Kirrily Schimana of KAS Distribution revealed she has been working with the plus size lingerie label to meet the needs of local buyers. As a result, Australian stockists will be the first to get their hands on the debut line of Curvy Kate swimwear.
The range will be available for buyers to view from June 2011, with product to land in stores from September.
“We have developed our own colourway for Australia, after asking our retailers what they wanted,” Schimana said. “Black with white trim was the overwhelming winning colourway we were asked for.”
The swimwear will be available in three styles and sizes will range from an 8DD-18J tops and 8-22 bottoms. The range will feature “more rigid cups”, lower necklines to flatter larger busts and long tankini tops.
“Around 100 stores have already indicated their interest and many of those have held budget for us this summer,” Schimana said.
Exclusive to Australia will also be a new line of lingerie called Classic Curves.
“Our sales agents have had a lot of feedback from retailers that there was a gap in the market for our Curvy Kate shape, but in an unembellished bra for everyday wear,” Schimana said. “So we approached Curvy Kate to sample a t-shirt bra for us to present to our retailers.”
The new t-shirt bra will retail for $74.95 and will be available in nude from July, black from September and white from November. Schimana added its point of difference to other t-shirt bras was its size range – from 8-22 DD-G and 8-18 GG-K – and its lack of padding.
The changes to the brand will be bolstered by a social media campaign to roll out in Australia from July/August. The campaign is called 'Star in a Bra' and is a Facebook-driven underwear modelling competition, the likes of which has already been trialled in the UK. The winner will become the Australian face of Curvy Kate.
“We want to enable our customers to feel good, be a part of the brand and ‘Star in a Bra’ gives them that opportunity,” Schimana said.
KAS Distribution will also adjust its delivery dates for next season, dropping product in stores from November to January instead of January to March, in order to service Australia's busiest retail months.
Curvy Kate was founded in 2009, has 150 stockists locally and its bras retail for between $74.95 to $89.95. Other brands managed by KAS Distribution include Monsoon lingerie, Seaspray and Magic Body Fashion.
Erin O'Loughlin