undy tapped Glen Huntly-based design studio ACRD to conceptualize a new retail experience for Australian women and soon, the world. This is not the first time a Blundy-backed retailer has outsourced the brand story and store concept to ACRD; they are the team behind roughly 50 per cent of Brett’s retail triumphs, including Sanity Music, In2Music, Bras N Things and Lovisa. ACRD director Anthony Hoffman refers to the creative firm as a “retail giant builder” and this time around, he certainly had that sentiment in mind. According to Hoffman, “the brief was slim” but the idea was large, to create a lingerie, sleepwear and beauty emporium that offered customers a sanctuary of sensuality. “Retail has never been tougher than right now, from a trading perspective, so who in their right mind would launch a new brand in this period of time? The answer is Brett,” Hoffman told Inside Retail. “Because he knows that if he can launch something now, get great brand awareness and have customers engaged in what he’s doing… As we come out of this turbulent time, as we rise above the clouds, he’s going to have a rocket ship business on his hands,” he added. What’s in a name Nearly a year ago, Hoffman presented five brand names to Mark McInnes, global CEO of retail and consumer at BBRC, and Linda Whitehead, CEO of the now Léays, that carry the weight of the retail project’s ambitions. The brand name was born out of an acronym for the phrase ‘love everything about you’ but due to difficulty trademarking it, it pivoted to ‘love everything about yourself’, hence, Léays. “I think if they understand that first and foremost, they’re going to understand that the brand signifies something, it stands for something,” Hoffman explained. “The name of the store starts with the customer, and the experience you get inside is all about the customer,” he continued. When first conceptualizing Léays, Hoffman assumed that the target demographic would be 18 to 25-year-olds, but by the time of execution, he was sure the reach was going to be much broader. Put the customer first According to Hoffman, this approach to lingerie is severely lacking in the Australian retail landscape. Victoria’s Secret and Bras N Things have centered the product, whereas Léays is looking to center the customer. “[Léays] is really going in the middle of where Victoria’s Secrets sits and where Bras N Things sits – it’s filling a void which says, ‘hey, come and check us out’,” Hoffman elaborated. As of last month, BBRC held an estimated 10.31 million shares, or a 13 per cent stake, in Victoria’s Secret. But as of 21 May, BBRC is now able to acquire up to 49.99 per cent of the voting stock in Victoria’s Secret after filing the correct paperwork. One distinct design departure from Blundy’s previous lingerie retailers is the use of drawers, which invite customers to engage with product discovery in a new way – where they can easily shop for different sizes, fabrics and colorways.  “I had a clear direction of how I wanted the store to feel, it was essentially wanting to capture a feeling our customer had towards themselves and allow them to celebrate themselves by giving themselves a treat,” Hoffman said. His team crafted a one-to-one scale cardboard prototype of the store completely merchandised with product and fixtures inside the Best & Less offices for the buyers, category managers and Blundy himself to walk through.  While Léays is designed to operate like a boutique with the look and feel of a Parisian apartment, the brand (and store) is designed for scale. Every element of the Léays store was procured from China with the intention of being able to recreate the design anywhere in the world, everything from the sheer curtains framing the front windows to the French-inspired chevron flooring. Currently, Léays has stores at Westfield in Sydney’s Parramatta, Mt Gravatt in Brisbane, Stockland Green Hills near Newcastle and Werribee in Victoria. “There’s more on the table already that we’re working on and working towards,” Hoffman concluded. “By this time next year, if all goes well, there’s going to be 50 on the ground just in Australia – but I would suggest overseas is very desirable.”