Founded in 2019 by Ahsan Didaskarou and Richard Lee, Australian luggage brand July is further focused on its mission to cater to the needs of the modern traveller as lifestyles and consumer priorities evolve.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers around the world have started to favor travel again, despite the rising cost of living. According to BoF's “State of Fashion 2024” report, global travel flows are expected to reach 110% of 2019 levels in 2024. “Workcation” travel, hybrid working schedules, and global cultural events such as the 2024 Olympics in Paris are all contributing to this change.
In fact, July has strategically recognised this cultural moment that is the foundation of global travel as the exclusive supplier of bespoke suitcases to the Australian Olympic team for the upcoming Olympics. Additionally, the travel brand has a strong foothold in the fast-growing Asia Pacific region with brick-and-mortar stores in Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong and Australia, and UK retailer Selfridges among its international footprint.
At July, responding to travel trends and local hotspots is underscored by a problem-solving-centric design strategy. In its early days, July read over 4,000 reviews of existing suitcases to solve customers' biggest pain points, from quieter wheels and reinforced corners to improved warranty policies. Small batch production allows the company to test, iteratively refine and evolve its products, creating a live feedback loop with consumers. BoF spoke with Co-Founder and Director Ahsan Didaskarou about how July evolved its business model to match the dynamics of post-pandemic travel, what insights it has gained about the Asia-Pacific region and its consumers, its plans to partner with the fashion industry, and what the fashion industry can learn from July's iterative design process.
How has the post-pandemic surge in travel impacted the brand's growth and strategy?
When we launched just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it felt like any other year. But when global travel came to a halt, consumers' craving to travel was clear, and since then we've seen examples of people trying to make up for lost time.
With the economic downturn, economic uncertainty, and rising interest rates, travel has become an essential sector for many. We have noticed that consumers are prioritizing travel and tend to sacrifice the little things like restaurants, bars, dates, and everyday discretionary spending to get experiences they haven't had for a long time. In July, we saw our business grow fourfold since the return to pre-COVID travel patterns.
How have travellers’ needs and preferences changed in recent years?
One of the biggest changes is the blurring of the lines between business and leisure travel, with people taking longer business trips to make the most of their experiences and add value to them. This change in behavior means consumers expect more from travel products and accessories.
For example, if you travel with carry-on luggage, do you need an extra overnight bag that can be layered on top? Or maybe you want your everyday business bag to be adaptable and travel-friendly for short trips. This adaptability is an important feature, and travel readiness is naturally part of the requirements when it comes to this category.
How has this evolution affected local travel trends?
Speaking of July's home country of Australia, we've been tracking the rise of experiential (almost themed) hotels that offer customers a real sense of escapism. This trend is partly driven by Australia's geographic location: unlike Europeans, for whom international travel is a quick weekend activity, Australians often spend hours just getting out of the country.
Everyone on the July team needs to work through the customer feedback flow and reach out to customers to understand their needs.
Just an hour outside of Byron Bay, a retro-inspired ranch property is opening, which is a departure from the themes and experiences typically found in the bay. Another example is Il Delfino in Yamba, Australia, designed and curated to make guests feel like they're on the Amalfi Coast. These little escapades are fast becoming popular destinations for domestic travelers who, while not as readily available as international travel, are looking for more variety and opportunity. There are certainly unique events happening locally to satisfy that wanderlust.
How is customer feedback incorporated into July’s product development process?
Our desire for customer feedback comes from a healthy skepticism and a little bit of self-criticism. Everyone on the July team has to work in the customer feedback flow, get in touch with customers and understand their needs. We get great insights and it's a great source of free research. Sometimes we get contradictory feedback, but it's really useful for demoing new products, gaining customer insights, making corrections, gathering more feedback, etc.
As an example, our Juliette series is essentially a handbag with travel capabilities. We received great feedback on everything from the width of the strap, to how the bag should be carried across the body, to the length of the top handle so it can be worn over the shoulder even when wearing a coat or winter clothes. We learned that not everything needs to be zipped up to be usable one-handed.
Another interesting piece of feedback was about lunch containers. Customers said that many fashion bags don't have a flat bottom wide enough to fit a standard lunch container. This was an insightful process and the final product sold out within 5 days.
How important is physical retail and in-store experience to the luggage category?
More broadly, I think the trend is moving away from e-commerce. The world has never been more accessible. It's never been easier to execute an e-commerce transaction instantly, work across multiple channels, and have a social presence. In a world where everything is so accessible, physical spaces can offer a level of exclusivity, but also something that consumers will respect and cherish.
In July, business volume increased fourfold since pre-COVID travel patterns returned.
For us, our stores are a great brand opportunity. They are a strong customer touchpoint and act as a great feedback channel, allowing us to grow and develop our products and our business. We also pay close attention to what's going on in our stores. Every night, our sales team members write a written review of the day's events, and we read it all every night. In one example of an insight we recently got from our staff, we found that customers in our stores wanted to buy sky blue suitcases, but were worried that the suitcases would get scratched during shipping. Our solution was to make our suitcase covers match the color, so that shoppers could buy the color they wanted and not worry about damage.
Finally, despite their love for brick-and-mortar stores, this category sometimes has an immediate need: some customers just want to look, buy, and be on their way tomorrow, meaning this category demands the level of service and convenience that a brick-and-mortar store provides.
What role does partnering with fashion brands play in your medium-term business strategy?
Today, the travel category is rapidly becoming a target for fashion. For example, global fashion brands and retailers are seeing vacation wear as an opportunity and are putting their efforts into it.
July doesn't have a creative director, and we're not going to be a company that churns out 10,000 SKUs every season. But it's interesting to partner with fashion and be able to play to expectations around color and accessories and capitalize on capsule travel trends. Some of the partnerships we're working on and products we're releasing over the next 12 months will see us moving into more premium product areas, so for example, we're doubling down on higher quality materials because there's a demand for them.
Our next partnership is with Oroton, an established Australian fashion house with almost 100 years of history. This partnership is a symbiotic one, deepening our connections to the fashion industry while providing Oroton with the technical expertise it needs to expand into the travel sector.
What's next for July?
We are doubling our physical footprint and building an international footprint. With Australian roots, we are guided by two Australian export brands with strong identities: Aesop and Zimmerman's, both billion-dollar businesses, benchmarks that we have achieved within 30-40 years of each other.
One of the reasons July exists is because it believes the big players are getting a little complacent: From a market share perspective, the suitcase market is made up of Samsonite, LVMH and everyone else, and July will undoubtedly continue to have a lot of competitors on its tail.
This is a paid sponsored feature by July as part of our BoF partnership.
