One of the most exciting stories in the men’s formalwear industry is the growing popularity of the After Six brand name! The company has made great strides in design, construction and marketing over the past eighteen months and spring 2008 is their strongest effort yet!

The Spring 2008 formalwear collection from After Six is a continuation of their already successful Fall 2007 line. Introduced in luxurious Super 100s wool in ebony for delivery this summer, the LaStrada (The Street) model has expanded for Spring 2008 to diamond white, snow white, mahogany brown, classic black worsted wool and a luxurious super 100s ebony pinstripe. According to After Six president, Kathleen Peskens, “We introduced the Ebony LaStrada in the first quarter of the year with samples shipped to early adopters in April and May. Reaction was very positive and once the early delivery period was sold up, we had to hold off until the spring ’08 selling season! Once samples arrived in stores, and consumers reacted with wedding bookings, reorders were flying in before we had even delivered the summer goods! We knew we had a winning design!”
That was confirmed at the recent IFA EXPO26 in Nashville, where LaStrada was voted the “Best New Tuxedo” by attending retailers and wholesalers.

After Six has been focused on their own super 100s wool piece goods since fall of 2006. The goods are woven just like their normal worsted wool goods. This gives the goods a soft hand yet durability and ease of pressing and hemming. In fact, some customers have opted to buy LaStrada coats in super 100s goods and use them with standard worsted pants with no negative feedback from consumers. The ebony super 100s pant comes in either pleated (Ritz) or plain front (Carlton) with a finely beaded satin leg stripe-a departure from the classic ½” to ¾” satin leg stripe that many of today’s consumers are resisting. There is also a pleated suit pant (Regency) available. There are now seven After Six or Seven Unlimited coat models in the ebony super 100s goods…Infinity (Spring ’07), NXT (Spring ’07), LaStrada (Fall ’07), Eagle Notch, Phoenix Peak, NXTN or Catalina suit (all Spring ’08).

Additionally, for Spring 2008, After Six introduced new luxury classics in a two-button notch (Eagle) and peak (Phoenix) that have received rave reviews. Both coats feature retail-like finishes inside with pick stitching and a softer lining in addition to a lowered button stance and narrowed lapels giving both coats incredible styling balance. The new styling and luxury goods allow retailers to offer an upscale classic that commands a better price from consumers.

Seven Unlimited has expanded with two new coats.

The NXTN is a super 100s self-lapelled notch featuring a satin beaded edge lapel and satin top collar. The NXTS is a super 100s pinstripe satin peak with a satin beaded-edge lapel.

The new vest program is built by the same mill that made the extremely successful Enchantment vest program. Neckwear for the Rapture program come with coordinating neckwear in solid satin or complementing pattern neck ties and solid color pocket squares. The new neckwear silhouette is a 2 ¾” width featuring After Six’s patented slider necktie design.

After Six has entered into a new three-year agreement with their shoe licensee, Barclay Shoe.

 
The successful Catalina suit collection continues with two-button narrowed notch lapel designs in Desert Tan, Navy Blue and Italian Grey in a wool-blend gabardine. A wool-blend Mahogany Brown and super 100s Ebony complete the collection. The entire program is a terrific mix and match vested collection with coordinating dotted neckwear. The collection is designed for informal, garden and destination weddings and for high school homecoming activity.

After Six has ramped up their marketing efforts with stunning new photography! They have also closely aligned their marketing effort with their bridesmaid licensee, Dessy Group, who have also introduced a bridesmaid line under the LaStrada label. After Six’s new vest program, Rapture, is built in exact match colors to Dessy’s After Six bridesmaid color palette in addition to many David’s Bridal colors.

 A new “LaStrada” shoe along with a new fashion slip-on “Studio” and upscale “Galante” are among the over forty different shoes available with the After Six or Seven Unlimited brand names from Barclay. Shoe styles can be seen online at www.barclayshoe.com.

