Anthony Pitt grew The Academy Brand from a $100,000 business to a $5 million empire in its first five years. Here, he reveals his winning strategies.
Australia is a country renowned for never taking a backward step and never giving up.
So it seems profoundly out of character that some Australian retailers and emerging designers are being scared off by the invasion of large international fashion chains to our shores.
In recent times Australia has seen the arrival of Zara, Topshop, H&M and Uniqlo. And no doubt more will follow.
But this is not a bad thing. This should be seen as a positive for all of us working within the Australian fashion industry.
This is the kick up the backside everyone needs to become better designers, better wholesalers and better retailers.
If all we do is concede defeat without throwing a punch then I’m sorry but that’s just un-Australian.
In my own company I constantly talk about ‘desire’ as being the key ingredient to success.
Sounds simple but its amazing how easy it is to ignore.
Especially when the hill seems too great to climb.
But I can say with certainty that the desire to always be better is one of the main reasons our own brand has seen such dynamic growth.
And this is in a retail climate that everyone is describing as ‘the worst in 20 years’.
When I formed The Academy Brand back in 2007, we had our fair share of challenges.
And this was before arrival of the likes of Zara and Topshop.
The first collection we financed was with the Aussie dollar at 58 cents against the USD, the global financial crisis was taking hold and things like Instagram weren’t even invented yet.
So we certainly won’t be rolling our toes up because a few international retailers have arrived.
The Academy Brand has managed to achieve significant year on year growth and in only a matter of five years has gone from a turn over of just $100,000 to well in excess of $5 million.
Perhaps we are growing against the grain but our own performance is proof that consumer confidence in this country is actually alive and kicking.
It just needs to be respected. It’s about looking at your own business and asking whether you’re giving the customer the best possible experience.
Whether you are doing all you can to get someone buying your product.
Every business should be asking themselves these simple questions every day.
But I worry many businesses have given up and convinced themselves they can’t compete in this marketplace.
You can.
You just need keep getting better and shift out of idle.
Negative thinking leads to negative business and this alone will close more business doors than Zara or H&M ever will.
It all starts by looking after your own backyard. Right here in Australia.
There’s a long list of labels that appear to be prematurely heading overseas hunting growth.
I think some people are guilty of seeing the bright lights of New York and thinking they have to take their business there straight away.
But in most cases it’s because they have ignored Australia. And so they don’t have a choice.
Australia is a strong market with a very loyal customer.
That’s why these big international retailers are coming here in their droves.
Australia may be small but we can spend.
Australia is the second biggest market for international online retailer ASOS accounting for 10-12% of the company’s net sales.
The same can be said with bricks and mortar.
Spanish retail giant ZARA opened its first store in 2011 and has already established a network all over Australian soil.
There are real opportunities here for local retailers and designers to take a piece of the pie.
The ‘war’ between local and international retailers is as much a marketing war than it is a price or product war.
Essentially they are all selling the same low cost disposable fashion products.
No Australian retailer should be scared of that. In fact we should be excited about what the future holds.