EGG hatches in Manila

News release
Date: 4 April 2006

EGG hatches in Manila

Help is at hand for fashionable Philippine mothers-to-be with the opening of two stores in Manila by New Zealand-based maternity clothing business EGG.

EGG’s first Manila store opened its doors in the prestigious Glorietta Ayala Mall this week sharing prime retail space with luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Armani and Versace.

A second EGG franchise store is due to open in April in Manila’s Mall of Asia. The company already has six franchise stores operating in Australia with several more planned.

EGG owners Colyn Devereux-Kaye and Charlotte Devereux say it’s a first for women in Manila who until now have not had easy access to stylish and comfortable maternity clothing.

For the Manila stores, designer Charlotte Devereux has selected clothing with both the climate and the shape of the locals in mind. She says the stock comprises garments suitable for layering, taking into consideration the hot climate and below average air-conditioned building interiors.

“For Manila we have selected garments with gorgeous detailing and our sizing takes into account the smaller Asian frame.

“Fabric colours are lighter and more breezy and we are appealing to the Asian market’s preference for gorgeous detailing. Our collections feature designs suitable for the office, for everyday wear right through to evening clothes,” Charlotte says.

Sending New Zealand-made clothing to the Philippines is a small victory in the ongoing competition with a flood of cheaper Asian garments entering the market here.

“Large volumes of Asian-produced clothing come into New Zealand so it’s great we’re producing quality garments that are going the other way,” Colyn says. “We will have exported around 30,000 garments by the close of this financial year.”

The pair enlisted a leading Manila business woman to secure the retail space and to operate the franchise business.

“Competition for retail space in Manila is fierce and there’s a complex application process to go through before you get accepted,” Colyn says. “It’s a real coup to get the EGG brand into the Glorietta Ayala Mall and we’ve certainly learned the benefit of having local contacts.

“Manila has wonderful shopping and the women are incredibly stylish so it was not a difficult decision to open a franchise in the city. We believe the market in Manila for our maternity clothing is about the same size as the entire New Zealand population so we’re very excited to be here.”

Media interest in the Philippines has been keen with Colyn and Charlotte doing 20 media interviews in one day when they were in Manila in January setting up the deal.

EGG was founded in 2001 in Auckland, New Zealand by Colyn and her daughter Charlotte who, pregnant with her first child, could not find any stylish maternity wear. The two recognised a business opportunity and founded EGG.

Little more than four years later the business has 12 stores in New Zealand and six in Australia. The Manila stores are the first in Asia and the business-women have their export eyes set on markets further afield in the region.

ends

Issued for EGG by Pead PR

About EGG
The EGG philosophy is to provide expectant women with stylish and comfortable maternity wear that takes them all the way through their pregnancy – and beyond.

In 2004, EGG was rated seventh in the Deloittes Fast 50 which lists the fastest growing companies in New Zealand.

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