Who wouldn't wanna Wanama?

Consumers will love Wanama, but there are very good reasons for the business-savvy to love it too, as Belinda Smart discovers.

may be a cliché, but there's something undeniably sexy about the words tango, salsa and tapas; just saying them evokes something dangerously sensual. Why? The Latin factor of course.

According to Bianca Bernardi-Smith, director of edgy Argentinean label Wanama, the allure of all things Latino is one reason why South American fashion is increasingly striking a note in this heat-soaked land.

Nevertheless, when she and co-directors husband Justin Smith and mother-in-law Helen Smith brought Wanama to Australia in 2005, they saw it as an opportunity to divest Australian consumers of some of the more well-worn Latin clichés.

"Forget fiery reds, passionate frills and salsa-inspired cuts. Wanama is all about modern-day Latin America; its fashion throws stereotypes to the winds," Bernardi-Smith claims.  

Typifying a distinctly 'new Latin' vibe, the label was created by fashion wunderkind Emiliano Fita in 2001 to "take the grunge out of street and inject it with a sense of style", she explains.

"The designs revolve around a lifestyle concept and place emphasis on feeling good without sacrificing looking good. It's about men's and women's fashion made with superior fabrics and edgy designs."

With jeans priced from $199 to $229, men's pants at $179 to $199 and men's tees at $79 to $85, the signature men's fitted casual shirt, priced $139 has already proved a hit with Aussie males. Meanwhile women's shirts priced from $69 to $89, pants at $149 to $199 and dresses at $159 to $399 - complemented by sheer cammies, tough-chic cowboy boots and premium woollen cardis - have garnered an equally diehard female fan base, ensuring sales have been strong and steady since the brand launched in Australia.

Bernardi-Smith  admits however that Wanama's course has not been entirely honeyed. She says logistics initially presented the biggest challenge.

"Everything on the supply side for [Wanama Argentina] is last minute, with production leaving their factories and hitting the stores in a very short time frame, so a lot of work was required because Australia needed longer lead times."
That teething phase now over, the advantage of Wanama for the Australian market is clear; lock-step parity between South America's calendar and our own.

"One of the most important factors for us was that our seasons are the same and therefore we would not be buying old stock from Europe but carrying the same collection as the stores in Wanama's founding country," she says, adding Wanama receives new drops from Argentina every one to two months.

In the Australian retail market an on-trend import clearly ranks somewhere alongside The Holy Grail in terms of point of difference, while investment in transport also means Wanama is no laggard in servicing its wholesale clients.

"We offer up to date clothing and the ability to order from a catalogue during the season to fill gaps; everything is sent via air freight and therefore naturally we have very quick turn around times."

With one outlet recently opened in Melbourne's Chapel Street and a steadily growing wholesale presence, Wanama's plans over coming seasons include further wholesale penetration across Australia and a possible deal with one of the two major department stores. More retail outlets on the eastern seaboard are also planned, with a limit of three each in Melbourne and Sydney.

Wanama's blend of street savvy and relaxed chic has seen the brand successfully penetrate Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Bolivia and Costa Rica, and Bernardi-Smith hopes mainstream media editorial will effect the same wildfire spread in the label's first 'non-Latin' territory.

"We recently engaged the services of a PR company and together we are now working very hard to promote and inform the public on what we have to offer," she confirms.
Watch out Australia, 'new Latin' has arrived.

By Belinda Smart.