Paddington store owner eyes own line
Less than a month after opening her first retail outlet, the owner of Sydney-based retail store Recreation has already announced plans to launch a range of self-titled women's sportswear.
The Paddington-based store launched in August with a range of sought-after women's leisure and weekend wear labels from European brands including Shock Absorber from the UK, Casall from Sweden and Pure Lime from Denmark, together with New Zealand's James & August.
Following on from the success of a limited range of Recreation-branded sports bags, designed by bag designer Kate Tucker, Fincher will now roll out her own range of tracksuits and women's apparel for next season.
The Recreation range will be wholesaled across each state.
A former investment banker at Macquarie Bank, 27-year-old Fincher first became interested in launching her own store after getting increasingly disillusioned at the limited selection of stylist women's sportswear available in the country.
"Along with all my friends I used to go to the gym a lot but noticed there was no good sportswear out there. Of course there were plenty of sports stores that carried womenswear but they were always heavily skewed towards males - and the women's lines always appeared as a bit of an after-thought. I wanted sportswear that I could actually get excited about buying."
It was not until Fincher was transferred to London that she began researching potential lines in earnest.
Having sourced potential lines from Europe and South America she threw in her job six months ago, returned to Australia and began seeking out potential sites for her store.
Seeking to create what she describes as an "atmosphere that was sophisticated and feminine but also sporty and fun", Fincher engaged award-winning Australian designer Stephen Layfield to help create the brand identity, packaging and store concept.
The result was a store combining dark wood and chocolate brown fittings with hot pink features such as netball rings and a table top filled with more than 1000 golf balls.
Targeted at women aged between 25 and 40, the store is positioned "above Adidas and Puma but below Stella McCartney for Adidas", Fincher said.
Retail price points range from $17 for underwear up to $300 for a tracksuit.