Kiwi lingerie company gets boost with big Oz deal

Sue Dunmore will be supplying an Australian fashion chain.

A deal with an Australian fashion chain has given local lingerie brand Rose & Thorne a stylish lift.

Two shipping containers of the firm's undergarments are set to hit 90 Autograph stores in early October, including eight of the fashion retailer's New Zealand branches.

The creation of business powerhouse Stefan Preston and former Bendon head of design Sue Dunmore, Rose & Thorne burst on to the underwear scene two years ago with The Warehouse stocking its affordable, innovative bras.

Focused on the plus-size clothing market, Autograph, ran a trial of the company's product late last year before it decided to stock the new, high-end Rose Label lingerie in exclusive designs.

Dunmore said it is Rose & Thorne's first big wholesale customer beyond The Warehouse. Autograph, part of the Specialty Fashion Group with its six retail brands totalling more than 1000 stores, has 194 outlets here and in Australia.

"It's like having another customer the size of The Warehouse immediately."

Dunmore said it had taken months to get the product for Autograph right, including designing for a size range up to a 24G bra, and that Autograph were thrilled with the results.

Preston has also shoulder tapped three new shareholder directors - Sarah Paykel, Morag McCay and Debra Hall - for the growing company that had a capital injection when it grabbed $250,000 of funding in the University of Auckland Business School Entrepreneurs' Challenge last year. McCay brings nearly three decades of expertise as a London-based marketing and business development executive for companies such as Hilton International, Avis, Pret a Manger and Pizza Express.

Local PR specialist Paykel is tasked with creating social media and word-of-mouth buzz around the brand's fit technology in order to foot it with the established lingerie brands.

The trio is rounded out by Hall, a former metallurgical engineer turned marketing guru.