a relationship that’s been building quietly for decades. Accent has worked with Lacoste for around 25 years, earning the trust of regional and global teams in the process. “We pride ourselves on being the home of global brands, and Lacoste is a fantastic global brand,” Robson said.  Apparel, luxury and a bigger canvas For Accent, Lacoste brings something new to a portfolio best known for footwear. “It’s primarily an apparel business,” Robson explains. “For us, that gave us the opportunity to get greater exposure in apparel and become more meaningful to a lot more of our partners.” The label is also predominantly direct-to-consumer, which opens up a different growth path. “It gives us a great opportunity to expand the store footprint, something that we’re really focused on – controlling more of the brand’s DNA in the marketplace.” With a century of history and a luxury positioning, he added, Lacoste enables Accent to scale up the business across different areas. That ambition is underpinned by Accent’s track record of scaling global brands such as Hoka, Vans, Dr Martens, Timberland, and Skechers across Australia and New Zealand. “We’ve been brand builders for 30-plus years, and we manage some of the best brands in the marketplace,” Robson said. “Our skill set is on expanding those brands in the marketplace. We bring a great ability to scale direct-to-consumer really quickly.” With more than 600 multi-brand doors to plug Lacoste into, he described Accent and the crocodile as a really good proposition for each other. French flair, Melbourne flavour The task now is to translate Lacoste’s tennis and “fashion sport” heritage into an Australian narrative that feels both aspirational and local. “It does have a very rich heritage,” Robson said. “What we are looking to try and achieve is to bring that French flair that the brand’s famous for to this marketplace.” He pointed to the enduring pull of a European summer for Australian consumers and added Accent’s focus is on showcasing the global breadth of the brand. In the past, he noted, Lacoste’s offer here has been “very isolated and curated”.The new direction, though, is a much more elevated proposition, with global content brought to life properly. Nowhere is that clearer than on Little Collins Street. Late last year, Lacoste opened a new concept at Melbourne Walk – a street-level store Robson sees as the blueprint for the brand’s next retail chapter. “There are a number of global store formats that the brand produces,” he explained. “We’ve got a store in the Marais in Paris, which is really driven by a strong localisation to the store, and I fell in love with that.” The goal in Melbourne was to create an accurate representation of the brand at a global level, while also maintaining a “Melbourne feel to it”. “Being on the street was important, not being in a shopping mall,” Robson stated. “Something like Melbourne Walk really offered us that opportunity. Little Collins Street is an area that we believe in strongly, and I think the store we wanted, from a design point of view, to really reflect, again, French flair, but also be really inviting to the next generation consumer, and a real strong focus on her.” Early feedback has been fantastic, he said, with the store trading well and events helping to amplify the brand even further. Building a crocodile retail footprint Robson is clear that this isn’t a one-off flagship. “We see growth for sure. We hope to have a very sizable retail footprint in the marketplace,” he said. The Little Collins concept will be adaptable to some other CBD locations, but each site will be tailored to its neighbourhood. “We’ll make all of those locations quite bespoke to the relevant street, space or city, because we want to make sure we bring a local flavour to wherever we bring a store, because Lacoste has a strong affinity with the community and making sure that we talk to that relevant customer.” Alongside new concepts, Accent plans to expand Lacoste’s outlet network and reassess its shopping centre portfolio. “We’ve got one concept today, we’ve got five outlets, and we’ll look to open more concepts over the next two years,” Robson said, without yet putting a public number on the final target. Club Lacoste: centre court on the Yarra If the store represents the brand’s everyday presence, Club Lacoste Melbourne at Afloat is the major set piece. For the first time, the global “floating tennis club” concept has landed in Australia, transforming an iconic bar on the Yarra into a riverside court, dining and DJ space and pop-up store, complete with Melbourne-exclusive apparel. “The moment is tennis in January in Melbourne, and what that means to Melburnians,” Robson said. “Equally, the focus on Melbourne globally in January is obviously significant.” With a roster of amazing tennis athletes, Accent wanted to show both sides of the brand. “Lacoste is strong on the court, but equally strong off the court, and Afloat offered us a great opportunity to be outdoors,” Robson said. “The vision of building a tennis court on the Yarra was something that really excited us. The team at Afloat partnered really well with us to bring that dream to life.” From the build of the barge to the view as guests ride down the river, he said, the activation “showcases the DNA” of Lacoste in motion. Ultimately, the strategy is simple: use theatre and touchpoints to build lifelong fans. “What I hope is consumers walk away and fall in love with Lacoste, and then we build consumers for life,” Robson said. “We’re a very loyal brand, and we have a strong affinity with tennis culture, but equally, we want to make sure that the Australian community, Melbourne community specifically right now, falls in love with Lacoste and they get an opportunity to celebrate the brand that’s been around for over 100 years and created the polo.” Leaning into heritage, not hype Balancing that history with pop culture is an ongoing brief. “The brand prides itself on being true to its authenticity. So nostalgia is really important to us,” Robson said. “We don’t try to be something that we’re not. We’re not a running brand. We’re a tennis brand, and we lean into that really hard.” Expect, he hinted, a strong global push back to being more powerful on the court than ever before, which is the “rightful place for Lacoste”.