ngly wanting to touch and feel garments before purchasing.  “The US is where we are seeing the most customer demand – both from our online sales, and through our international wholesale partners,” Norris told Inside Retail.  “We’re beginning to explore the opportunity of retail in the US. Bricks-and-mortar is the key to our success in Australia, and we are seeing customers want to get back into stores to touch, feel and try clothes on again post-pandemic – our wholesale partners are seeing this too, internationally.” The business’ e-commerce site currently services over 200 countries, and it sells within more than 80 international retailers, such as Neiman Marcus, Saks and Moda Operandi. However, its own retail stores are currently limited to Australia and New Zealand. As the team has begun focusing more on its international presence, Norris said that online sales on the brand’s  international website have grown 396 per cent year-over-year. The comments followed the business’ first presentation at New York Fashion Week, where it showcased its Spring/Summer collection, titled ‘Lumen’, which Norris said was the next step toward its global expansion.  Lumen was inspired by the cycles of nature, according to Aje’s co-founder and creative director Edwina Forest.  “This season we were drawn to the ground repetition of daybreak after darkness, especially the way the dawn’s first light illuminates the earth,” Forest told Inside Retail.  “The natural world, and Australia’s rich local landscapes in particular, have been guiding forces for us since the beginning… Our luxury sensitivities and unique visual language as an Australian fashion house [are] key to the magic that makes us distinctive on a global stage.” Beyond the US The US isn’t the only overseas market the business is focusing on. Earlier this year, the brand opened dedicated pop-up stores at the world-famous Harrods and Selfridges department stores in London, which Norris referred to as the “biggest wins” in terms of the brand’s international expansion so far.  “[Those] pop-up boutiques were incredible opportunities to propel interest and engage with a wider community of international shoppers,” Norris said.  “As destination retailers, we have fashioned an exceptional bricks-and-mortar shopping experience in Australia, so bringing this luxuriously considered and immersive extension of our physical presence to customers in London [was a] celebrated moment for Aje.” That’s not to say Aje is turning its back on the local market, having launched nine new boutique stores in the last year across Australia and New Zealand, including a number of Aje Athletica activewear stores.  The business’ first Athletica store opened in Westfield Miranda in July, located in the Sutherland Shire of southern Sydney. “As one of our customer’s most loved locations, we’ve brought an all-embracing, elevated Aje customer experience to Westfield Miranda which has been transformed into an expansive, 164sqft retreat,” Norris said about the store opening earlier this year.  The business was initially launched in 2008 by Norris and Forest with a focus on capturing Australia’s “quintessential coastal to urban style”, and creates essentials as well as statement occasion pieces.