General Manager for Brand Collective’s apparel brands Superdry and Replay Jeans, Alastair Davies is responsible for driving brand awareness and growth for the international brands across the ANZ region. Here, Davies chats to Inside Retail about the goals and objectives behind Superdry’s seventh store opening in Australia – in Doncaster’s Westfield shopping centre – and how Replay Jeans is getting off the ground with a partnership with Melbourne Victory. He also shares what’s in
s in-store for both brands over the next financial year.
Inside Retail: To start with, can you discuss how Superdry and Replay Jeans are going in the Australian market
Alastair Davies: Absolutely. I’ll start with Superdry. It’s been in the market since 2008, and is well established. The [six existing] stores are trading well and have come back strongly post-Covid. Superdry is known for its outerwear and winter jackets in particular, and it continues to resonate with the Australian and New Zealand consumer from a wholesale and retail point of view. The brand is going from strength to strength.
Replay Jeans is a slightly different discussion. We have been in the market for just under 12 months now, and are still in the launch phase of the brand. We have one store in Victoria, in Chadstone in Melbourne’s south-east, and another store in Sylvia Park in Auckland.
Replay Jeans has a local wholesale and e-commerce business, and we’re looking to expand. The key driver for us with regard to Replay is brand recognition. We want more people to know about the premium denim offering that Replay stands for. This, in turn, will drive traffic and revenue, and enable us to expand the business across its commercial channels.
So both brands are on different journeys. One is very established and robust in Australia, while the other is new in the local market.
IR: can you discuss the partnership between Replay and Melbourne Victory, and why the brand is going down that path?
AD: The Melbourne Victory and Replay Jeans partnership is really exciting. On a global level, the brand’s marketing strategy is tied to its collaborations with teams, individuals, and sports events. It’s had a strong relationship with Barcelona FC in the past, and is currently the apparel supplier for PSG and New Zealand’s The All Blacks rugby team. It also sponsored the Monte Carlo Masters, which is a lead up tennis tournament to the French Open. Replay is very active in the sports space, which is how they position their brand.
We feel the Melbourne Victory partnership will help to open the brand to a new consumer base, which the football space is linked to its European heritage, which relates to Replay’s global strategy and heritage. It also opens the brand to an audience which might not have been familiar with Replay Jeans prior to the partnership.
IR: Is this the start with regard to Replay Jeans building brands with other sporting clubs and codes in Australia?
AD: Absolutely. It’s incumbent upon us to implement its local strategy in a way that’s aligned to the global strategy. We’re looking to target sports teams, individuals, events – whatever makes sense.
We’re really excited about the partnership with Melbourne Victory but, from our point of view this is just the beginning. Australia is a sports-mad country, with sport being front and centre and part of the zeitgeist of Australian culture. It makes perfect sense [for us to consider the wider sporting landscape].
IR: On to Superdry. Can you discuss the brand’s expansion in Victoria, and the new store in Doncaster?
AD: With Brand Collective being a Victorian company, we need to be present in premium shopping malls and environments across the state. With the Doncaster Westfield store, it was the right site coming up along with the right price, and [connected to] an audience that would resonate with the brand.
It’s the seventh Superdry store in Victoria, and – with winter coming up – the timing of the opening is fantastic. We’re eager to see where the store takes us.
IR: What will the new store look like?
AD: The new store is 150 sqm, which is a smaller footprint compared to our other stores. It’s also about 70 per cent male product led, [in line with sales and traffic for Superdry]. With our winter campaign, we’re driving awareness around the multi-purpose functionality of our jackets. People can climb mountains, hike outside or watch the footy in them. I think it’s a beautiful store, and I invite everyone to come and have a look. We’re very bullish, as you can imagine.
IR: Moving forward, what other plans are in the works?
AD: We’re continually building Superdry and Replay Jean’s brand awareness and presence. We’re looking for new opportunities to expand the digital footprint so we can communicate more effectively with our customer base.
We’re also looking to implement local strategies in a way that resonates with the Australian and New Zealand consumer, while still keeping true to each brands’ international heritage and strategy.
IR: Should we expect new stores on the horizon for both brands?
AD: Absolutely. We’ve got new stores that we are investigating in the CBD and regionally across Australia and New Zealand. We’re pretty excited about what the next financial year will bring.