SYDNEY: Victoria's Secret stores may roll out in Australia as a result of Specialty Fashion Group's new relationship with the lingerie brand's US parent company, Limited Brands.
Victoria’s Secret stores may roll out in Australia as a result of Specialty Fashion Group’s new relationship with the lingerie brand’s US parent company, Limited Brands.
Specialty Fashion Group has recently acquired a 10-year licence to operate the La Senza lingerie label across Australia and New Zealand, which is also part of the Limited Brands stable.
Chief executive officer Gary Perlstein said he will be working with Limited Brands to explore a similar arrangement for other Limited Brands labels, with Victoria's Secret a key possibility.
He did not reveal a time frame for this plan. "We will keep that under wraps," he said.
The La Senza licence was formerly held in Australia by Singapore-based company FJ Benjamin, with four stores in operation.
Perlstein said the company intends to roll out 100 La Senza stores within three years. It will develop 10 stores within the current financial year.
"Any state will be appropriate; it will just depend on what sites are available and when," he said. Perlstein said both street and shopping centre locations will be considered.
"We have a list to cover the main centres most people are aware of," he said.
The group will also take over Australian e-commerce operations for the label.
"It will be obviously be tailored to the Australian market but it will have the full feel of the global brand.”
It is the first international licence for Specialty Fashion Group, which operates its own womenswear brands Millers, Crossroads, City Chic, Autograph and Queenspark. Perlstein said La Senza will complement this stable and suit the group's existing customers. "We have six million women who are on our database, all who wear intimate apparel," he said.
Key attractions to the brand are limited competition in the mid-price, fashion-focused lingerie market and its unique retail format, he said.
"What evokes the emotions [in store] is a fun, flirty, sexy feel, based on the concept of pin-up [model]. There is a cheeky feel, with neon lights inside the stores. It is the colouration, the fabrications, and a really strong fashion feel."
Perlstein said new product will be dropped into stores every week. The roll out will be backed by a public relations push and direct contact with the group's database members.
Specialty Fashion Group had 837 stores across its portfolio at the end of June. Perlstein said 20 more have opened since July 1 and another 40 are due to open in the current financial year. It reported an increase in net profit of 35 per cent for the 2009/10 financial year to $30.4 million.
Other brands run by Limited Brands include Pink, Bath & Body Works, CO Bigelow and Henri Bendel.
Melinda Oliver