Cool's no longer hot

DENIM brand Ksubi has been dumped from the David Jones fashion family following poor sales in 26 stores.

ksubi

DENIM brand Ksubi has been dumped from the David Jones fashion family following poor sales in 26 stores.

It's the latest incident in turbulent times for the once achingly hip brand with last month's departure of founder and creative director George Gorrow and the decision to launch a children's collection with Target.

"Whilst David Jones has had a great association with Ksubi for many years we have decided to end our business relationship with the brand as a result of ongoing declining sales," says Donna Player, David Jones Group executive, merchandise.

"From a commercial perspective our focus is on maximising our return per square metre of selling space and unfortunately Ksubi's sales have been on a declining trajectory for a number of seasons."

Founded more than 12 years ago by Dan Single, Gareth Moody (who left five years ago to focus on his Chronicles of Never label) and Gorrow, Tsubi, as it was then, gained a reputation for cool, distressed denim with a relaxed fit. Its 2001 show at Australian Fashion Week with rats on the runway fuelled the myth-making machines, setting the brand's reputation as a style rebel.

Along the way there were legal troubles resulting in the name change to Ksubi and financial problems, with the company rescued from liquidation in 2010 by the founder of Quiksilver Europe Harry Hodge.

Since then Ksubi has been finding its feet in an increasingly crowded denim market, enlisting Vogue stylist Christine Centenera as a consultant, but it's too little, too late for David Jones. The department store is also concerned about the Target children's wear deal, an unusual move for a brand whose blog is crammed with images of topless women and male genitalia.

"The brand's recent change in strategic direction (concentrating on discount children's wear) and the resignation of its creative director George Gorrow means the Ksubi brand is no longer aligned to David Jones's strategy of offering the best national and international brands," Player says.

"We will be replacing Ksubi in our business with exciting, fashion-conscious brands such as Rag & Bone, Current Elliot, Cheap Monday and Res Denim."

Ksubi's global brand director, Paul Wilson, is unconcerned by David Jones's decision, saying the company plans to expand from six to nine Australian boutiques before Christmas.

"The Ksubi brand has had strong growth over the last few seasons and we figure we will be around for a little while yet," Wilson says.

"The last three seasons have been the best in our history, with fairly even sales growth across fashion and denim.

"At our core we are still, and will always be, a designer denim label. We are always looking at ways that we can lead the market and innovate but as a more grown-up Ksubi these days we call our positioning 'luxury street' - luxury but with a street-style influence."

Wilson also says the brand's appeal can withstand the move into the children's wear market.

"We have talked about designing kids' wear internally for years but it hasn't been a focus as we don't have the distribution base for it, so when the biggest retailer of children's wear in Australia asked us to do it for them, as part of their designer collaboration program, we jumped at it," he said.

"We did some research. Despite the fact that the list of credible designers Target has collaborated with worldwide is huge, no other designer labels had attempted a kids' line so we have found the whole project both challenging and really exciting."

With David Jones out of the picture the next move would be for department store rival Myer to come calling, but a possible non-compete clause and the Target deal means there's no rush. The task for Ksubi is to keep its cool.