Six-year-old Melbourne design brand Elliatt has opened its first-ever own-brand store – not in Australia, not in an established market of the West, but in China.
However, it did use its home city’s most famous sporting event, the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival, to promote its arrival in Shanghai with the first of 16 stores for an initial roll-out.
It invited Chinese actress Zhang Meng (“Lemon”) to socialise in the celebrity “birdcage” area at the race course for two days, showing off a range of Elliatt styles and, of course, sending out images and comments to her 7.6 million Weibo followers in China.
“Iconic sporting events like this provide a great opportunity for local brands and designers to launch themselves on to the world stage and break into new markets, especially in China,” says executive director for trade Gonul Serbest of Trade Victoria, a government department that connects state brands with international partners. “The races have always been a place for Melbourne to flaunt its reputation as Australia’s fashion capital.”
Elliatt’s target niche is consumers between 25 and 35 years old who want well-cut clothing with special details such as lace, embroidery and prints, and high-quality materials at a price point within the accessible luxury segment.
Global boutiques
Its fashions are stocked in more than 1200 boutiques globally, including Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom, and the brand has distribution networks spanning Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the US. The brand has turnover of about US$5.3 million annually.
“China is our biggest growth market,” says Elliatt founder/designer Katie Pratt. “My business partner is Chinese and knows the market quite well. We are seeing more rapid growth with our brand in China in a shorter period than anywhere else.”
It was this that prompted Elliatt to finally launch an own-brand store, but not at home.
Pratt believes consumers in China identify strongly with the brand. “We’re quite quirky, we’re colourful, we’re detailed and quite feminine, and that is resonating really well with Chinese consumers. Also, in the areas of the market we are pitching at, there is less competition in China.”
