Harris Scarfe reclaims stake in value fashion market
Harris Scarfe will roll out a revitalised fashion offer this winter including its first ever plus size ranges, a slew of new private labels and a French-sourced menswear brand.
General manager of the 43-store retailer, Scott Teal, said the change was part of efforts to cater to an evolving customer demographic.
“What we've seen is a lot of our customers now are between the 30 to 50-year-old age group and obviously they have quite different fashion looks and styles and needs,” Teal said.
The value retailer's national marketing manager, Chris Kontos, revealed it was also a response to observations of a widening gap between the performance of Harris Scarfe's apparel and its other key category, homewares and manchester.
“The homewares business was definitely our strength and it was forever building,” Kontos said. “We just needed to sit back and look at what we weren't doing within our apparel business. We just really weren't on par with our competitors in that respect.”
For winter 2011, private labels in the Harris Scarfe stable will include its first women's plus size brand, Tanya K, first men's plus size brand, Threadstone, and new private label womenswear designs under the brand names Savannah, Inspyr Signature, Luca & Marc and Khoko. Also new on the shelves will be French-sourced streetwear label Fresh, comprising men's t-shirts, denim, hoodies, vests and jackets.
The aim, Kontos said, is to get Harris Scarfe's homewares customers to cross to the apparel aisles.
“She's always been in our midst but we're now attracting her with a much more fashionable offer,” he said.
The 10 private labels that make up 70 per cent of Harris Scarfe's apparel offering will continue to be boosted by the presence of national brands including Van Heusen, Bonds and Fila, and there are more potential brand acquisitions on the horizon.
“We're definitely looking in our brand strategy for apparel to have a lot more national branding,” Kontos confirmed.
The fashion overhaul comes as Harris Scarfe readies to launch an e-commerce platform in April 2011.
“It will be a slow process, a few hot offers and specials, but hopefully by the end of the year we'll be a fully fledged retailer online,” he said. Additional store openings are also a possibility, Teal said.
“Depending on the locations and sites, it would also be great to expand between five to eight new stores every year,” he said.
Harris Scarfe's apparel retails between $9.95 and $79.95 and is manufactured in China. The company was founded in 1850 and also has substantial underwear and footwear divisions carrying brands such as Diana Ferrari, Milleni, Triumph and Bendon.
Erin O'Loughlin