Ann: KMD Brands Trading Update, page-36

KMD has looked like a bit of a busted franchise for about a decade. Each time the cycle turns they just take another big leg down.

They used to make good quality, albeit overpriced, outdoor wear. Now they make reasonable quality, high street winter clothing that looks like something your overweight spinster aunt would wear to bingo night. I have a 15 year old KMD puffer jacket that is 700 fill power goose down (I haven't worn it in at least 10 years, but that's what the back of wardrobes are for!). I see today they don't make a higher lofted product than a 600, which takes them outside the adventure wear market, and they use duck not goose down.

The thing is, KMD stuff is ugly as sin and that high street market segment is low margin, trend driven and very competitive. The poster who said a lot of what they sell can be bought at K-Mart for 1/3rd the price while not technically correct is on the money in terms of what the average person buying a <$250 puffer jacket thinks.

The short take is that they have been liquidating the brand value to support short term profitability over the last decade, which has papered over their inability to adjust to a wildly more competitive apparel market in AU. Their only response has been to slide further and further down the price scale. Eventually, they end up being compared to what a consumer can buy at K-Mart. And that is where we are at. It's just a lost brand sitting inside a busted franchise.