For Blanca Studio founder Ana Piteira,her Icarus moment came after the success of a signature piece,an oversized shirt striped in candy colours,that was released during lockdown. She says for a new brand it was both to her fortune and detriment.
“It was just a matter of timing and that’s what made the shirt stand out,” she says. “It was that piece people could wear at home and still feel put together,but you could also wear it with track pants. But it also wasn’t loungewear. It was this hybrid[item].”
The “problem” with having an item become so successful,or even viral,is that it breeds copycats. Staying ahead of them,and avoiding the “fad brand” tag,takes evolution,something that niggled at Piteira for a while,especially thanks to her background in public relations.
“I didn’t want it[the shirt] to just be a trend or what we are pigeonholed for,” she says. “Like everything in fashion,I thought it could be transient. I didn’t think the shirt would go forever,but I wanted people to be excited by our other pieces.”
Of course,there is a fine line between evolving a brand,and alienating the rusted-on loyalists who have been there from the start. Since the brand launched three years ago,Piteira has been expanding the categories to include knitwear,dresses and,to pick up on yet another trend,matching top-and-bottom sets.
On the runway at Australian Fashion Week in Sydney on Thursday,Piteira extended Blanca’s repertoire to include jeans,a category her customers have been requesting.
One of the other challenges of being so good at one thing is convincing wholesale customers,such as department stores,to buy a broader range of garments. She says it can be a slow process. “As each season comes,[wholesale buyers] may have dabbled in trousers and skirts. For a more traditional retailer it still is quite seasonal,so for summer it’s still shirt-heavy,” she says.
Anna Hoang,whose brand Anna Quan marked its 10th anniversary with a runway in a city laneway on Tuesday,says moving her brand from its own shirting foundations was a gradual process. Next season will be her first with a dedicated menswear offering,as well as a small accessories line.
After testing several product categories,she says 2016 was a turning point. Hoang says going to Paris to sell her range – brands often use agencies to do this –helped inform how she would evolve.
Hoang says evolution can be challenging for small brands like hers,as minimum orders with mills and factories,as well as the cost of sampling,meant “it wasn’t feasible to design to my heart’s desire”.
“If you only have a small customer base to begin with,you are diluting what they buy into because they have fixed budgets,” she says.
Her one blip,a flirtation with streetwear,failed in part because,as a sustainable brand,Hoang wasn’t able to compete on price with other labels offering similar pieces. Still,she says it’s important that brands don’t get too caught up in the success of one category.
“Sometimes if you play it too safe,it’s actually much more dangerous – it[testing new categories] might not work,but you have to realise,that’s life.”
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