COMPANY Travisty
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Travis Wallis
EACH edition Ragtrader talks to a previously featured business to chart its development in the intervening years. This week, tRACEY PORTER SPOKE TO streetwear label TRAVISTY.
What were the key issues or challenges for your company five years ago? What are they now?
The greatest challenge was trying to formulate all the necessary facets of a successful fashion brand. Reaching a recommended retail price was difficult as there is a fine line between pricing yourself out of the market and under-pricing yourself and missing your targeted customer.
Finding the right retail partners to accept a new brand and give us an opportunity was another huge challenge. Our challenges now are far greater than five years ago. We have developed from a T-shirt and hoodie business into other categories such as accessories, shirting, shorts and pants, as well as womenswear, while at the same time evolving the look and feel of the brand.
What was the retail climate like for your business five years ago? How has it changed?
We definitely hit the marketplace at an opportune time: the market was very buoyant. At the time, it seemed that urban streetwear retailers were opening everyday. Confidence in the marketplace was at an all-time low at the beginning of 2009, although we have found all the strong retailers are performing with a level of consistency. The doom and gloom of the economic downturn is not as fearful as first thought.
What was your approach to marketing and promotions five years ago? What is it now?
Our marketing has remained status quo through our history. We direct a lot of our time and dollars into product placement and have built lasting relationships with many sporting and television personalities.
How many stores/wholesale accounts did you have five years ago? And now?
With our first range we had around 10 customers, including Edge clothing, which gave us about 13 doors. We now stock out more than 120 doors and without having a department store. We now have many loyal customers – some who have been with us from that first delivery including strong major chains such as Globalize, Glue, Transit, Live and Universal. These stores give us total national exposure.
What was the range like five years ago? What is it like now?
Our range started with our staples, tees through summer and hoods through winter. Our use of colour and movie-inspired bold prints become a key feature in our infancy. Now we have broadened our range in so many ways and our use of design now has grown to providing for three separate customers. We still serve our hard-core Travisty bloke with our classic look, then we move to a core area that is much more evolved, and soon to hit the market will be our black range which identifies with the real fashion forward guru and offers a significant departure from where we started five years ago.
What was your greatest moment in the past five years?
Greatest moment: probably our first repeat order. I remember product going out to our first few customers and having that “will it sell?” pressure. When one of our customers phoned within a week with a follow-up order which was double – they said they had sold out – I remember feeling a huge sense of achievement. Our most significant development is getting to the stage we are now; there have been many crucial decisions for our development. The one that I am most proud of is the move to our current office space, which is a great representation and showcase of what our brand stands for and gives our staff the very best environment to perform at their best – a far cry from the shoe box where we started.
What was your approach to staff training five years ago? How has it changed?
I believe the best training is on-the-job training – getting your hands dirty and taking on the reality of day-to-day challenges and tasks.
How many staff did you employ five years ago? And now?
Five years ago, there were just two of us, my eldest brother Shaun and myself. Now we have a staff of seven including our youngest brother Cameron.
What has been the worst experience of the past five years?
There have been too many highs to recall a bad experience.
Name: Travisty
Challenges: Defining price and establishing contacts
Range: T-shirts and hoodies
Accounts: 13 doors
Staff: Two
Name: Travisty
Challenges: Brand evolution
Range: Full offering
Accounts: 120 doors
Retail climate: Not as bad as anticipated
Staff: Seven