Kanchi flings open wholesale doors
Kanchi Williams is a firm believer in the old adage 'from small
things big things grow'.
With this in mind, the Mosman-based designer has branched out from her
emerging retail operations by launching an accompanying wholesale arm.
Williams' self-titled collection will officially be offered to
international and domestic buyers ? beginning with her autumn/winter
2007 range ? showing in the designer suites at next month's Australian
Fashion Week (AFW).
Williams said the move was prompted by a desire to get her collections
out to a greater audience and boost brand profile.
She stressed her retail operations would not affect potential
wholesaling opportunities because she intended limiting the number of
stockists in each area.
"I enjoy retailing because I can be at the coal face of the trade and
fine tune what women want. But it is a very slow way to grow your brand
because you don't have access to those distribution networks.
"The whole point of my showing at AFW is to appoint only exclusive
stockists."
Targeted at women aged between 25 and 65 and specialising in limited
edition ranges, Williams collections feature "timeless classic" skirts,
dresses, blouses and accessories, manufactured exclusively in
Australia.
Fabricated from silk georgettes, chiffons and silk tweed or knit
sourced from around the world, each piece is sized between zero and
three to "allow women to where what fits based on cut and style, rather
than be dictated to by size".
"I like to describe my range as clothes that are 'effortlessly
glamorous and fabuously comfortable'. If they don't fulfil the
glamorous part or feel uncomfortable, they don't get manufactured."
Price points range from $95 for a scarf to $520 for a dress.
Since launching Kanchi Sydney from a spare room in her own home in
Sydney's northern beaches in 2005, Williams' label has gone from
strength allowing her to open up a new studio in Mosman.
She has since teamed with government trade body Austrade to identify
potential overseas markets and plans to begin exporting within the next
12 months.