More potential competitors...

Top: Smitten Kitten
Centre: Roberta Glass

Lower: Willow, " Homage to Newton"

Jo has already highlighted some of the main likely competitors of Lady Libertine, and has provided some great details and descriptions as to how these brands allure customers and what they provide. I wanted to include two local labels which have a relevance in terms of the similar size to our brand and the market for which we are aiming to cater for. We found that Australian and New Zealand labels had the ability to create beautiful, sensual undergarments which didn't cross the boundaries into being garish or overtly tacky.

Willow:

Kit podgornik's lingerie, in particular " homage to newton" demonstrates her desire to create elegant and fashionable intimates with substance in their design. Podgornik noticed a missing link in the lingerie market, both locally and internationally, of undergarments that were edgy and fashionable and beautiful. Lace and frills had long been considered synonymous with fine lingerie and she wanted to challange this mindset and to create more streamlined and bold quality garments. The marketing therfore uses strong imagery of powerful lines and structure to convey the essence of willow and its lingerie. Garmets use strong lines and repitition in bold, block colourways allowing the intricacies of design to take preference on the floor and in marketing photography.

In terms of stockists, willow lingerie has 63 stockists worldwide, 24 of those being on australian shores and internationally stores such as selfridges, Browns focus and Harvey Nichols are selling her wares. While comparing the brand's construct to lady libertine, this distribution of stockists as well as an online option is similar to what we would aspire to in our brand's development stage as we enter into the market. This gives the brand accessability.

Her pricepoints have been altered and continue to vary from one season to the next, but currently her bras retails from $69-$99 for simple styles and up to $189 for the more intricate. briefs similarly have a split price range beginning at $39 and reaching to $89.

Our concept of pricing when considering fine silk and quality components is really drawn from willow's pricing concepts, though altered for our specific customers.

The first willow store in victoria has recently opened in hawksburn melbourne allowing customers to see how Willow wants to market their garments instore. Her interiors are clean and white, with scattered sculpture and works of art. filteredimages taken from hewr new york show act as filters in the background, never intending to intrude..

Roberta Glass:

Although from new zealand originally, Roberta Glass has made ausralia home and the birthplace for her Nine year old label. Glass caters for a similar target customer as does Willow and Lady Libertine, a woman who is confident in herself and her style, and one who wants to invest in quality pieces made of high quality components and posessing a unique design.

Her garments sit in a niche which has managed to obtain a large following of loyal customers even though over 60% of sales are from Roberta Glass online. Part of her success has come from repeating successful shapes and design lines in different fabrics and colourways each season. This appeals to customers who already love the lingerie from Roberta Glass for its fit and line while the beautiful fabrications also make the undergarments appealing to new customers.

The brand is stocked in very few boutiques in Australia, ( as previously said, many of her customers obtain her garments online ), but those which it does occupy have a similar brand presence. Smitten kitten is her main stockist in australia, and this is proven in her latest collection with a set named " smitten" after the Melbourne Store. The store has a definate boudoir/burlesque atmosphere with rich red velvets and papered walls creating a dramatic and enclosing space. The choice to stock her lingerie her suggests that her brand is to be seen as being affiliated with the higher end labels such as Chantal Thomass, though i believe it is really a muted version of a high fashion lingerie label, more appropriately aligned with willow in terms of its likely customer.

This store mood and message differs from our branding concept, and we have chosen to steer away from this partially to create a point of difference in our brand and partially to represent our priority. That is to represent the essence of our Australian customer.

- Madeline