An extensive portfolio of classic and popular fashion brands will enter the Australian retail sector for the first time as Brand Machine Group (BMG), a global leader in branded fashion manufacture and licensing, launches into the local market in 2024.First up is the US$2.4 billion brand US Polo Assn, followed by childrenswear lines in the BMG portfolio, including New Balance Kids and Juicy Couture Kids.The opportunity to meet consumer demand is more than apparent with the Australian children’s apparel market tipped to have a value of about A$5.39 billion.Australia will also serve as a launchpad for BMG to enter other international markets across the Asia Pacific region.Coming to AustraliaBoo Jalil, BMG CEO, told Inside Retail, “Brexit triggered us to reassess our business internationally, we realised very quickly it was time for us to move faster globally.“It’s really important people realise we are not here for five minutes. We have a straight line three-year strategy,” Jalil said.The strategy, which is all about keeping things simple, was placed on hold for three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.“We distribute where the brand is, if it’s a kid’s brand, we’re following the adult business — it’s pretty easy as the map has been done for us. If we’re an adult brand, we’re taking our lead from the brand itself and where they want to see it sitting,” Jalil said.“The unique thing about us is we are not looking to be a long-distance lover. We’re here and the website is local-for-local — Australian Dollar, [Australian] fulfilment, etc, etc. So that’s switched on now.”Globally, US Polo Assn already has 1150 bricks-and-mortar retail stores. “It’s a huge multibillion-dollar business and we’ll be carrying that flag through the Australian market,” he said, noting that BMG launched the brand’s e-commerce site in Australia last week.Australia’s largest retailers met with BMG CEO Boo Jalil and its newly appointed country manager for ANZ, Kevin Cliffe, via a new, Surry Hills showroom.“Next play will be to work with certain retailers in the market to introduce the brand to the wholesale community,” Jalil added.“And then we’ll be opening [US Polo Assn in] retail [stores] in Australia. We’re hoping to have that done by the second quarter of 2025.”In the latter part of next year, BMG plans to have around eight brands within its existing portfolio live in the Australian market.“Alongside that, we are bringing New Balance Kids into the market across multiple retail sites,” Jalil added.BMG is looking to bring more “street casual” and “outdoor brands” to Australia after meeting with a few local retailers who showed “quite an unexpected excitement” towards BMG’s offering in that market segment, Jalil said.“We’re a rotating door of brands and there’s always something in the background waiting to come in,” he said.BMG’s recent expansion into the soft furnishings market will roll out into the Australian market in the next six to 12 months.“Six months ago, we launched a global home division with three brands, US Polo Assn being one, William Hunt Savile Row and Duchamp, a luxury brand from Europe,” Jalil said.“We’re a textile business and that’s what we specialise in. There are other assets, probably a year away after that around home. Right now it’s concentrating on the textiles,” Jalil added.In Australia, the home décor market segment is set to generate a revenue of A$2.77 billion in 2024 and is projected to experience an annual growth rate of 3.25 per cent (CAGR 2024-2029).Not just a machineBMG is a UK-based, global business with over 40 years of experience in the fashion industry’s vertical manufacturing processes.“We’ve been in the licensing business for just over 30 years. The background of the business is manufacturing and supplying to some of the biggest retailers on the planet. And then we kind of ended up in licensing by default really,” Jalil said.Jalil emphasized the parallels between the UK and Australian retail markets. “I could be in London today, the parallels are uncanny, more than any other market,” he said.“I was quite surprised where a few of the biggest brands today sat in the Australian retail market,” he added.To seamlessly introduce its brand portfolio to the Australian market, BMG will take a strategic approach using wholesale and direct-to-consumer (DTC) avenues.He credits the transparency and integrity of the business for its success.“It’s not about success or failure. It’s about integrity. You can’t take someone’s asset and be half-hearted about it. You have to be committed. It has to be your life,” Jalil said.“They’ve been dedicated to getting it good enough to interest you — build upon that. You have to feel the same about it.”Focusing on one brand at a time, BMG has no plans to move into multi-brand DTC retail, and this thinking flows through into how it structures its teams.“We won’t cross-pollinate with another brand, our teams are individual. They get up in the morning and think about it, they go to bed at night thinking about it. And you know, 24 hours a day seven days a week, that’s the only thing they’re concentrating on. That’s the uniqueness about how we run a business,” Jalil said.“It’s a much more expensive way of running the business, but we feel it’s the right way to be, we’ve always been very hard-nosed about that way of working as a company.“The way we license is seamless. We are the brand, a consumer should always have the same appeal for what we do, as they do for the brand itself.“We’re an unusual entity. There are two or three in the world who do what we do,” Jalil added.