Then & Now
Managing Director- Peter Strain
Ragtrader spoke to Review Australia's MD Peter Strain to find out how the company has progressed over the last five years.
Q What were the key issues or challenges for your company five years ago?
A Five years ago our vision was "To be the market leader in fashionability" a word we invented to mean having the best fashion offer.
The issues were:
* Whether our leadership was what staff needed and wanted
* If communication within the company and staff training was effective
* Building the corporate culture for the long term
* Improving effectiveness of product quality management
* Low corporate profile lead to frustration in dealing with department stores and shopping centre management. Even though we were one of the best selling brands the high profile national or multi-national brands who may have less than half the sales would get priority.
What are they now?
The new company vision is " We will win by having the best product design for our customers in the shortest lead time and offer excellence in customer service"
The issues:
* Building and structuring the company for the long term
* Succession planning
* Design protection
* Customer satisfaction
Q What was the range like five years ago?
A Review has always designed a very feminine range and it is still the same. Five years ago Review was mainly seen as somewhere to get the exciting highlight for the wardrobe. Review now has developed well known Review basics which are now an important part of sales.
We developed 80 to 90 styles a month five years ago and we still do today. This means we deliver twice weekly 15 to 20 styles a week. The stores look totally different month to month.
Q What was your greatest moment/most significant development in the past five years?
A The growth of the Melbourne racing carnival has been outstanding and had a big impact on fashion nationally.
We have issued 17 writs against competitors copying our designs. We have successfully settled all cases and consequently stemmed the problem fashion copycats. We now register all our designs.
Q What has been the worst experience of the past five years?
A In one of the cases of design copying against an importer from China who had copied 12 of our styles, a director of the RMIT fashion school and now a director of the Melbourne Fashion Festival, swore an affidavit for the Chinese rip off company stating that because Review was mainstream mid-market fashion retailer there was little value in our fashion design.
It was shattering for someone who is suppose to be representing the Australian industry, who had no knowledge of our design processes, to act in support of the importers who had copied us stitch for stitch and declare because we were commercially successful, our designs were not of great value. Our designs are original, are being accepted by IP Australia for registration and surely the more commercially successful the more valuable the designs are, which is why we had so many competitors copying. I still have trouble writing about it without blowing my top. I also wonder where she thinks RMIT graduates are going to work it she thinks importers should be supported copying Australian fashion.