Fraserlive: Gone to Supre
Into this deep archaeological dig has come witty and wistful clobber for teenies and tweenies - preferably without mum behind them unsuccessfully pointing out that sexually seductive dressing is not yet appropriate for them.
Those who have been around for as long as I have will remember the first incarnation of Supre. It was called Superset, a wholesaler of youngish day and evening wear run by the humorous and sometimes hilarious Dutchman, Hans van der Meulen. He specialised in political incorrectness, with his company name and signage clearly aligning itself with massive mammaries.
Hans was laid low with a mahulla or two, though never through conniving or greed but simply through an unconventional attempt to succeed. He once decided to delight his retail customers by sending them eveningwear on consignment. The predictable happened. The gear he got back had was so shabby it could not be reassigned, especially the white garments which were full of finger marks and other forensic evidence. Some had obviously been trial-worn to beery parties. Hans eventually drowned under a tsunami of smelly frocks.
He then became one of the great factory outlet pioneers of Sydney, setting up in a vast former heavy engineering building in Marrickville. He sold cheap knitted garments (fabrics by Standardknit) under conditions that were astonishing. There was one huge open fitting room, checkouts like footy turn-styles and stock that went away to vanishing point. Pop concert size crowds patronised the place and Hans was often called to the car park to break up a fight between mobile food vendors all wanting to feed the multitudes.
Then he went retail and had another struggle. He added all kinds of strange items to the garments with which he was familiar. There were gardening tools and other very cheap hardware, sold to the substantial decibels of a CD department housed in a dark blue cave overseen by a DJ who was all hair and hat.
Out of that, Hans began to attract emerging apparel consumers - the relatively uncontrollable sub and early teens. That's what Supre is today and it's kicking small butt big time.
The interesting question now is how that will fit into the expensive location of Gowings. Supre works on the low price high volume turnover model. I'd guess that quality is not the first consideration, since the apparel would be grown out of, or boredom-discarded, or left behind on the train, before it would be tested for longevity. How many of the target age group will pass by the Gowings corner and enter the subterranean depths of the lower floors? Although I have some doubts, my enthusiasm for Hans and his family makes me want to cheer them on regardless.
:Many unhappy returns
How long should a garment last before it is reasonably categorised as unreturnable? If you buy it from any of the major retailers, especially department stores, time does not weary the return, nor the years condemn. The ladies in black just take it back and pack if off to the supplier - freight collect. But with small retailers, money and stock dynamics are more heartfelt.
A Ragtrader reader did some unintended market research recently on a polka dot (with white The top was worn and hand-washed three times, at which point it was noticed that the fabric had come away from the back seam. Our reader took it back to the shop on March 4 and was told by a sales assistant that several of the tops, all with the same fault, had been returned by other customers. The shop had a no-refund policy but would have allowed the purchaser to select a substitute garment were it not for the invoice which revealed that the allowable "exchange" time had exceeded the seven-day limit.
Our reader protested that this was not a frivolous exchange. It was the return of a faulty garment. But the manager stuck to her policy that the right to return goods expired after seven days whether prompted by a fault or a mere change of mind.
Our reader left the top in the shop. She calculated that it had cost her $17 per wear and wrote a letter of protest to the manager - to which she's had no reply.
I'm not taking sides here, but simply to raise the question: was it worth Lotus Pod $44.95 (probably $20 cost) to lose a customer for good?