As spring/summer collections finally start to shift off the shop floor, Assia Benmedjdoub asks three boutiques to debate the topic of delivery cycles in Australia.
Bloodorange
Founder: Loren Abood, who opened the store six years ago.
Labels stocked include: Alexander Wang, Lover, APC, Carven, Karla Spetic, Gary Bigeni, Bassike, The Butcher’s Daughter.
Position: Changing weather conditions and consistently late drops from Australian designers mean there needs to be a change in local delivery cycles.
I’ve seen that in the last few seasons in particular, the timing of deliveries is very off with the actual season in terms of weather. This year, the cool weather is hanging around which is very difficult when you’re having very summery styles delivered in August. It’s the end of October and we’re still not into that summer weather yet.
Australian designers deliver one or two spring/summer drops – one in the beginning of August and one in the beginning of September. That stock, when it’s not the correct season for customers buying, doesn’t move very quickly. You see customers coming back and seeing the same stock sitting there for months.
If labels delivered smaller drops over a longer period of time, it would help to keep things fresh on the shop floor and get customers excited about buying new pieces that are relevant to their wardrobe.
For example, with Lover, they’ve always had small drops over a certain period of time. The first delivery for spring/summer comes at the beginning of September, and then every week or two weeks they drop a couple of new styles. This continues until say the middle of November.
It gives people a reason to come back. Lover always start deliveries a month after everyone else – they deliver in September for summer and March for winter. This is great because it’s also closer to the relevant seasons.
Most designers have accounts with 30 day terms – it’s difficult for businesses to meet these terms if those drops aren’t selling. It also makes you more cautious when ordering for the next season, because that last order hasn’t started moving yet.
We don’t have those really, really intense summers anymore and the seasons are starting a little later. I’m actually finding myself investing more in those international ‘off seasons’ like pre-fall and resort, because they’re the ones that are most relevant to our seasons. They are coming in at exactly the right time for our weather.
The resort season is about to drop now and that’s usually quite a nice light collection which is perfect for our summer. APC, Carven and Alexander Wang in particular, because he does such comprehensive collections even in those off seasons – bags, shoes. The Americans are also among the best when it comes to delivering on time.
Alice Euphemia
Founder: Karen Rieschieck, who launched in 1997.
Labels stocked include: Romance Was Born, TV, Arnsdorf, Marnie Skillings, Ellery, Karla Spetic, Michael Lo Sordo, Elke Kramer, Tina Kalivas.
Position: The market would operate better under small, regular drops throughout the year.
I think there is room to reconsider the way we treat seasons and deliveries in Australia for the boutique market. We have about 40 or so Australian suppliers for clothing. Because we work so closely with up and coming designers we realise the pressure they experience when trying to deliver a complete collection on time.
Many of our labels are managing the production and design themselves, it can be a one man band. You can not always rely on delivery dates; some deliveries can be up to eight weeks late. Staggering deliveries is just one suggestion that could potentially alleviate some of the pressure on designers.
It’s about working together to create the best possible outcome for retailers, designers, makers and customers. Rather than just having these six months when everyone is high pressure and stress it might be better to do things in a four week period and have that be consistent cycle of small drops?
As an added benefit for retailers having stagnated drops would also provide customers with hits of ‘newness’ on a more frequent, regular basis so there is always something fresh to consider. A lot of overseas markets and vertical retailers obviously do things differently but the market has changed here for small designers.
Robby ingham
Founder: Robby Ingham, who first went into business in 1983.
Labels stocked include: Chloe, Halston, Givenchy, Alexander Wang, Stella McCartney, Lover, Goot, Therese Rawsthorne, Banjo & Matilda, Jac & Jack, Laurence Pasquier.
Position: As a retailer who specialises in international fashion labels, Robby Ingham finds it’s the Americans who nail delivery times.
The delivery cycles are now very different to the way they were 25 years ago, and the department stores drove this market. They wanted deliveries of newer stock, more often and earlier than one another. By department stores I mean Barneys trying to outdo Berdgorf, Harvey Nichols trying to outdo Selfridges, Myer trying to outdo David Jones.
At the end of the day, nothing actually gets delivered on time with the seasons. If you go to Europe in January/February, 80 to 90 per cent of the stores are carrying summer stock. We’re all eating bacon and eggs at midnight.
You can get away with it because the seasons have disappeared in fashion – it’s become transeasonal. The American designers we work with deliver 10 to 11 times a year: resort, holiday, fall, pre-fall. At the end of the day, it would be great to go back to proper seasonal timing but the market has changed, particularly for women’s fashion.
There are still classic menswear stores in Sydney who have their sales twice a year; at the end of January, they discount their summer stock and at the end of July, they discount their autumn/winter stock.
Last season was our first with the local designers. We haven’t got much history there but I can say the internationals are on the ball with their deadlines, particularly the Americans, and this helps when planning merchandising. The Europeans will set their dates from mid-January to mid-March for example, while the Americans will set regular drops in mid-January, mid-February and mid-March and deliver to that exact week.
I’d say roughly 60 per cent of our business is European, 30 per cent is American and 10 per cent is Australian but then the spend is always going to be higher with Europe because of the prices and currency. The European pre-collections deliver from November and we are looking at receiving our first summer 2011 deliveries within the next month. Yes, that is 2011, not 2010.