Acting CEO of the Sydney-headquartered brand house, Michael Shandler, revealed the company has secured distribution deals for its brands Aztec Rose and NRG in both the US and Spain.
The company acquired both labels in 2008 and has built them to 300 and 250 local doors respectively.
“We signed a distributor in Spain last week for both Aztec and NRG, a company called Desman Iberia,” Shandler said. “Summer will be their first launch.”
In the US, Krites' year-old sales and distribution office in California has been working to infiltrate retailers including Walmart.
“We did a trial in what Walmart calls their 'club' market to test out our NRG outerwear this last season,” he said. “We were selling one of the highest priced items in their Walmart brand and it sold exceptionally well. We sold it in only 14 stores to test the product and to see whether we could get our logistics right.”
Happy with the outcome, Krites is now forging ahead with US distribution, including a deal with a 500-door retailer.
Shandler won't name names, only disclosing the store has picked up 20,000 units of Aztec Rose product which will land in stores in May.
“There are other stores like that that we're in deep discussions with right now to do our own brands as well as some private label business for them. [It's] a new element to our growth strategy.”
Keen to leverage the expanded distribution opportunities, Krites is looking to buy additional, established Australian fashion labels.
“What we're saying now is let's shake the tree and be open about it, say to the market 'if you're a young designer or young business person with entrepreneurial skills ... and you want that leg up to the next level, let's talk,'” he said.
“They've got to have shown they're revenue generating, at least one million dollars [per annum].”
Off limits would be a swimwear label that competes with Krites' existing Aztec Rose or NRG brands, but Shandler said he was keen to investigate all other categories including kidswear and accessories.
“Ideally we'd want to have some sort of ownership of their brand,” he added.
Krites owns a handful of local brands and manages the Australian and New Zealand distribution for international labels such as Religion, Lipsy and Full Circle. The company was founded in 2000.
Erin O'Loughlin