Founded on a whim and fuelled by a glass of dutch courage, zanerobe wasn’t supposed to be a success. only trouble is, no one told its founders, as Tracey porter reports.
The Zanerobe story began like all the best ones do, at the murky bottom of a dozen or so cold ones.
The recipe was simple but effective: start with a beautiful woman, add in her poorly dressed companion, strike up a challenge between mates over design skill and voila, a new commercial enterprise is formed.
Just two weeks after their late night sparring session, founders Leith Testoni and Jonathan Yeo – each of whom was holding down a job in the IT/finance sector at the time – found themselves in possession of a business name, a logo and a six-piece shirting collection. Within two years the duo was presenting full menswear collections at Australian Fashion Week and stocking David Jones.
But while it sounds relatively simple on paper, in reality it proved much more of a challenge. “Our main [hurdle] was having appropriate working capital to service rapid business growth,” Yeo says. “You can imagine it’s rather daunting going from a business idea over a beer to facing a $75,000 production invoice in your first season – a great problem to have but one that required constant problem solving.”
Having overcome those initial issues, the Zanerobe label of today is vastly different from that early incarnation. Positioned as a street and lifestyle brand with a retro-European sportswear aesthetic, it services three markets – men’s, women’s and childrenswear – and recently added suiting to its mix after working with DJs to launch an exclusive collection.
Price points sit at the mid-market end of the scale with T-shirts priced at around $70.
With ranges stocked in around 550 stores globally – including heavyweights such as Barneys New York in Japan, UK department stores Selfridges and House of Fraser and US chains Neiman Marcus, Saks, Nordstrom and Fred Segal – the label also appeals to a domestic audience with sporting entities frequently seen favouring the brand.
Manufacturing is predominantly completed in Hong Kong and China, but Yeo says the company has recently started exploring European and South American facilities to better service its US and UK stockist base.
Operating with a tight-knit group of just five staff, the label outsources most of its service functions and has yet to develop a specific selling strategy. “Apart from being placed on sale at the end of each season, we don’t specifically offer loyalty or purchasing programs,” Yeo says. “We’re particularly lucky in this regard as the designs, story and product offering is compelling enough to achieve an amazing sell through rate.”
An early adopter of the social media phenomenon, Zanerobe uses social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to help build brand awareness and retain customer loyalty.
That aside, Yeo credits the fact it doesn’t take itself too seriously for Zanerobe’s success “There is a certain amount of humour and humility in everything we do. We don’t mind taking risks, taking the piss or making mistakes, which we believe is an endearing and enduring Australian quality.”