Ragtrader is reaching out to the buyers attending New Zealand Fashion Week this week to talk trends and strategies. To wrap up the week is Evelyn Broughton, the owner of Peggy Concept Store.
Which local brands have you added to your shelves?
I have always bought predominantly Australian brands, with Nagnata, SIR., St Agni and Alémais consistently among our strongest performers. Since bringing on Harris Tapper, they have quickly moved into our top five brands.
We have been gradually building our New Zealand offering, adding Maggie Marilyn and Jasmin Sparrow in the past year. While Paris Georgia’s Elemental range has performed particularly well for us.
I am also searching for more emerging Australian brands that add something new to our core offering. Over the past year, we have introduced Fella for swim, One of Others, PPeached and Tohen.
Posse is an interesting example. We had previously exited the brand, but their FW26 collection felt incredibly relevant to the European summer customer, so we reinvested. It performed strongly both locally and with our international customers. It was a good reminder to assess each collection on its own merit rather than feeling obligated to buy a brand season after season.
Which brands and categories are performing the strongest?
Nagnata remains a consistent top seller for us, followed by SIR. From there it is quite even between Harris Tapper, St Agni, A.Emery and Alémais.
Dresses, tops and pants remain our most consistent categories, but over the past year we have seen a noticeable increase in jackets and shorts.
For NZFW, which brands or runways are you most excited to see?
The Studio show curated by Dan Ahwa was naturally of interest, with Harris Tapper already an important part of our brand matrix.
One of the main reasons I wanted to attend NZFW was discovery, particularly seeing emerging designers like Claudia Li and REBE firsthand.
How are you navigating the buying space this year?
My approach this year is to place tighter indent orders and hold more of our OTB back for reorders and mid-season ATS. Customers are increasingly shopping with a buy now, wear now mentality, so I want the flexibility to react to what they actually want rather than committing everything six to nine months out.
I am also being much more disciplined with our brand matrix. It is easy to keep buying a label because it has historically performed, but once sell-through starts declining, I am more realistic about whether we reinvest. Sometimes that means only buying a brand during the season in which we know it performs particularly well, rather than taking every collection.
There are also more collections being offered now, with capsules and mid-season drops alongside the traditional calendar, so it is very easy to spend your OTB before the season has really unfolded.
At the same time, I never want Peggy to become predictable. I love the idea of it being a treasure trove where customers discover something they have not seen everywhere else. I am always looking for new and emerging designers, but they need to genuinely fill a gap in our matrix or spark a sense of joy. There has to be something special about the product that makes the customer feel something.
With newer brands, I tend to work with lower minimums to mitigate the risk, and I like picking them up in season when we have a better read on the weather, customer sentiment and what is already working.
There is a commercial reason to be looking closer to home too. The rising freight and logistics costs out of Europe and the US have made me even more interested in what is happening within our own region.
What will be the next fashion trend?
The strongest themes I noticed were texture, proportion and considered finishes.
I was particularly taken by Claudia Li’s romantic, feminine point of view, which felt like an interesting contrast to the darker palettes and more sculptural, technical aesthetic often associated with New Zealand fashion.
I also think REBE has strong potential. The clothes feel considered and easy to wear, while still having a clear design point of view. That balance between directional and wearable is something I think customers are responding to more and more.