The new www.aftersix.com website is under the direction of the New York-based Dessy Group. These innovative marketers are expanding the website to include locator software to direct end-consumers to After Six retailers across the country.

After Six’s $2.7 billion parent company, Sequa and its shareholders recently adopted the merger agreement of the company by The Carlyle Group, a $75 billion investment company. The sale is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2007. No changes are expected at After Six as a result of the acquisition.

Key personnel at After Six include president, Kathleen Peskens, vice-president, Larry Darnell and director of product design, John Galante. After Six is represented in the U.S. and Canada by Stuart Feinberg, Bobby Lucarelli, Tim Moore, and Ed Murphy. International sales are represented by Leonard Bloom. Caribbean sales are represented by Pedro Bonilla. Contact information for all representatives can be found on the company’s web site “contact us” page. The company maintains distribution and customer service operations from its 100,000 square foot facility in Athens, Georgia. Customer service can be reached Monday through Friday from 8:30am - 4:30pm Eastern time at 800-554-8212.

Did you know Australia is the world’s largest island, yet smallest continent? This is a country very close to the size of the United States spanning 3 time zones, yet only approximately 20 million people to our 302 million. EXPO26 presented an opportunity to meet great people from all over the world, and Gerard Ferrari was one we had a chance to talk with about our industry. He is a long time native to the trade and calls Melbourne Australia home. Melbourne is Australia’s second largest city with 3.8 million people. The daunting 36 hours travel time he invested should make any of us who thought Nashville was out of the way take second notion. We were curious to know how Australian style and formal wear customs differ from our own. They say suit for hire we say tuxedo rental, what can we learn from each other?

A very friendly and easygoing conversationalist, Mr. Ferrari was happy to explain a little about formalwear in Australia all its changes and buyouts and his present position in the trade.
“Belgravia Formalwear, (BF), is now a very complex business. It is a part of the Belgravia Group of Companies, wholly owned by Geoff Lord, who has a majority interest in business with a combined turnover of $2.8 billion and around 18,000 employees. We call people like Geoff in Australia "heavy hitters" - could be an American baseball term! They have taken over the majority of the major tuxedo dealers in Australia over the past 10 years or so, (including a company I was a joint owner of). I have stayed on for the last ten years on the Board of Directors, and as BF are a franchised group in relation to their retail outlets, I have retained franchisee ownership of 10 stores.

Going back 15 years ago, the largest tux rental companies in Australia were, (not necessarily in this order), Ferrari Formal Wear, Spurling Formal Hire, Dress Circle & Myer Formalwear - they are now all part of the BF group. In addition to these BF has purchased the rights to supply Australia's largest menswear chain of stores, Roger David Menswear, with their formalwear needs similar to your Men’s Wearhouse. Although as our population is only a tick over 20 million and yours is around 300 million, Roger Davids 110 stores is probably comparable to Men’s Wearhouse reported 1,000 stores.

We also wholesale tuxedos to over 1,000 independent menswear and bridal businesses throughout Australia & New Zealand.

I first attended the IFA what was then the AFA (American Formalwear Association) EXPO back in 1983, and our companies have been members ever since. We formed the Australian Formalwear Association in 1985, and the Association held a National Conference each year. We always brought a guest speaker from the US to talk at our conference (IFA members Gary Davis, Ed Honeycutt, Bob Barry, and Jeff Slocum have all ventured "down under”. Our association has not held a National Conference since 2001, as BF has acquired the majority of operators. I am still the current President of the AFA, but as we haven't had a conference for so long it is not a very onerous role!”

How many locations, more than one processing plant?
Seventy retail outlets, (50 of which do ladies wear also - bridal, bridesmaid, debutante, prom & evening gowns), around 1,000 wholesale accounts and three plants - Melbourne, (head office), Brisbane & Sydney.

