Retail giant Specialty Fashion Group (SFG) is venturing into the US market via its plus-size womenswear label City Chic, which is set to launch at the Curvy Revolution Convention in Las Vegas this weekend.
The Australian-based designer label, bought by SFG five years ago, currently has 59 stores in Australia and 17 in New Zealand. The label will debut its spring/summer collection at the Gala Parade of the Curvy Revolution event on Sunday, February 20.
The City Chic spring/summer offering will include accessories, underwear and 36 mix and match pieces tied together with a “rock chick” style edge. Fabrics used include stretch denim, crepe de chine, cotton and satin, in pop colours of fuchsia, violet, cobalt and turquoise, as well as black, desert hues and ivory. The pieces come in sizes 18 to 35 and will retail from $19.95 for a cami to $250 for selected dresses and $99.95 for jeans.
Australian model Courtney Maxwell, who is also the face of the label, will headline the show and will also launch her “City Chic Sleepwear By Courtney Collection” at the Curvy Revolution event. The sleepwear collection will debut as a capsule range in the US with just five pieces in luxe fabrics and feminine styles, but City Chic general manager Marc Miller said the collection has already seen success in other markets.
“We launched the City Chic Sleepwear By Courtney collection for Valentine’s Day in Australia and it sold out so we are currently flying in new shipments for the local, New Zealand and US marketing. This range will grow into a far bigger collection for Australian spring/summer deliveries into our stores,” he said.
Miller also said that while the US market will only be able to purchase City Chic collections via the label's website for the moment, he has high hopes for the future of the brand in America.
“This is a market, like Australia, that is crying out for designer, on-trend fashion for plus sizes. Plus-size girls, 18 to 35, simply want what their slimmer sisters can buy and we give it to them. We chose to launch in Las Vegas because the Curvy Revolution Convention is being held there. This convention has received massive media coverage and we believe our show with unique Australia-designed product will knock the socks off the media,” he said.
“The US market will initially be online but then, who knows? Our online business is exploding – once customers know their size and fit in our products they are more than happy to order online. They sky's the limit – we are geared to cope with rapid growth and because we are part of SFG we have the cash flow to finance that growth.”