Australian brand Sass&Bide was founded in 1999 by two women, Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke, and built its reputation on a series of sexy skinny jeans. Two years later, the brand began to fully develop, creating new and exquisite dresses, tops and leggings... which catapulted this new Australian local brand into the focus of global attention. Heidi loves to travel, and design inspiration often comes from her travels; Sarah-Jane then supplements and contrasts her inspiration with her unique vision, and finally takes shape. The brands development momentum is very good, but what is unexpected is that the two founders announced their resignation in July this year.
This is another case where a designer encounters problems between ideals and reality during the development process after establishing a brand. From the beginning of establishing a brand, fashion designers need financial investment to support better development. Perhaps in order to make the brand bigger and stronger, Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke sold 50% of Sass & Bides shares to Australian fashion entrepreneurs David Briskin and Daniel Besen in 2009. In 2011, Sass & Bide acquired a 65% stake in Australias largest department store group, Myer Holdings Ltd., for A$42.3 million. Last September, Myer Holdings Ltd. spent another A$30 million to buy out the remaining 35% stake in Sass & Bide. As a result, the brand completely became someone elses. The two founders, Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke, began to gradually fade out of brand operations. They resigned from the board of directors in November last year and only served as creative director and brand director respectively.
Myer Holdings Ltd. has now hired British designer Anthony Cuthbertson, who served as the creative director of the British brand Daks from 2000 to 2006, as the new creative director of Sass & Bide, while Tommy Hilfiger European BranchFormer art director Bonnie O’Hare will become art director of Sass & Bide.
From the initial founder, to gradually becoming a worker, and finally leaving the brand that he founded, such an evolutionary process makes people sigh. I believe this is also a problem that many designer brands need to face in the development process. On the one hand, you need others to invest money in you, but on the other hand, you don’t want to lose the initiative. There is rarely such a good thing that has the best of both worlds. Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke might want to take a page from Dolce & Gabbana.
Although the brand has experienced relatively large fluctuations, Sass & Bides current development momentum is very good. It currently has 25 independent stores in Australia, New Zealand and New York, and its business has expanded to 20 markets around the world, with sales performance also increasing. In constant growth. This brand was not absent from the 2015 spring and summer New York Fashion Week. The brand design team completed the 2015 spring and summer womens wear series. The designs brought by new creative director Anthony Cuthbertson will only be seen in the autumn and winter of 2015.
In the 2015 spring and summer series, we can see that Sass & Bide’s stable design team is the core that helps sales performance continue to rise. This series is chic, neat and sexy. It also draws a lot of inspiration from Japanese kimonos, integrating artistic elements and daily life elements to strike a balance between romance and comfort. The colors are clean, elegant and soft, and the silk fabrics suitable for spring and summer are elegant and romantic. Some segmentation and knotting in the details add a sense of layering. The entire series still brings a bit of freshness to New York Fashion Weekair.
