Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s bootmaker RM Williams has signalled its desire to grow into western Europe and Japan after opening a flagship store in London.
Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s bootmaker RM Williams has signalled its desire to grow into western Europe and Japan after opening a flagship store in London to support its UK expansion.
The footwear and clothing business has achieved rapid growth since it was bought by the Forrest’s private company Tattarang.
“We’ve owned the business for five years and we’ve doubled revenue from $150 million to $300 million,” Tattarang chief executive John Hartman told Business News.
“We were mainly focused on Australia and New Zealand, now its about how we take this business to the world.”
The London flagship store is in Jermyn St, one of the world’s most established streets for heritage menswear.
The business has had two long-standing London stores and in the space of 15 months has invested about $6 million to open six additional stores.
Mr Hartman said the business had achieved encouraging sales growth, with UK turnover expected to exceed £15 million ($A28 million) in 2026.
“In the UK we will continue to open new stores,” he said.
“Ultimately we believe the UK could be a $100 million market for us.”
Ahead of the official opening of the London flagship, Andrew Forrest took over a London pub earlier this month for a publicity event.
In front of invited VIPs, including former US secretary of state John Kerry, and clad in braces and RM Williams gear, Mr Forrest tried his hand at cracking a leather whip.
Mr Hartman said the group’s online sales provided a pointer to growth opportunities.
“We are seeing some really impressive growth digitally in some other key markets, particularly the US.”
However, the US is not a priority for opening new stores.
“There are some opportunities we are keen to pursue in western Europe before we pursue the US,” he said.
“We’ve also had quite a lot of interest from some other key markets like Japan.”
Globally the business has nearly 70 stores, with 55 in Australia, six in New Zealand and eight in the UK, with recent openings in Bath and Edinburgh and a Guildford store due to open next month.
Mr Hartman said the growth in sales was only possible because of the investment already made to double manufacturing capacity in South Australia.
It had also made big investments in recruitment, training, marketing and distribution.
The London flagship store will have 73 boot styles, the largest collection of RM Williams boots anywhere in the world, bringing together heritage designs, contemporary variations and exclusive flagship offerings.
