The brand, now wholly owned by former European licensee Robert Bright, has endured a tumultuous run in the past few years, with ownership switches and much negative media coverage surrounding previous owner and founder Tony Hart and his ex-wife Colleen Hart.
The negative press on Moontide Swimwear reached its peak last year when Colleen Hart, who was appointed acting managing director of the label in 2006, was sentenced to 11 months’ home detention after admitting possession of more than $17,000 worth of the class A drug methamphetamine, which she claimed she bought for Hart, to help him through his final days suffering from liver cancer.
However, Bright, who is now global owner and general manager of the revamped Moontide stable, bought the brand IP in 2008 and has been steadily trying to distance the brand name from its former troubles and actively studying the Australian market to prepare the label for a successful relaunch.
The purchase agreement by Bright saw the creation of Moontide Pacific, a new business established to service new and existing Moontide Australian and New Zealand retailers, and saw the Moontide Auckland office closed down, with its designs and operations shifted to Sydney.
“I purchased the label [brand IP] from Tony Hart in March 2008. There was a problem with Moontide [the company] not meeting its legal obligations regarding the name change and other issues, however, these are all in the past and our total effort now is on the future and taking Moontide in Australia back to where it should be,” he said.
“The purchase of Moontide was part of a long-term strategy. While we had a vast knowledge of the European market, we had to gain a real understanding of the Australian market – you have to load your gun before you can start to shoot it. Having got the product more where we wanted it, we think the timing is right now to start on our long-term marketing plan, with the help of one of Australia’s best PR agencies, Hush.”
The label, which plans to expand its collection past solely swimwear with the launch of a new resort wear line scheduled for 2012, has also recently signed New Zealand model Teresa Moore as the face of a fresh global advertising campaign designed to reconcile customers with the revamped brand.
“Moontide has incredible customer awareness in the Australian market and over the past couple of years has slowly regained considerable strength,” Bright said.
“What we are doing is a makeover. Since purchasing Moontide we’ve taken the valuable assets, like our amazing agents and customer base, added to this a new highly experienced design team and taken the first steps to bringing Moontide back to its former glory. We are not afraid to admit we lost ground in Australia in the early part of this decade, but we are building this back and our target is simple, to put Moontide back into the Australian market at the level it enjoyed from the middle of the ‘80s through the ‘90s.”
Moontide, which currently offers swimwear covering up to an “F” cup, also plans to expand its product offering to incorporate a “H” cup next year, and is also looking at changing the schedule of product injections per year. Bright said the brand, currently stocked in 43 countries, will also look towards further international expansion, but there will be no Moontide stand-alone stores as long as he is at the helm of the company. 2011 also marks 30 years of distribution for Moontide Swimwear.
Daniela Aroche