Apparel Group Australia is secrecy and publicity rolled into one.
On the secrecy side is its private label services business, for which it designs and manufactures garments for the likes of Katies, Sussan and General Pants. Confidentiality is paramount in design and every aspect of production and delivery.
On the other side, Apparel Group’s public face promotes the iconic brands Sportscraft and Saba, as well as making an occasional appearance in the spotlight as designer and supplier of Australia’s Olympic uniforms.
Ten years ago Apparel Group did all of its business in the second row as the design and production (exclusively through imports) arm of a suite of well known labels.
When it bought Sportscraft in 2000 and Saba in 2005, the new members of the family became the focus of attention so that now private label services only occupy 15 per cent of the group’s turnover.
That is not to say that there is any intention to drop private label work. Chairman Andrew Michael cites private label as important in the growth of the group.
The company structure illustrates the division. Two managing directors report to the board: Steve Feniger for private label and Peter Whitford for the Australian operations of Sportscraft and Saba.
Between them they employ 120 people in Shanghai, 40 in Hong Kong, 200 in the Sydney head office and more than 800 in retailing. Counting stand-alone stores for both brands as well as Myer and David Jones concessions, the group has 211 retail outlets plus a handful of factory shops to dispose of surplus stock and samples.
Sitting at the top of the board totem pole is John Marshall, who is majority shareholder and original operations architect, with Andrew Michael, his cousin, as chairman and substantial shareholder. They both have roving commissions, so you might find one delving into retail figures while the other is travelling to Shanghai to help correct a problem in a Chinese clothing factory.
They follow the classic principle of working on the business rather than in it.
Marshall and Michael have devised a system by which they no longer require an Australian warehouse. Goods are either shipped directly to their private label customers or, for their own retail outlets, to contracted logistics providers.
The Alexandria head office sets the tone of the company: a blend of the fanciful and the practical, an air of urgency under control and, what appears to a visitor anyway, harmony. Sportscraft seems to embody these qualities in the garments it offers.
The purchase of Saba in 2005 looked to be a good idea at the time. The label had a classical stem but fancier, younger flowers which would complement Sportscraft without cannibalising it. While it would not be fair to say that Saba has missed its mark, it still has some adjustment ahead of it.
There may be other label acquisitions in the future, although the company won’t speculate. The template for embracing new labels is certainly now well established.
Michael sees the future of budget to mainstream fashion in Australia in vertical supply retailing. Since imports became the main game, major retail chains are increasingly willing to take the risk on putting their designs into store without going through the former filtration system of buyers weeding out the dogs.
Verticality applies far more, he acknowledges, to the volume end of the trade where groups like his can meet Chinese minimums and have some sway in factory performance. The world of high fashion, high margins and low volume is foreign to him.
That Olympic uniform
While the Apparel Group does not market corporate uniforms, Sportscraft was a logical choice for the Australian Olympic Committee when it was looking to outfit athletes and officials for the Beijing Games. Sportscraft had the design and production power for both men’s and women’s casual and formal garments. Moreover, it was an iconic Australian brand that put quality ahead of price.
When the Australian team, late in the evening of the opening ceremony, marched around the Beijing stadium, the Australian media (this writer included) got the knives out and gave the grey-grading-into-blue tracksuits a good slashing.
But when the New York Times declared Australia’s uniforms to be the best in the ceremony and right on the fashion pulse, the critics scurried back to their kennels.
“The media nearly always bags a new uniform, whether it is for a sport, a company or an airline,” Michael says, shrugging his shoulders in resignation. “It’s pretty normal. But what they may not realise is that the customer organisation itself makes a choice between several different themes offered, not the designer or the producer of the garments.
“In the case of Beijing, the Olympic Committee didn’t want a repeat of green and gold for the opening ceremony; those colours would dominate the competition events. So they chose colours to do with our land being girt by sea, hence grey into blue.
“You’ve also got to bear in mind that Beijing was very hot and humid. That called for comfortable clothing made for athletes and officials standing around for hours.”
The process following design sign-off and the actual garments being worn by competitors and officials is daunting. Sportscraft does it for publicity and national pride, not financial reward. Work begins about three years from delivery, when Sportscraft designers, in conjunction with the Australian Olympic Committee, agree on a concept.
Then follows a search for suitable fabrics and factories that are willing to produce un-commercially small quantities. At the same time, around 2000 people, those from whom the final team selections will be made, must be measured.
Standard sizing goes out the window. A weightlifter’s neck will be thicker than a gymnast’s thigh. And even after the sizes are all recorded, members for the final team are likely to dramatically change body shapes as they bring their training to a peak.
Then comes the delivery of the garments from the factories to the Olympic village. Sportscraft must fly in a team of tailors and machinists to handle alterations. There will be garments for some 900 people to be tried on – and there is no way that they will all fit perfectly.
Sportscraft has been appointed to design and produce garments for the London Games in 2012 and is already well advanced in planning.
“This will be the fourth time we have been appointed designer and producer of Australia’s Olympic clothing,” Michael says, “so I guess we must be doing something right.
“In actual fact, the more times you tackle this work the better your efficiency and know-how. But it still remains a huge, complicated job.”