Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, many travel and luggage brands found themselves in a tough position. Not only were potential customers unable to fly internationally, oftentimes they weren’t able to travel interstate, or even intercity. Rather than panic, the team at Strandbags took the opportunity to put their heads down, get through the pandemic, and come out the other side stronger and ready to go. The result is a renewed business focused on creating a house of brands for the modern travel
veller.
Felicity McGahan, long-time chief executive at Strandbags, told Inside Retail the launch of their new style-focused leather goods brand Evity started two years ago.
“A lot of people have asked me if we did a lot of market research, but our entire team is made up of women,” McGahan said.
“So the entire range has been designed by women, for women. We understand what the modern woman needs from her handbag, and we’ve executed that with Evity.”
Fashion first
The new brand focuses on handbags made with responsibly-sourced leather and creating more style-led designs, in order to make long-lasting, timeless pieces.
“We’re a business that has been focused on delivering function, but we do understand fashion as well,” McGahan said.
“This is our chance to bring fashion and function together, and then add in value – we still want to make sure our products are accessible to most customers.”
Evity launched last week, and has already surpassed Strandbags’ expectations. McGahan said being able to launch a new brand in 300 physical stores across Australia and New Zealand, as well as online, has given it a fantastic start: with Evity already on its way to delivering sales in excess of $100 million in its first year.
The brand’s name is derived from longevity, showcasing quality and responsible, sustainable fashion. The leather used in Evity is accredited by the Leather Working Group, an organisation that assesses the environmental compliance of leather manufacturers, and promotes sustainable practices.
According to McGahan, ensuring the brand was sustainable from the start was a key metric Strandbags wanted to hit before launch.
“It’s really important to us. We want to create bags that can be handed down to the next generation, and which get better with age,” McGahan said.
Eyes on Europe
But Evity isn’t the only new brand in Strandbags’ wheelhouse. During the last few years, Strandbags owner, the family of The Foschini Group, purchased UK-based luggage brand Antler, which emerged from administration and became a pureplay operator.
Strandbags subsequently took control of Antler, and brought the business’ products to Australia. The next step, McGahan said, is to utilise Antler’s UK and European channels to expand its other brands overseas.
“We’ve gone from being Strandbags as one business, to being Strand Group and having a UK operation and an Australian operation,” MacGahan said.
“The next steps now are to figure out what Strandbags could look like internationally, and create that strategy, and then figure out how we can take our other brands, Antler, Evity, and another we have in the works, internationally.”
