Camilla CEO Jane McNally is among the speaker lineup for Ragtrader Live on May 3. Get your tickets here.
Why has there been a shift away from the core product?
There hasn’t been a shift away from our core products, it has been a vast expansion of our collections to include more of a variety of pieces and explore new categories.
The Camilla brand really set resort-wear on fire when we entered the market 14 years ago and our signature Kaftan has become a staple that we still see shine season upon season.
Over the years we’ve expanded on our core, which is a canvas of silk with a beautiful vibrant print and embellishment and brought variations in style, size and fabric to our customers.
In the past few years, particularly with our two most recent collections, Chinese Whispers and From Rio With Love, we’ve pushed the boundaries of design, and what they mean in the world of Camilla.
Pieces like bomber jackets, knitted jacquards, printed leather dresses, trench coats, flared pants, peplum corsets and playsuits now feature in our collections.
This evolution opens up new doors for our brand to appeal to a different kind of woman, taking us from the beach onto the street and into the evening.
It has also been one of the keys to success in international markets, by developing a season-less collection that spans borders and trends around the world.
Has there been a change in buying pattern? If so how, and any key stats you can share?
Absolutely, our customers are on this journey with us. Many of the new product innovations are making their way into the ‘core’ line which means we will continue to produce them in each collection.
In the past, many of our customers have focused on buying one key item as they like to play with the versatility and different styles one Camilla garment can offer.
We’ve seen great support for the newer styles in addition to their core purchase. From a design perspective, we’re thinking more about outfits with the new styles and encouraging customers to mix and match different prints to achieve a truly unique look.
In terms of our swim range, customer insights showed us that we needed to improve at catering to all shapes and sizes of women.
This is after all, the cornerstone of the label’s heritage. We’ve taken that on board and are now offer varying cup sizes, almost 30 various shapes and are selling 16 brand new swim separate styles which provides more flexibility for styling.
From a business-to-business perspective, the expansion in our range means there is more demand for Camilla from our wholesalers all year round, not just in resort season.
How are you projecting it will sell? Is there a target demographic?
We’ve already seen strong success with this expansion in the last few collections and our new Rio collection is no different. Not only has the size of our collections grown by 25%, but the demand for our collections across the world has increased substantially.
Good business is about taking calculated risks that will pay off. As long as we stay true to our core product and continue to nurture our loyal customer/fan base, we see great opportunity through this expansion.
Our innovation has been very considered as its either been evolving our core styles to appeal to a broader customer, or finding new ways to combine our love of print with different fabrications.
Our journey as a predominately resort brand is now reaching new heights as we’re slowly earning real-estate in the other side of the wardrobe.
What are the key pieces and price points?
In addition to our much-loved favourite styles, below is a snapshot of some of the new styles that have been added.
Expansion into new fabrications has also allowed us to offer customers a different price point in addition to our core silk canvas.
Printed leather is new for us and something no one else is doing in the market. We also now have bamboo fabric which is also pretty revolutionary for our market.
- High-waisted flare trouser (made with rayon, nylon and spandex) $499
- Cross over peplum top with hand embroidery $599
- Double-layer cami top (100% silk) $399
- Bomber jacket (100% viscose) $599
- Printed leather jacket (100% leather) $1199
- Bustier with hand-cut frill (100% silk) $399
- Soft cup bra (Viscose and elastine) $129
In terms of what is new with the latest collection:
- Nearly 1/3 of the pieces in the mainline collection are new silhouettes
- Our swim range has expanded by 59%
- We’ve expanded our bra offering and are now doing underwear briefs
- Accessories has grown in size by 51%
- The kids range has increased by 69%
Have you had a change in your supplier base?
We have expanded our supplier network to ensure we have specialists creating the right product for our brand. Every new piece has its own journey and just as we broke the mould all those years ago with the Kaftan, we’re doing the same thing every day with our manufacturing partners on these new styles.
The majority of our garments are made in India and a small portion is produced in China.
One thing we will never change is the craftsmanship of our product; every piece is still hand-cut, every crystal is still applied with precision, every print is still placed by hand, and above all made with love.