Chain victim of fickle fashion

By DITA DE BONI

When work suits, short-sleeved shirts and quiet ties were king, so was iconic men's clothing chain Hugh Wright.

This week, the doors closed on the 98-year-old company's 19 stores, closing also on shops chock-full of every item the working man might need, served up by assistants unafraid of the inside leg measurement.

But Hugh Wright, say fashion industry figures, was the victim of rapidly changing consumer tastes and the increasingly sophisticated dress sense of the average Kiwi male.

"There was a time when young men knew almost nothing about clothes, and when they entered the workplace they got their first suit at Hugh Wright," says Paul Blomfield, fashion industry consultant.

They also picked up their mid-priced socks and briefs, ties and first-ever tracksuit at the one-stop chain shop.

But making a fashion statement has become the vogue, and shopping where your father - and your father's father - shopped, is now considerably less cool.

"Young men don't wait until they are 20 until they get their attitude and own style now - surfwear lines have really changed the whole scene," Mr Blomfield says.

"Traditional suits are also not the business they used to be. Dress-down Friday is on the decline, but there has still been massive casualisation of clothing."

Hugh Wright, he observes, did not choose its younger market over its older customers, like competitor Hallensteins, and was left with an ambiguous market positioning which tried to appeal to everyone.

A typical modern day experience of the shop illustrates its main appeal, says one customer who did not want to be named.

"It works like this. You grow up in some dodgy part of the country. Your parents give you $5 to buy a summer wardrobe. You have no option but to shop at Hallensteins.

"You grow older and leave school. You obtain a job ... flush with cash, and more fashion conscious with age, you walk past Hugh Wright's and everything looks flash. You walk in and buy stuff."

"Later, after you have obtained a better-paying job, you realise that Hugh Wright stuff looks kind of okay but is still only mid-range. It is only when you become a high-powered that you can afford to shop at really swanky outlets.

"But being tight, you still end up in Hugh Wright, Hallensteins and the Warehouse."

Value for money was a Wright family mantra.

But the store was considered a fashion mecca for discerning ladies and gentlemen long before board shorts and low riders hit the scene.

In 1904, after returning from several years' experience as a tailor-cutter with McCombie Bros in London, Hugh Wright opened his shop to women and men at the corner of Customs and Queen Sts.

Womenswear was soon dispensed with.

Mr Wright's son, Hugh Wright junior, joined the business in 1930. When his father died, he took over as chairman and managing director after doing his own fashion OE in London.

It was Mr Wright junior who was primarily responsible for expanding the business from three Auckland shops to 30 nationwide outlets.

The mantra of his reign was fashionable menswear, of good quality and at reasonable price, and his time coincided with the "great era" of tailored suits.

In 1976, his son, John Wright, took over as managing director. John Wright was not commenting to the media when contacted yesterday.

The company's Queen St outlet was the largest menswear store in the country before its doors shut on Monday.

It boasted "clean light colours and textures in the main suit area [that] show New Zealand's biggest suit range to advantage".

But the traditional suit has seen better days, and shops that used to level-peg with Hugh Wright have moved with the times and introduced younger lines and laddish advertising.

Harry Howe, managing director of Saks, says Hugh Wright was a "bit middle of the road" for him, but he nevertheless lamented the loss of the chain and the jobs it provided.

"It is a reflection of the fact that menswear is a hard business, and has not seen the exponential growth that women's wear has experienced.

"Being traditional and an 'iconic Kiwi retailer' doesn't cut it any more."

Hugh Wright was placed in the hands of receivers yesterday. Staff at a handful of stores said they had received no contracts for ongoing employment and did not know what the future held.

They said sales advertising placed with media this week was done before the news of receivership.