The MJ Bale collection for David Jones, which currently comprises of only ties and shirts, will be expanded in August to incorporate the entire MJ Bale Classic range, including suiting, jackets, and trousers.
The Classic range will retail from $79 for ties up to $799 for suiting and will be available for purchase at four key David Jones stores nationally, including Market Street in Sydney, Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne and Rundle Mall in Adelaide. The brand is still in negotiations with David Jones regarding the fourth location, in Sydney. MJ Bale founder Matt Jensen said the expansion in David Jones after three seasons of partnership was supported by strong sales over the last few months, and also precedes a new phase of growth for the label.
“David Jones have been terrific in terms of supporting us from the start of the business a couple of years ago and we are working with them to grow the range and the offering through their stores, but we're also rolling out our own platform of retail stores around the country,” he said.
“We've got three stores in Sydney at the moment and we just launched another in Brisbane in May, so we'll continue to work on rolling out our retail spaces and support that with our online presence. We're currently looking at locations, talking with various landlords and we're looking at launching eight to 10 stores in Australia within the next two years. Starting on the east coast, so Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane.”
Jensen has also hinted at international expansion, and said once MJ Bale has reached its Australian store goal, it will look to expand to Australia's western states and up into to Asia.
“People have approached us about Asia, in regards to department stores and stand-alone stores, specifically in mainland China and south-east Asia, and we are certainly interested to expand there once we've got critical mass here, but for now, our primary goal is to establish our retail presence in the east coast of Australia,” he said.
Daniela Aroche