area free of sass & bide stockists; meaning that no wholesaling accounts would be compromised as a result of the launch.
In a bid to encourage uniformity across all stores, the space has been designed to comply with the brand's stock-standard aesthetic of white walls, pigeon hole shelving and contrasting wood, iron and fabric fittings.
"It makes sense to carry the theme across all stores," Clarke said. "We have three clearly different areas to represent three different lines - denim, ready to wear and denim and play."
In addition to this, the company will also take part in the upcoming L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival - which runs from March 4 to 12 - to further boost domestic branding. This is a first for the company, which has focused on industry-only events such as Rosemount Australian Fashion Week and its American counterpart New York Fashion Week.
"We felt that Melbourne needed a little bit of love," Clarke said. "We're in Sydney, we've got our Brisbane Store, we've got New York so it's important for us to connect with our Melbourne customers."
In the meantime, Sass & Bide's Brisbane store is set to open its doors in early March.