The Perth Sambag store, located on street level at the Claremont Quarter complex, will see the brand join labels such as Zimmerman and Sass & Bide, which have also recently signed on for stores at the Claremont Quarter.
Sambag general manager Alex Connell said the brand, which recently cut stockists in Australia from 60 to 20, is now focused on retail development and the entry into Perth is the first step.
“We've been thinking about Perth for a long time because, being predominantly accessories and shoes, we find it hard to penetrate the market there with the existing set-up of wholesale stores,” she said. “We've always looked at Perth as a market with a tremendous amount of opportunity, because the level of competition over there is a lot less viscous or populated with what we would class as direct competitors.”
Sambag will also launch its new range of silk garments at the Perth store. The line will include approximately 30 styles in various prints and bright colours, with a heavy focus on dresses and resortwear silhouettes. Silk will be the key fabric in the collection, but linen, denim and cotton will also feature.
The silk collection, developed in India, also marks a move away from manufacturing in China for Sambag.
“We went to India in February as an initiation into production there, because we do most of our manufacturing in China currently,” Connell said. “We've built those relationships with China over 13 years, but we know there are certain things that China just can't do, and it's a lot more expensive now, labour is an issue, prices are an issue... so we looked to India.”
Sambag currently has seven stand-alone stores in Sydney, and is also planning the possibility of opening a flagship store in Brisbane in the second half of this year, as well as a store in both Melbourne CBD and Adelaide.
Daniela Aroche