duct offering and the swimwear market was a natural progression for the brand that is inspired by a sporting lifestyle. Sportscraft isn’t the only Australian retailer adding to its product offering, pureplay online retailer Surfstich recently broadened its horizon away from the shoreline to diversify into snow, skate, outdoor, activewear and street style apparel. The approach to how and why iconic Australian retailers do this and how new offerings align and add to the current customer base is key. Sporting a bold splash of colour Even in oversaturated markets there is room for established brands to dive in and enter new product SKUs, and how they approach making a mark is crucial to success and preservation of the established brand identity. Online retail and lifestyle brand Monday Swimwear is another example of how entering new markets with complementary product offerings can be a natural progression and a lucrative one at that – when done well. This can be seen with the launch of athleisure with Monday Body this year, an homage to the brand’s previous athleisurewear offering Monday Active that was discontinued. Sportscraft entered the childrenswear market in 2021 and swim was the next jump for the Australian retailer to create brand awareness in a market outside of its usual consumer. For the past eight Olympics, Sportscraft has designed the Australian Olympic team’s opening ceremony uniform and formalwear and will unveil its ninth partnership for the 2024 Paris games in the coming months. Partnering with youthful and bold premium homewares brand, In the Roundhouse, which has quickly amassed a following of  trendy devotees, is another way Sportscraft is approaching tapping into a younger market. The launch of the swim capsule coincides with Sportscraft’s In The Roundhouse collaboration that centres around the same concept and stars the flower motif used in the brand’s resort collection. New creative duo with one direction Sportscraft has switched things up behind the scenes, with its creative and logistics departments teaming up to curate the swim and resort collection. “Naomi our head of design and Alex our head of buying partnered for the first time this season, so it’s been a curation that will form a strong future design direction for us,” Sportscraft’s general manager, Haylie Sullivan,  told Inside Retail. Meanwhile, Sportscraft’s senior womenswear designer Alyse Wright’s focus was on designing swimwear that was the perfect mix of fashion, comfort and style, to suit a variety of body shapes and sizes. The resulting collection, called Reflections of an Australian Summer, aims to evoke nostalgia and is a celebration of the diversity of the ‘Australian holiday’ from camping to luxury. Sullivan told Inside Retail that the capsule  “ties back into a wider product theme – inspired by a sporting life As swimming is a very Aussie pastime it was a natural category extension for us to move into.” Globally, the swimwear market was valued at US$19.79 billion in 2022, and is forecast to grow to US$27.56 billion by 2030. It is currently valued at US$20.47 billion. Evolving with the market and preserving brand identity is a strategy Sportscraft has executed well from tech to design. The partnership with In The Roundhouse was a means for the heritage brand to appeal to a different audience and extend the assortment to existing customers with a bold on-brand Sportscraft signature. “Alyce’s handwriting and our bold floral prints partnered well and we are thrilled to see it come to life, we will continue to explore within this space,” Sullivan said, referring to In the Roundhouse founder Alyce Tran. Since launching in 1914, Sportscraft has become a timeless, iconic Australian brand known for its quality comfort and style that supports the Australian way of life. Taking on the world Beyond its new swimwear offering, Sportscraft has plans to grow within its existing categories and also further evolve its distribution in line with customer feedback.  “We want to evolve our customer experience to be the best in class and our continued customer first mindset will allow us to shape our future around the evolving retail landscape,” Sullivan said. Speaking to the Olympic partnership, Sullivan said, “As a sporting-inspired brand we are truly honoured to be a small part of our Australian athletes journey at the 2024 Olympics. Supporting our athletes as they take on the world, it’s very much a partnership that allows us to support our community through sport.” “We are really happy with the current performance and continue to over perform to the market trends within the apparel space. Traffic is a constant challenge within the macro market, however we continue to bring people into our stores with our windows and in-store traffic is up double digits on the year. Our customer continues to resonate with our product and teams when engaged with the brand so for us it’s about continuing to explore different ways to extend our reach.” The Sportscraft brand is sold in over 200 freestanding and concession stores nationally. In addition to its growing online retail channels, the APG & Co-owned subsidiary continues to be a leader across all things innovation technology and sustainability in the Australian fashion industry, such as using Retraced, a digital platform that facilitates full supply chain transparency in the fashion industry. “We are committed to sustainable practices through sourcing and fabrication and we will be bringing more partnerships to market soon that support our brand commitment,” Sullivan said. Bricks-and-mortar stores will remain at the heart of the Sportscraft strategy, and the focus will continue to be an omnichannel one that the digital space supports. In-store events will facilitate existing and new customers to experience Sportscraft.