International brands to launch at Sydney fair

3.0 k views | Posted July 27, 2010 |

Two high-profile LA brands are set to make their Australian debuts at the International Jewellery Fair in Sydney.

Watch brand Ed Hardy and luxury jeweller Simon G will join a host of other international and local suppliers who are exhibiting at the fair for the first time. This year, more than 30 per cent are new to the fair for 2010.

Ed Hardy is a high-profile streetwear fashion, jewellery and watch brand from Christian Audigier, the French designer who was the driving force behind celebrity fashion label Von Dutch.

The Los Angeles-based watch brand has a celebrity following from stars including David Beckham, Madonna and Heidi Klum. Ed Hardy, the man, is a legendary tattoo artist widely credited with transforming the tattoo industry, whose work is influenced by surf and street culture, as well as Japanese art.

Ed Hardy’s Australian distributor John Rose said the brand already has a fan base in Australia. “Ed Hardy has become a worldwide phenomenon. The brand is already known and loved by many Australians,” he said.

“We’re starting with the watches now because we know there’s an enormous amount of demand for them in Australia. Going into spring/summer everything in the watch world is about colour. And because Ed Hardy has this vibrancy, colour and life to it, it’s so right now.”

Ed Hardy has been testing the water in Australia with a small selection of stockists in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales. Rose said reaction to the brand has so far been “unparalleled”.

Award-winning brand Simon G will also launch at the fair. Specialising in high-end bridal and fashion jewellery, the manufacturing designer jewellery business is owned by a Lebanese immigrant who made his name as a jeweller in LA. Like Ed Hardy, his work also has a celebrity following and has been singled out in the pages of a number of US consumer magazines.

In the US, the brand has just launched a line of sustainable fashion jewellery in partnership with Global Green USA – the American arm of President Gorbachev’s Green Cross International, which was founded in 1994.

Hailing from Europe, Finnish jewellery brand Lapponia will makes its debut at the Sydney trade fair to coincide with the business’s 50th anniversary. Its collection is designed by several guest artists from different countries, and the company has just one Australian stockist at present – in Sydney.

Lapponia’s Natasha Ree said: “On Lapponia's 50th Anniversary, we are excited to launch in Australia the unique, designer jewellery made in Finland. One of Lapponia's guest designers, Zoltan Popovits, spent some formative years here in Australia, bringing the collaboration. in a sense. full-circle.”

Lapponia will be exhibiting an extensive range of necklaces, bracelets, earrings and rings at the show.

As well as new overseas designers, there are a number of local suppliers that will be new to the Sydney trade fair.

Shayne Jackson, managing director of Bitano, said the Sydney trade fair will give him the opportunity to make contact with customers he wouldn’t normally reach, as well as retailers who are looking to broaden their range.

The business has been supplying fashion jewellery in Australia for 10 years, working with silver, 18-carat gold combinations, pearls and semi-precious stones.

Jackson believes the consumer shift towards low-to-medium-priced fashion accessories, driven by the Global Financial Crisis, means more retailers are looking for the type of jewellery Bitano has to offer.

“More and more retailers who formerly dealt only in mid-to-high-end jewellery
are seeing the need to broaden their range to capture more of the market that is still prepared to spend during these times” said Jackson.

> Find out more about new product launches at the Sydney trade fair in Jeweller’s September issue.

More information: International Jewellery Fair , Sydney

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