How long in business?
Ferrari, Spurling & Dress Circle all commenced around the same time 1963, (44 years), My brother Brian still owns Ferrari Formal Hire in Adelaide & Perth. He was a past Board Member of IFA, and although his company and ours compete, we have a good relationship.

Key players?
Apart from Brian's Adelaide & Perth businesses, (10 stores, around 50 wholesale accounts and two plants), there is no other "major" opposition - just a lot of smaller businesses that do quite well in their local markets.

Product and where you buy most of your goods?
Mainly China & Indonesia, although we will do a bit of business out of the US this year from contacts derived through the IFA. Our exchange rate is a lot better now, at around 83 cents on the dollar, we got as low a 50 cents in years gone by, which meant we were paying double for your goods + freight + duty!

Price range for rentals?
Our average price to the customer at retail level is around the $170.00 AUD. Rentals start from around $69.00 and go to around the $230.00 mark.

Wedding specials you offer?
We have tried to steer away from the free tux to the groom offer. Our latest offer is rent six suits or more and the groom receives a brand new pure wool business suit to the value of $450.00, we land these suits for around $110.00.

Colors the brides are choosing?
Silver, gold, greens, burgundy, ice blue, citrus colors are becoming more and more popular for weddings. Our colors of accessories have always been very close to yours, with the whole Northern Hemisphere vs Southern Hemisphere thing, we are probably around 6 - 12 months behind US fashion.

What other special occasions like prom or black tie events do you have?
Debutante balls are very popular. Your proms are called School Formals, and are a good part of our business. Corporate Black Tie Dinners and our Spring Racing Carnival are other occasions where rental and purchase of suits are popular in Australia.

Does style more closely resemble European or American?
(INSERT AUSTRALIA TUX2)We used to be dominated by US fashion. We still are in accessories, but suiting has switched to a very European flavor over the past 10 years.

What is your greatest obstacle the tuxedo faces in Australia?
Cheap imported suits from China. Menswear stores can buy suits for around $30.00 and offer deals such as new suit / shirt / tie outfit for $99.00. School kids particularly love it as they only visit the store once, its "cash & wrap", they wreck the suits anyway after a few wears, and its cheaper than renting, it also saves them coming into the rental store three times: 1. to get measured 2. to collect & 3. to return. Suit retailers are also offering better quality suits, (around the $299.00 - $399.00), price points and starting to market to wedding groups "why rent when you can buy?"

Who is your greatest competition?
There is no other national competitor, but there are a lot of smaller localized competitors in just about every market we are exposed to.

Any other information that would help others to understand your daily life?
We have chosen to develop our own brands of both mens and ladies product rather than relying on manufacturers for these needs. Therefore we control quality, exclusivity, photography & advertising mediums. Check out some of our web sites and you will probably get a better idea of where we are placed:

Zenetti - is our premium men’s retail brand available exclusively through our franchised stores - www.zenetti.com.au  

Brides by Mancini - our high end bridal brand, (pure silks & high end delustered satins) - www.bridesbymancini.com.au  

F Gear - a funky range of guys & girls product aimed at the 16 - 18 year old school formal market - www.fgear.com.au  , (go to the F Gear for girls site also, it’s really funky)

Angeline - our "bread and butter" ladies range covers bridal, bridesmaids, debs, flower girls and evening wear - www.angeline.com.au  

Ferrari Formal and Bridal - one of our franchised store brands
www.ferrariformal.com.au  

Spurling Bridal and Formalwear - another example of a franchised store brand, often these two brands compete toe to toe against each other, hence the reason we have attempted to market them differently, but really the product is the same and it is all supplied by BF. www.spurling.com.au  

The opinions expressed by the authors do not reflect necessarily of the Association of  International Formalwear, its officials, directors or personnel. Each author is the unique person in charge of her or his content.

The opinions expressed by the authors do not reflect necessarily of the Association of  International Formalwear, its officials, directors or personnel. Each author is the unique person in charge of her or his content.