SYDNEY: Fleur Wood is set to expand her retail network to 12 stores, with two new sites scheduled to open in the next six months.
The womenswear designer revealed she will open a boutique in Westfield Sydney in November as well as her first West Australian store in Claremont, Perth, in February. The new additions will bring Wood's store tally to seven.
“We'd like to get to 12 stores,” she said. “We plan to open two to three stores a year until we hit that 12 mark.” Wood said the retail roll-out was motivated by her nine-year-old label's established brand identity.
“People come to us for a specific reason now,” she said. “I know a lot of people were complaining about retail for winter 2010 but we had a great season. We were trading up on budget.”
Fleur Wood general manager Lynne Fishwick revealed winter sales were almost 10 per cent over budget, with Fleur Wood retail stores currently accounting for 45 per cent of Wood's overall business.
“What was interesting about our sales through winter 2010 was sales for dresses year-on-year was identical,” she said. “All of our incremental growth was in our jersey and knitwear.”
The Fleur Wood swimwear line has also doubled in size, from 20 pieces for its debut spring/summer 09/10 collection to 40 pieces for spring/summer 2010/11. The range has just been picked up by department store David Jones.
Offshore, Wood wholesales her eponymous label and other brands including Lil apparel to retailers including high street chain Anthropologie. International wholesale orders have been in operation for eight years and make up 35 per cent of her business.
Wood said her labels are among the product mix Anthropologie is currently taking to new territories, including the UK and Europe, as part of its expansion.
On home soil, recent appointments look set to facilitate additional business developments. On top of Fishwick's appointment 12 months ago, Wood has also hired a marketing manager and international business manager within the last 10 months.
Fleur Wood was established in 2001 and is manufactured in India, China and Australia.
Erin O'Loughlin