Country Road celebrated their 50th anniversary this year – an extraordinary milestone for a business operating in the highly competitive fashion industry.
While our contemporary links to the iconic Australian fashion brand have included Wesley College parent Elle Roseby’s recent six-year stint as Managing Director and an exciting new internship program, our connection, in fact, goes all the way back to the beginning some 50 years ago, when Stephen Bennett (OW1965) founded the company with his former wife Pam, who had come up with the concept. Steve’s sister, designer Jane Parker, joined a year later, and then he invited Peter Vial (OW1965) to join the fledgling venture.
Peter and Stephen reflect on their partnership and those exciting early days…
Peter: Steve Bennett approached me to discuss joining him in his fledgling venture in late 1976 – having met each other at Wesley in the 1960’s. We discussed the future potential for the business which was then turning over $400,000 per annum.
He told me he felt this could be built to $1 million in the next few years. I was excited by his offer, and had no expectation that I was jumping onto the Steve Bennett ‘rocket ship’ that subsequently took off into the stratosphere!
Within three years, turnover had grown to over $6 million with six retail stores and a booming wholesale business. The key drivers of this, and the subsequent very rapid growth, were Steve’s laser focus on quality across all aspects of the business, and his ground-breaking product innovation.
He used menswear factories to make womenswear product due to their superior quality machinery and Japanese fabrics due to its high quality and affordable price. He maintained minute attention to detail in all aspects of the business. For example, choosing real pearl Takase buttons instead of cheaper imitations.
We also employed many wonderful people, 80% women, many of whom commenced training in the distribution centre so as to be exposed to all garments and products before they moved on to other divisions of the company.
By 1986, the company had grown to 40 stores operating across Australasia, with a turnover in excess of $50 million.
Steve’s leadership and unwavering focus on the brand’s products, customers and wonderful team resulted in him being recognised as ‘the Ralph Lauren of Australia’.
I witnessed his remarkable brilliance growing the brand to its market leadership in womenswear, menswear, homeware, store design and marketing, and later expanding it to Japan and the USA. His astonishing achievement is now deservedly recognised, as he has finally been honoured with the Australian Fashion Laureate for Lifetime Achievement.
Stephen: Pete Vial and I first met in Wesley Cadets in about 1962 and have been great friends ever since. Joining me as a partner and General Manager of Country Road in 1977, he was the driving force in setting up our retail stores, managing the growth of the brand and ensuring its financial stability, which allowed me to focus on product development and marketing.
The 25 or so years we worked together were both incredible and ground-breaking, and we are proud that the brand we built, along with an amazing team of dedicated employees, is now celebrating its 50th year.
Wesley internship at Country Road
The Wesley-Country Road connection continued this year with Elle’s appearance as guest speaker at our International Women’s Day Breakfast at the St Kilda Road Campus, and an exciting internship program for two of our 2023 graduates. It emerged from a deeply engaging presentation on business strategy and sustainable design that Elle generously gave to our Year 12 IB DP Design Technology students last year.
Kit Horman (OW2023) and Saskia Elliott (OW2023), currently studying design and arts respectively at Melbourne University, joined the marketing team at Country Road back in April for a week of invaluable, on-the-job experience.
‘There were many takeaways from the experience,’ said Saskia. ‘A standout for me was the vast range of jobs needed within large companies such as Country Road, and how those positions and teams work together and collaborate.’
Kit agrees. ‘We met with each marketing department in the office. It was highly beneficial to learn how they began their career path, as it was often quite diverse. Their stories assured me that a straight-forward path is not the only way to achieve goals. It also demonstrated the flexibility of career changes.’
She especially enjoyed her time with the homewares team. ‘We had a lot in common with them regarding CAD (Computer Aided Design). This directly related to what we did in our Wesley Design class, so it was great to see this in a real-life scenario,’ she said.
