What we learned from the 20 Coolest Retailers this year
In case you missed it, Inside Retail this week revealed the latest iteration of our 20 Coolest Retailers in Australia report. It’s an inspiring list of businesses big and small that, over the last year, have stood out to us as doing things differently.
While they come from different industries, from food and fashion to beauty and sports, the brands we’ve highlighted in the report share a few things in common, such as out-of-the-box thinking and environmentally-friendly business practices.
Here, we’ve compiled a few key themes from this year’s list (which you can download here, for free).
When it comes to inclusion, talk is cheap
Many brands tout themselves as supporting inclusive behaviours and design, and market themselves as a place that welcomes anyone, of any shape, colour, or creed. So often, however, very little about these brands actually changes to become more inclusive.
In 2022, Australian fashion firm Bonds walked the walk on making meaningful changes to its products to ensure that everyone could truly feel comfortable wearing their clothes. The business kicked off the UnGENderwear project with the goal of auditing the way it sells its products, stripping away gendered terms across its stores and marketing, to ensure that its clothes don’t come with a ‘label’.
“Feeling good is about more than just wearing comfy undies and socks,” Bonds’ general manager of marketing Kelly McBride told Inside Retail.
“Feeling good is about being comfortable to be yourself [and] we’re focused on helping everyone feel comfortable by using our voice to break down stereotypes, as well as supporting underrepresented groups or topics.”
Under the project, Bonds will remove any gendered language across its business that falls apart under scrutiny by 2025, with the guidance of LGBTQIA+ organisation Minus18.
Fashion is going Meta
It seems like every other day the industry is hearing about the brand exploring the metaverse, or releasing a collaboration with a popular game, in an effort to get on the front foot with a fast-emerging new channel.
One brand is well ahead of the pack, however, making digital tokens of its high-end clothing long before it was cool: Sydney-based Injury.
After years of work in the space, Injury this year pioneered the first-ever metaverse fashion show at Afterpay Australian Fashion Week, showing off its 2022/23 collection through a vibrant, anime-esque CGI film.
The film won ‘Best Digital Fashion Award’ at Berlin Fashion Film Festival, and already has plans for several more shows throughout the remainder of 2022.
“We aim to take a holistic approach that includes characters, fashion, music and universes to tell our brand story,” Injury founder Eugene Leung told Inside Retail.
“We’re happy that our skillset has grown over the years so that we are able to create everything we have been dreaming of in-house.”
Brands can make a difference
The role of wellness and wellbeing in the health retail space has been booming for years, and was only accelerated by the impact the pandemic had on customers’ lives. Now, with the increasing role online retail is playing in people’s lives, it makes sense that more online-only wellness options have risen to prominence.
Online health platform Pilot, for example, is focusing its efforts on helping men take their health more seriously, and opening up conversations around some of the more taboo topics, such as erectile dysfunction and baldness.
“We’re breaking down the barriers to entry, and offering discreet treatment to all men, whether they’re from capital cities or out in rural communities,” Pilot co-founder Charlie Gearside told Inside Retail.
During the year, the business partnered with mental health hotline This Is a Conversation Starter to further its work helping men explore and deal with their own struggles with mental health, and criticised R U Okay? Day’s focus on raising awareness when “it’s actually time for action“.
Another brand using its voice for good is pureplay sex toy retailer Becuming, which, beyond selling products meant purely for pleasure, ensures each toy meets its own ethical and product safety standards.
“In Australia, there’s no legislation that regulates what types of sex products can be sold, nor what types of claims can be made about them,” founder Caroline Moreau-Hammond told Inside Retail.
“In our modern world it’s very easy to quickly acquire all kinds of cheaply made products and sell them with extremely inflated margins. The sex toy industry is no different.”
By only stocking products that meet its own high standard, and using its position in the market as an educator as well as a retailer, Becuming is hoping to open up conversations with its customers around what they want from their sex life, and how they can achieve it.
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