I sent these guys an email back in August to see if I got a response, which is something I use to gauge an understanding of management, as expected I go a big fat doughnut response. Below is a copy of the email, wish all the best for the holders hear, I do think there might be opportunity soon for people to move in at the current MC as there is value still in the company, its just that management have flogged it now that its dead. One can only hope that a TO bid is incoming.
Dear Oroton Team,
I recently rediscovered your brand when looking through some old items of my grandmother (sadly she recently passed), and came across an Oroton vintage 1950’s gold mesh coin purse, which reminded me of the late 90’s and early 2000’s when I was in my early 20’s and Oroton was such a desirable brand and from my point of view considered luxurious and most likely out of my price point as a struggling university student. Whilst I had never considered myself a trend setter by any means, I hold up my hand and acknowledge many fashion faux pas, whether it was the ‘baggy jeans’ phase or adopting a ‘Hawaiian shirt, jeans and boat shoes’ as my Saturday night 'peacocking' effort.
Now those days have passed (internal celebration) I am now in my mid 30’s and would like to think that with a few more years and the emergence of a few grey hairs I have now have a competent level of understanding of what is desirable for a professional male in the realm of luxury fashion and fashion accessories.
Whilst I am not a fashion designer, I am a designer by profession (Landscape Architect) and understand that design is always subjective and so my suggestions here within are that of my own and only considered observational only. Now living in the United Arab Emirates for over a decade, my exposure to luxury brands may have been altered as with everything here, high end retail is a staple for the country and in a conservative country like the UAE, it is accessories which form that subtle part of ‘peacocking’ for not only the Emirati’s but the expat community as well.
As an occasional consumer of luxury brand items and accessories I was left feeling a little underwhelmed when I jumped on your website with my nostalgic mindset of seeing what the big ‘O’ had to offer for men. What I observed was a brand struggling for identity now, the price points seem lost in the middle where they aren’t quite high end, somewhat affordable, along with missing a complete range of accessories where one can, with confidence, know that this is the place to shop when wanting to splurge a little on some luxury.
Firstly, there was no anchoring collections which have been developed and are a mainstay over the test of time as they are classics. Now the Kingston, Sailsbury et al. might be these, however viewing on the website one would not know as they are not searchable under a collection name. I liken this to my Mont Blanc Meisterstuck wallet, where I have conditioned a wallet to a point where the leather is supple and feels like I need to retire it for special occasion, I have confidence knowing that I can go and get another classic as the same for my day to day use and easily search both by item ‘wallet’ and by range ‘Meisterstuck’.
Secondly I saw many gaps in the range of items offered, I felt these were incomplete ranges like the wallets missing a bi-fold jacket wallet (rough dimensions 9x12.5cm), technology such as anti-card skimming etc..
The watches section I was left feeling quite disappointed as the range of 2 rectangular watches along with some bands indicates a failure to fully develop this area of your range. Again, this could be anchored with some classics and then develop others along with the current fashion trends. The fact that bands outnumber the watches available really doesn’t give a consumer much confidence in the development and execution for the whole Orotonbrand. By including woven watch bands also seems to cheapen the overall image, these available for circa $30?? (without a watch) How does this fit within the overall imageOroton is trying to market?
It seems Oroton have failed to capitalize in other areas in order to offer a complete range of male accessories and such as; pens, writing pads and associated stationary, fragrances, key rings, scarfs, money clips, USB’s, phone covers, men’s jewelry etc etc…. This coupled with a lack of variety offered in the current ranges leaves male consumers feeling that theOroton brand is trading of its past glory and not really striving for continual improvement and reaching out to new consumers, whilst maintaining the ones they have.
Again these observations are from a consumer point of view, who wished he could support a great Australian brand, but at this current stage will be sitting on the sidelines. I did some recent research and have seen the company has declined in recent years with profit earnings, which I understand is beyond just sales and revenue operations. However, the whole quantity over quality issue is, I am sure, a tough passage to navigate given the recent economic troubles for retail spending. But with the recent focuses on GAP and newly percentage stake in ‘The Daily Edited’ company, I sincerely hope this does not mean further neglecting of the Oroton brand.
Whomever is pulling the strings needs to consider investing some time, money and design research into providing;
a) A complete range of luxury brand accessories that appeals to mid/high end consumers.Oroton should be desired, like I did back in the 90’s, not a token consumable that slowly gets lost amongst the mid-range brands hoping that through dumb luck fortunes will be turned around. I understand that being an Australian comes with the ever present notion of tall-poppy syndrome being applied at any given time. This I feel seems like that Orotonmay have been bitten at some point and is now too shy to show its head and be branded an exclusive luxury brand for fear of local consumer reprimand. And as a reaction has receded into inserting itself within the mid-range price range.
b) Offer a variety of design options within those ranges along with anchored timeless classics which remain the flagship of the brand. These should be celebrated and considered synonymous when someone mentions Oroton. These should be timeless classic and heirlooms that should be passed down generations. I did enjoy to see that there were some conversations about who would inherit my grandmothers 1950’s purse and I am sure the same conversations will be had regarding my grandfather’s Rolex (but am hoping this day doesn’t come anytime soon).
Lastly I note that Oroton’s entry into the UAE in 2013, in Deira!!! I note trying to find the store on your website seems like it was maybe unsuccessful as it does not feature there. I am not surprised as Deira is clearly not an entry point location that is trying to cash in on the vast amounts of tourist dirhams which flow through the UAE. Come on guys, whoever advised on this, maybe it was the local UAE partner surely was ill-informed of Deira being associated with the lower end part of Dubai, which is partially visited by tourists, who usually are travelling on a budget. Even the local market would generally shop at the large retail malls like Dubai Mall, Sheikh Zayed Mall or Festival City.
I will finish here, and congratulations if you have made it this far. I write this as a concerned Australian in fear of losing yet another great Australian product. I urge management, designers and controlling family to take a real look at where the product they offer sit, their price points and see if they match the vision of the company. Wishing you all the best moving forward.
Regards,
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