What a chief executive thought of a brand before running it usually remains behind locked doors. But the new head of R.M. Williams, Raju Vuppalapati, is feeling generous. Sitting in the spartan back office of one of Australia's most respected artisan addresses – 5 Percy Street, Prospect, on Adelaide's outskirts – Vuppalapati talks about how he made regular business trips to Melbourne during the eight years he was based in Cape Town as a senior executive of Levi Strauss & Co.
"I'd wander through Melbourne Central [shopping centre] where there's an R.M. Williams store," he explains. "I used to walk in just out of interest and talk to the staff."
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Fiona Carruthers has written and edited travel for the Financial Review for almost a decade. She has held senior roles with ABC Radio National, Deutsche Welle Radio, TIME and The Australian, and was deputy editor of Traveller. Email Fiona at fcarruthers@afr.com
