Richmond star Dustin Martin has helped Bonds pivot to youth

By Eli Greenbelt,Senior Business Reporter. May 20, 2021, The Australian

The US owner of Bonds says the Aussie underwear brand is now a $500m business, as Richmond AFL star  Dustin Martin helps it crack the youth market.

Once better known for its staid, Chesty Bond white singlet, the 100-year-old Bonds is being targeted as a youth fashion champion.

The strategy appears to be working, says HanesBrands, the $US6.8 billion clothing giant which bought Australian underwear and bedding company Pacific Brands for $1.1 billion in 2016.

HanesBrands is now reworking its Australian strategy to combine the best of its bricks and mortar stores and online to enhance the credentials of two of its biggest brands, Bonds and Bras’N’Things.

It sees a key to capturing younger consumers is through brand ambassadors like Brownlow Medal winner Dustin Martin, who has signed up to Bonds as a model.

"We can win with the younger consumers by innovating and connecting in new ways”, said HanesBrands CEO Steve Bratspies. “we have a road map to guide us.  Our Bonds brand in Australia has successfully taken the same journey, capturing a broader, younger audience with innovative new products.”

Mr Bratspies told an investor update in the US that Bonds’ strong advertising investment around Bonds had paid dividends in Australia, where it had generated premium returns despite the relatively small Australian population. It was now a half of billion dollar business.

“We know this get younger approach can work because we’ve already done it in Australia with one of our strongest brands, Bonds.

“It completely transformed their business and helped to make Bonds a $US390 million ($500m) business in a country whose population is 14 times smaller than that of the United States."

When HanesBrands took control of Pacific Brands in 2016 it gained a stable of brands owned by the company, which traced its history back to manufacturing Dunlop bicycle tyres in 1893 and which grew quickly to make rubber boots and invent the famous Dunlop Volley sneaker.

The collection of clothing brands it bought included some of Australia’s most popular underwear brands, including Bonds and Berlei, which it was able to combine with HanesBrands flagship labels such as Wonderer and Playtex.

It has continued to invest in the brands with marketing helped by the Tigers star Martin,the three-time Norm Smith Medallist, who sent many AFL fans swooning last month with his Bonds underwear photo shoot.

To back up its ambition of offering the best of both worlds - physical stores and online shopping - HanesBrands will double its investment in data and technology.  It hopes this will fuel a rapid take-up in customer engagement, experience and ultimately sales.

The success so far of its twin websites, brasnthings.com and bonds.com.au,has already caught the attention of Mr Bratspies, who praised the Australian division at an earnings update for investors.

We are very pleased with our Australia business.  The team down there is doing just a fabulous job and continues to grow year-over-year.  That’s where our Bonds business is, our Bras N Things business… is really a true omni-channel organisation.”

HanesBrands chief consumer officer Greg Hall said his plans were for Bonds and Bras N Things to be leaders in omni-channel shopping.

“They’re going to be connecting our own stores with our great brand experiences online,” said Mr Hall, a 15-year veteran of US supermarket giant Walmart.

“But if you think about what we’re doing down in Australia, Bras N things, Bonds, direct-to-consumer is really the predominant way they go to market.  So it’s not about just a great store, it’s about a great omni experience where the site and the store are unified.

“So making that - we’re doubling our investment in data and technology to build those capabilities to truly become what I hope some day is world-class in our online e-com digital experience.

ELI GREENBLAT, SENIOR BUSINESS REPORTER

Eli Greenbelt has written for The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and Australian Financial Review covering a range of sectors across the economy and stockmarket.  He has covered corporate rounds such as telecommunications...