When export is primary to your business the current economic crisis could be catastrophic. Samantha Docherty speaks to a luxury designer seeking to tackle the situation head on.
Nicky Adamo is one of an increasing number of Aussie designers going global.
Chief designer and managing director of luxury label Julianne, Adamo closed her Australian head office last September to house her loungewear and ready-to-wear business in London full-time.
With 50 per cent of Julianne sales now coming out of the UK (Australia makes up 35 per cent and the US the remaining 15), Adamo says London is the perfect base to access Europe, the US and even Asia.
"By being here I get to spend time with customers and for me it's fundamental to know what our department store customers are buying."
Selling to Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Fenwicks in the UK and Barneys, Henri Bendel and Fred Segal in the US, Adamo says the department stores like to know the brands they stock are accessible.
"They like to think you are down the road. I moved back [to the UK] because it was hard to come back and forth from Australia regularly."
Admitting there is a lot more inspiration for her in the UK than Australia, Adamo says attending trade exhibitions, looking in department stores and the amount of high fashion you can touch, feel and try on really helps to understand what is going on in the UK market.
Expanding from intimates to ready-to-wear over the past 18 months, Julianne's sophisticated dresses and blouses now account for half the business's sales.
Slightly changing the look of the collection that was originally sold in Australia, the ready-to-wear line now caters more to the UK and US markets.
"We've found larger sizes sell a lot more in the north of the UK and [the customers] prefer sleeves", notes Adamo.
"Anything with a sleeve will fly out in the UK but in the beginning my designs didn't have sleeves. UK customers prefer longer hems than Australians also. We probably wouldn't have caught onto this as quickly if still based in Australia."
Launching online boutiques Julianneboutique.com (for the US and Australia) and Julianneboutique.co.uk (UK and Europe) last October, the fashion company is now part of the fastest growing sector in the digital world.
Also stocked on figleaves.co.uk, Julianne offers slightly different styles on each site, allowing the brand to cater to different global markets.
Believing many customers still prefer to shop in-store, Adamo says an online presence gives customers the opportunity to purchase more from the range.
"Each stockist does not have the whole range. We get feedback that some customers will research the range on our online site then go in-store and buy. We have more presence online, plus we are now accessible in regions where we do not have stockists."
Gglobal accessibility could never be more important, she says.
"The UK and the US are not in a good state right now with retail. All the major chains and department stores had 20 per cent off or more before Christmas which is unheard of."
Sales wise Adamo says her company has found things to be quite mixed.
"Some stores are cutting back or said they can't order this season due to uncertainty although they came back and ordered. We also received some of our biggest re-orders in the lead up to Christmas. We had to do a pre-Christmas production run to cope with the excess demand. I think a lot of stores did not order enough for Christmas due to uncertainty and there are still sales."
With the downturn in the economy Adamo ramped up PR and promotions with stores in the lead up to the Christmas period.
"[We did] a trunk show at one of our stockists in Scotland that has really successful stores in Edinburgh and Glasgow. We did a charity event raising money for Breast Cancer and had a Julianne pop up shop in the store.
We had a fantastic turn out and great press. We did a similar event in New York with a store. It really built the brand profile with the stores customers and staff and we have done fantastic re-orders."
One of ten Australian designers participating in Austrade's G'Day USA two-day fashion show in New York during the January 2009 program; Adamo has her sights set on making an impact on the global fashion market.
"We are currently concentrating on the US, UK and Australia but Asia is definitely down the track."