Gold coast-based label Unit Clothing is on a mission to ramp up its womenswear offering and is altering its design direction ahead of a launch into the US market.
The streetwear brand, which launched in 2002, has enjoyed strong sales globally for its menswear categories, but is now looking to boost its womenswear range to similar success, according to Unit Clothing head ladieswear designer Emily Couper.
“Unit has offered a small ladieswear range since it began in 2002 and has been building it ever since,” she said. “However, it played second fiddle to the men's line until recently.”
The company has spearheaded a change of design direction as part of the new focus on womenswear, with garments set to adopt a more minimalistic style and become more fashion forward.
“We're at the point now where we need to push the womenswear line more and it just needs its own identity, rather than just staying in the shadow of the menswear, so we're becoming fashion forward and the shift has started from this winter range that's just dropped into Australian stores,” she said.
“Customers will slowly see the change in our styles throughout each season from now on. It will be simplified and trendier and move away from the branded core logos, to a more minimal and more fashionable look overall.”
Unit Clothing will also launch the revamped winter womenswear line in the US in December this year and, according to Unit’s public relations spokesperson Nicole Everest, rapid growth is expected.
“Currently, Unit menswear is stocked in more than 1000 doors in the US, but our aim and expectation is to have Unit ladieswear in at least 50 per cent of those stores by mid 2012,” she said.
The winter line, set to drop into US stores in December, will include more than 50 pieces in key colours of purple, teal, pink, grey and black, in cotton viscose, denim and leather.
The label will also be actively looking for partners to enter into a design collaboration over the next few months, including tattoo artists to contribute fresh prints for upcoming collections.
Daniela Aroche