Fabric House gets Fresh image
International fabrics house, Charles Parsons, has revealed a new look that more closely reflects its design-led relationship with the worlds of fashion and homewares. The company, which still proudly goes by the name of its founder, has been at the centre of Australasia’s fabrics industry for more than nine decades. A heritage that adds up to a tremendous wealth of experience in anyone’s book.
“We’ve been designing and supplying fabrics since 1915. In fact we’ve seen that many changes in fashion there’s not much we don’t know about style or how this industry works,” said Owner and Director Vicki Parsons.
“Our new look simply expresses our continuing aspiration to be the best and most influential fabrics house in the business, bar none,” she said.
The new visual identity is the latest in a number of changes brought in over the past year by the group’s new Managing Director, Mark Bilton. Gone is the complexity of many different businesses in favour of a new streamlined organisational structure geared to design, brands, speed to market and customer service.
“Charles Parsons has earned a well-respected reputation for its service, innovation and responsiveness,” said Bilton. “But over the last ten years we’ve been in danger of losing our edge. We’d allowed ourselves to become overly fragmented and disparate such that we risked being out of step with a market that was changing dramatically. The restructuring exercise gets us back on track,” he said.
The new Charles Parsons presents itself as five distinct businesses all operating under the one Charles Parsons name: Fashion Fabrics, Garments, Apparel Fabrics, Homewares and Technical. The intent is a simpler, more efficient and unified structure that fosters working together and maximising the benefits of the company’s extensive expertise for its customers.
The company also recently acquired S&R Fashions to bolster its capability in garment design.
The new image and tagline “Inspiring creation” emphasises the company’s strengths in design, colour and texture. “We’re a creative business,” says Bilton, “and besides our breadth of range and supply chain expertise we have some of the best and brightest design talent in the industry”.
“Streamlining the business and playing to our design strengths will allow Charles Parsons now, more than ever, to concentrate on delivering our customers the most visionary and complete fashion fabric ideas and services.”
There’s a fresh energy surfacing in the showrooms and studios of Charles Parsons coupled with a mood of expectation. And with the conviction of the new team, the industry can expect a lot more of Charles Parsons’ influence in the years ahead.
