For two-and-a-half years, entrepreneurs and brothers Zane and Omar Sabré have been thinking about clothing. And not just any clothing: specifically, the clothing you wear when travelling. The Sabrés are the driving force behind MAISON de SABRÉ , a luxury lifestyle brand they founded in 2017 while working and studying to be dentists .
Initially focused on personalised leather goods, MAISON de SABRÉ now sells a product every 60 seconds across its range of bags, wallets and accessories, and its annual revenue sits at $50 million. Since August, this range has included ‘Airplane mode’, an end-to-end travel collection featuring 56 pieces, including hard-shelled luggage, bags, accessories and, you guessed it, a travel ‘uniform’. After dipping its toes into the travel market with a handful of items in August 2023, the launch of the brand’s first apparel items as part of a complete travel collection was a “dream come true”, says Omar, “We kind of earmarked that probably about two-and-a-half years ago as something that was on our dream list to be able to do and, over some period of time, it was always something that I continuously thought about,” he tells SmartCompany .
“I was very fortunate to meet a really wonderful designer on a trip to Holland a few years ago. We stayed connected and Alessandro was the designer that really helped me piece everything together for the collection.” The collection itself was two years in the making, with the MAISON de SABRÉ team spending six months alone searching for the right Australian mill to produce the wool for the apparel garments.
Then it was a case of finding the right workshop to produce the garments, as well also perfecting the fit, size and gender inclusiveness of the jackets and pants. “When we do something, we really want to launch with our best foot forward and ensure that it is absolutely perfect before we go to market,” Omar says. To date, the reviews of the MAISON de SABRÉ travel collection have been overwhelmingly positive, says Omar, who serves as the company’s chief operations officer.
And the co-founder is walking the talk too: he’s worn the brand’s travel jacket and pants on multiple trips over the past six months – including on a red-eye flight the day before we spoke. Standing out in a crowd The Australian luggage market is becoming an increasingly crowded space, with homegrown brands jetsetting around the globe with their stylish and contemporary takes on suitcases, tote bags and more. Former Smart50 winner July is a case in point; in the past year, the Melbourne-born company has continued to open local and international stores , supplied the official luggage for the Australian Olympic team at the Paris Games, and collaborated with iconic fashion brand Oroton .
However, Omar Sabré maintains MAISON de SABRÉ has a clear point of difference from the rest of the market. “I think the key thing that sets our travel collection apart, and I guess the majority of our product apart, is really the intersection of luxury and price practicality,” he says. This means creating a product range that “completely address the requirements of the customer, but we present that in a way that’s completely elevated and differentiated from the rest of the market”, he adds.
The goal for the MAISON de SABRÉ travel collection was to provide a “seamless” solution for the brand’s customers when they are on the go. “I think whether we’re talking about July, or whether we’re talking about Rimowa, it doesn’t really matter; there hasn’t been a travel brand in the history of travel that’s done an end-to-end solution, which thinks about what you’re wearing, what you’re holding, what you’re carrying through the airport, how you go through security, how you get on the plane, off the plane, and then what you do after you land,” says Omar. “So we’ve seamlessly been able to do that, because when you wake up and need to travel with our system, all you have to do is think about the t-shirt that you’re wearing that morning, because we’ve got the jacket, we’ve got the pants, we’ve got the suitcase that you’re going to be taking with you, and then we’ve got the weekender bag that’s going to sit on top of that and allow you to carry your tech and laptop in there in a really elegant way.
” This approach comes from a clear understanding that the brand’s customers are “global jetsetters”, who are “always on the go”. Since MAISON de SABRÉ was established, it has tried to build and maintain a close relationship with these customers, adds Omar, and it has become a key strength for the brand during what is undoubtedly a difficult retail environment. “One of the things that we’ve been able to do really, really well over the last two-to-three years is actually intuitively understand our customer and listen directly to their requirements,” he says.
“We’ve set up a series of direct channels with our customers that allow us to actually have real, meaningful conversations and then understand what they want.” At the same time, Omar says the brand is also conscious of providing a range of price points for its customers. “Our category mixes are always high and low,” he explains.
“With the travel collection, you can buy a product for up to $1000, or you can dip your toe in the water and buy a product under $100, and I think that sort of dynamic model is really, really important, especially for customers right now.” Future destinations MAISON de SABRÉ has been bootstrapped for the past seven years and this self-described “self-sufficiency and resilience” is a source of pride as the brand pushes further into international markets. The business, which employs a team of 25 people, has a “strong strategic focus” in Japan, says Omar, while the US is considered a key market too.
This has been spurred by partnerships with leading luxury retailers Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s, all of which have been launched this year. MAISON de SABRÉ has previously experimented with pop-up physical stores on home soil too , and may do so again in the future, but its e-commerce operation has been the priority in recent months. This decision to prioritise online sales appears to be paying off for the retailer, which Omar says is in the healthiest position it has ever been in, despite the challenging forces at play in the wider retail landscape.
Each year, Maison de Sabre tries to do something “unexpected”, such as launching into entirely new categories, and Omar hints there will be more of this before the end of 2024. “The year’s not over yet,” he says. Never miss a story: sign up to SmartCompany’s free daily newsletter and find our best stories on LinkedIn .
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