Material girl caters to all
But while Katya Baxter - the proprietor of Fitzroy-based Melbourne Textile Agencies (MTA) - is a sharp commercial operator she also believes business is about more than the bottom line.
"My whole vision is to establish long term relationships. I want the agency to be relationship-driven rather than about making a fast buck," she said.
Having purchased the 12-year-old agency in March and implemented a name change (it formerly operated as Rigale Agencies) Baxter has re-branded and re-positioned the business to focus on a broader range of clients, particularly smaller players.
"I still want to deal with the larger wholesalers, but the fact is that many of the big players nowadays are manufacturing offshore and therefore doing their sourcing offshore as well. It's the smaller onshore businesses that need to be able to source their fabrics locally.
"I worked for the agency for around 18 months before I purchased it, so I know the business very well," Baxter said, adding she hoped to use her expertise in commerce and business systems to update the operation of the agency and take a proactive approach to bringing in new clients.
Operating as a one-stop-shop and focusing on seasonal fabrics, the
MTA range included silks, Italian cashmeres, Japanese cottons and printed jerseys and could cater to volumes of any size. The agency currently had contracts with wholesalers including Sydney-based Fabris One, and Melbourne-based Galleria and Benjamin Fabrics. It also dealt directly with end-customers including The Just Group and Review as well as niche design labels including Sindhu and Alpha 60, she said. While the business would follow the "80:20" rule - 80 per cent big clients 20 per cent smaller ones - it made sense to nurture its niche clients, she added.
"A lot of smaller customers find the major wholesalers a bit offhand. But you just can't ignore the smaller businesses. Apart from anything else, one day they may well get bigger."