Fraserlive: Methane Mutt

Although the numbers are not available, I hear tell that Mambo sales are near the bottom of the well. In its heyday, when Dare Jennings served musically farting dogs and other irreverencies up to the youth market, Mambo was king.

Apart from its graphics, one of its secrets was in restricting supply to surf shops and other difficult-to-find outlets. It kept the brand from being polluted by the mass market of, God forbid, older people.

When Dare had had enough, and wanted to get into motor bikes instead, he sold the brand to Gazal which, understandably, had great plans for it. From its modest, and some would say restricted base, Gazal took Mambo overseas and opened retail stores. It should have kicked ass but it didn't. Why?

Gazal is a very capable company, full of talented people. It even recalled Dare Jennings for a fixit gig but still the sales graph pointed earthwards.

Herein lies the lesson. The more singular the identity of a label the quicker it will age. There is no way back along the old track.

My son loved the farting dog when he was 16 (not the dog, my son). Would he wear it now? No way. Would his son wear it now? No way. Would I wear it? No way. Here are three generations, who all appreciate the fun of Mambo, and may love the nostalgia it brings, but who are no longer Mambo customers. Mambo is now name-heavy, and even that is of questionable appeal to any particular market segment.

I can appreciate Gazal's dilemma. I might have done the same, instead of being a smartass after the event as I might appear now. Actually, I'm trying not to be a smartass. Rather, I'm signalling the dangers of time wearying an era-based label. The more powerfully a label is identified by one story, the shorter its lifespan will be. As soon as the company behind such a label hits the jackpot, a brief celebration is certainly appropriate, but it must be followed by a strenuous effort to reinvent.

Zara lift-off?
Where would I be without delicious rumours?

The latest and hottest is about Sol Lew, whose name has been linked for some time to the overseas fashion retail sizzler, Zara. It has been generally accepted that Sol has held the licence to establish Zara in Australia (and probably New Zealand as well) for quite a few years, either because he was looking for a way to make it work here or he wanted to block a competitor from trying. My unreliable sources tell me that it's been costing him over four million dollars a year to keep the lid on it.

But now the lid may be lifted. He and pal Lindsay Fox have evidently tipped in $100 million each to light the fire under an Australian Zara.

Location is, of course, critical. You need a well worn ant track in which to plant a pot of Zara honey. Gowings in Sydney and the Nike building in Melbourne would have suited but have both gone to other enterprises. This has now encouraged the duo to look seriously at Georges building in the fashion heart of Melbourne's Collins Street.

What makes Zara viable now when it wasn't before? In my view not much has changed in that we don't have enough population to generate the sales velocity necessary to bring new stock in every two weeks without creating a logjam with the unsold stuff trying to get out through the same doorway. Moreover, the northern hemisphere didn't appear to have enough Zara possibilities to move the stock around for re-presentation. However, I'm told that there are now five Zara stores in Bangkok, along with some in Indonesia and China. That would beat the problem of having to make stock for opposing, Northern Hemisphere seasons. The European Zara stores don't get much of their stock from China anyway, but there is no reason why the Southern Hemisphere shouldn't.

Hmmm, maybe the deal might fly. Sol seldom makes a mistake.

Anybody who has been through several Zara stores in Europe can't help but get excited at the frenzied interplay between stock, customers and en route cash. If it worked in Australia, other famous and somewhat similar stores, like H & M and Top Shop, may decide to parachute into the Australian market too. Then we'd have a super-heated retail scene. These stores establish their own brands which consumers wear with pride, not embarrassment. Our best local example is Supre, where the eight to 16-year-olds are quite happy for the label to be on the outside of their gear.

If this type of strongly branded store gets a foothold in Australia what will it do to the stores with similarly priced merchandise that lacks brand strength.