Brand Machine Group founder Boo Jalil reveals Australian strategy

We could have had a few U.S. Polo Assn. stores scattered across Australia by now if it weren’t for some pesky virus. It’s only now, in 2024, that Brand Machine Group’s grand Australasian plan can finally be rolled out, four years after the group’s founder Boo Jalil tabled his original strategy in December 2019. Alongside U.S. Polo Assn., the UK-based, predominantly vertical business is also home to other premium brands such as Duchamp, Penfield, and Peckham Rye, alongside youth labels such as Juicy Couture, Sugar Pink, and the kids' version of New Balance—all either owned or under license.

Speaking over a Zoom call in its new Sydney showroom, Jalil says Brand Machine Group has been dipping its toe into Australia for quite some time, but it has never really been pushed into the market as it is now. “We have the Middle East, we have Europe, we have parts of Asia. Everything was set for that next push into Southeast Asia via Australia,” he says. “But then an unfortunate thing happened in 2020, if you remember? So, we took a step back, and we then resubmitted our plan in 2023.”

That plan began with the signing of a three-year lease for the Brand Machine Group showroom in Sydney, paired with the official launch of a dedicated U.S. Polo Assn. website for Australia. Two months from now, the group will open an Australian-based distribution centre in October, anticipated to house up to 700 styles that can be shipped to your door in 24 hours. Amidst all that, his Australian-based team, led by Kevin Cliffe—one of the co-founders of MySale—will oversee a local distribution strategy that will predominantly be through wholesale and online—starting with one and switching on the other. The business is already in talks with local retailers to push out a wholesale distribution arm, including through the likes of Super Retail Group’s Rebel stores and footwear retailer JD Sports.

“Wherever we are in the world, we want to be local for local,” Jalil says. “We don't want to be one of those businesses that is thousands of miles away, trying to penetrate a market.”

Following that, Jalil says the final switch-on is finding the right locations in Australia to launch owned retail stores. “We're big believers in bricks,” he says. “Yes, e-commerce is e-commerce, digital is digital, but we are very big believers in bricks. So we will be putting brick stores into Australia, ideally with a partner. But in most countries, when we can't find a partner, we generally just do it ourselves. In your neck of the woods, initially, we're talking to a few people at the moment about moving quite quickly at the back end of next year.”

From there, the business plans to spread its tentacles into the rest of Southeast Asia. Jalil says the last time any fashion business made such a grand entrance into the region for the sole purpose of tackling all of Southeast Asia was probably more than 20 years ago. “[Many pundits] probably partially think, ‘You’re crazy!’ And they partially think, ‘Oh, this is an exciting opportunity!’ And then they partially think, ‘Oh yeah, they'll be gone in a year...’

“And I can understand all three parts of that, but the only thing I can say to you is that we've signed that building for three years, number one. Number two, our DC opens in October. Number three, we have launched our first website into the market. And the big one, number four, we've employed great people, with Kevin and [national sales manager] Howard Louis to help us build a team down there to run quite a substantial business for the best-in-class retailers. We are definitely not in Australia to dip our toe anymore.”

As for which brands the company is bringing to Australia, Jalil says he and his team curated a quaint mix of several brands from its large portfolio of 19 labels to avoid cannibalisation. Some of the key labels planned for Australia include U.S. Polo Assn., New Balance (kids), Penfield, Juicy Couture, Jack Wills, and Duchamp. U.S. Polo Assn. makes the most sense considering its already established connection in the AU/NZ market. This year, the brand became the official sponsor of New Zealand’s national polo competition, the NZ Polo Open. According to Jalil, U.S. Polo Assn. is a $2.4 billion business globally, with 1,150 stores, and is the number one polo brand on-field in the world. “We're going to start talking to the guys down there about the Australian Open Polo,” Jalil says. Meanwhile, Penfield was born on the East Coast of America and turns 50 years old in 2025. Jalil says the team has spoken to specific retailers for wholesale distribution, which should go live later this year, alongside its New Balance (kids) business.

“We've got a global partner for New Balance,” Jalil says. “The team in Australia have been super supportive of helping us. We should be live in the likes of Rebel Sport, JD Sport from either December or January later this year. Each brand is fitting a consumer base, and a retailer, who can talk to that consumer base. Juicy Couture is starting to take off in your market, too. It's a huge business around the world. Once we understand that consumer, we will then bring the next brand down. There's quite a lot for us to bring down.”

Overall, Jalil says the rollout across the Australian market is bound to come with mistakes, which he and the team will learn to navigate over a three-season period. “We're not coming down to a market and trying to teach them to be someone they're not,” Jalil says. “Your market is your market; your seasonality is your seasonality. I’ve heard the stories about, ‘Oh, we've got to buy these 12 months out’ and I'm like, ‘Why would you do that?’ And they’d say, ‘because of seasonality…’ No, we're designing collections for your season. We're not asking you to spend your dollars twelve months out. For us, it's local for local. Brand Machine Group has a large design team of 52 people, and Jalil says they have to concept each collection to fit each market they are offering product in. Despite many of its brands being licensed, the company manages each brand’s distribution in select markets, which includes the manufacturing of product. “This is not pre-2020. The consumer is the most intelligent person on the earth today. They can swipe that phone and find anything they want, for the perfect weather, for the perfect product, with their perfect look in a split second.

“So, unless you can give them the same experience with the brands you are in charge of, why would they become your consumer? Or why would that retailer become your customer? We're really focused on local-for-local. It's our biggest focus.”