Looking to dress for success? Then a new outlet in the city may be right up your alley.
A NEW men’s fashion label will be launched in Perth this week targeting the local corporate sector with standard and made-to-measure business shirts and accessories.
Zaffiro Fine Shirts is the brainchild of Sasha Ioppolo, marking her first foray into fashion after working for numerous retailers while studying at university.
Mrs Ioppolo told Business Class she plans to attract businessmen by providing them with bespoke shirts “above Myer quality and below Zegna”, which are made in Australia (or more precisely Sydney due to a lack of suitable local manufacturers) with material sourced from Italy.
And there are plans to resurrect a previously popular service she says has waned in Perth in recent years – arranging visits to the offices of corporate clients for fitting and styling before taking measurements and orders from staff, and then returning with the handmade shirts within 15 days, while keeping measurement details on file for future purchases.
“I could have gone into the Hay Street Mall but I wanted to target the corporate market, so I’ve set up the showroom opposite Central Park,” Mrs Ioppolo says.
“It’s making quality made-to-measure shirts affordable to Perth’s corporate players.”
The idea for her business, she says, comes from successful similar models operating in the eastern states, while the name of the business is derived from the Italian word for sapphire.
“A few years ago, when I was working at Sensis, I was managing one worker who had lost a lot of weight and he found it hard to find the time to get out of the office and purchase new, well-fitted garments,” she says.
“So I’ve been waiting a while, saving some money to launch Zaffiro, which has been funded from personal savings.”
Mrs Ioppolo has spent about six figures to date securing the lease, stock for the shop and developing the brand, including trademark registrations and website development, which she agrees is a big risk but one she’s confident will work out in the long run.
“It’s part of my long-term plan to try and get some time back for myself by owning my own business,” she says.
“I was at Sensis in a managerial role for five years working increasingly longer hours.
“I realise I’ll be working hard for the next few years establishing Zaffiro but then I hope to be able to bring in management and get some time back for myself, eventually.”
A new website (that she hopes to develop into a transaction-based shop-front) has been launched to assist with marketing along with promotional models dressed in men’s shirts roaming Perth streets from this week offering discount cards to potential customers.
Mrs Ioppolo hopes to bolster her new showroom on William Street with a second retail presence in the city and is currently in discussions with the landlords of the yet-to-be-completed $730 million City Square project on St Georges Terrace.
