'It is a very unique market': July co-founder Athan Didaskalou on expanding an Australian luggage brand to the U.S.
The last few years have been a rollercoaster for travel companies. But Australian luggage brand July says business is now beginning to boom.
"Things have changed, lockdowns have come to an end now -- 2021 was a progressive lift on that. And this year, in 2022, things are flying again," said co-founder and chief strategy officer Athan Didaskalou.
Didaskalou joined this week's Modern Retail Podcast and talked about the brand's growth and expansion plans.
July was first devised in 2018 with the intention of being a luxury luggage company that could take on both Samsonite and Rimowa. "[Rimowa's] acquisition from LVMH reinvigorated design and travel," Didaskalou said. "I'd be lying to say I wasn't a fan."
Still, he believed that his company could take on the bigger name players in the industry. "We thought we could do it better," Didaskalou said, by making lighter bags with unique design features like curvier edges and personalized monograms.
The first year of business, things went well. But then every luggage brand's worst fear materialized: the world shut down. "2019 was the official retail launch, and 2020 we were almost shutting the business down. It was really that drastic because we didn't have the runway of a few years under the belt in order to be able to survive a zero revenue year."
One of the ways July survived the pandemic was by launching new non-travel products like drink bottles and backpacks. The other part was by going into new territories that eased travel restrictions earlier than Australia -- namely, the U.S. For Didaskalou, launching in stateside was an entrepreneurial dream. "I don't think there's any Australian business that doesn't fantasize from day one about launching in the U.S.," he said. "The people are there, the scale is there, the appetite is there for newness."
Now, according to Didaskalou, business is humming and more products and markets are in the pipeline. But even though the company has its Australian roots, the United States remains the primary focus.
"It's all about the U.S.," Didaskalou said. "We see the demand, we have made an impact. And we can't wait to just start making and delivering more products that get people excited."