Australian fashion group Brand Collective has relaunched its Harrison school shoe brand with both an expanded range and its first-ever direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform since the brand was founded in 1948.
Brand Collective CEO David Thomas confirmed the news with Ragtrader, saying he and his team have established a new brand identity for the school shoe brand in collaboration long-time partner Ortolan in Melbourne.
“They have given us a toolkit to communicate our brand’s unique selling points – a high-quality, Australian school shoe brand that has specialised in crafting shoes for the unique needs of Australian school kids for over 75 years.”
Brand Collective has been running the Harrison business for over 20 years as an owned brand, exclusively through the wholesale space. This includes through the company’s kids shoe retail brand Shoes & Sox.
In recent years, Harrison has been sold predominantly in Victoria and South Australia through Brand Collective’s Shoes & Sox retail business, Shoe Warehouse, Amazon, The Athlete’s Foot, The Iconic and across the independent footwear market.
The brand was initially founded in Adelaide.
Alongside the new DTC channel, the school shoe brand will continue to be sold through these key partners and at Shoes & Sox Myer concessions and Shoes & Sox online.
“As Australia’s premier kids school shoe retailer, and the experts in kids fit, Shoes & Sox will be a key vehicle for driving Harrison’s positioning in market and building awareness,” Thomas added.
Speaking on the new website, Thomas said the DTC channel has launched with a 20 per cent off sign-up offer, with free shipping and returns Australia-wide.
“For those customers who prefer to touch, feel and try on in person at our stockists, we’ve integrated the ability to book a fitting at Shoes & Sox directly from the Harrison website,” Thomas said.
Other key features include universal sizing conversion, Australia, New Zealand or international localisation, live chat, wishlisting, minicart upsells and post-purchase order editing.
The brand will also donate $1 from every Daytona school shoe sold, between December 1 to February 8, to the Redkite charity.