gnate’s ‘foray into fashion,’ and positioning the remaining brands in Propel Group’s stable for growth. These include RB Sellars, Goodwoods and NatEquest, with Rossi Boots almost finalised as the glass slipper to complement Kidman and Co’s Driza-Bone purchase. “I’m an accountant by profession, but for most of my career, I have gone into businesses that are going through some restructuring – either acquiring or divesting businesses – I go in and embed myself into the business in some leadership capacity to help navigate through that,” Elliott told Inside Retail. The family-owned Propel Group is an Australian entity that is inspired by the landscape with community at its core. Regional apparel retailer RB Sellars, founded in 1996, is its biggest business. It acquired Driza-Bone in 2017, and keeping the ownership of the heritage brand on Australian soil was a priority for Elliott, who took over as CEO of Propel Group in 2020, after a year as COO of the company. Elliott has ensured the ownership of multiple other businesses’ remain in capable Australian hands over her career and attributes her success to a sushi manufacturing, wholesale and retail business she grew for six years prior to it falling into voluntary administration. How the Driza-Bone acquisition came about According to Elliott, Rinehart’s Kidman and Co approached Propel Group in regards to its portfolio of iconic Australian brands. “The approach was made by them twice,” she told Inside Retail in an exclusive interview. “She’s been a very proud Australian and interested in Driza-Bone for some time. So we started talking about it a couple of months ago and that came to fruition last week.” The sale of Driza-Bone will enable Propel Group to accelerate its growth strategy for the stable of brands that remain under its ownership. The undisclosed funds from the sale will support growing the company’s founding business RB Sellars in Australian, New Zealand and international markets. This is the future focus for Elliott and Propel shareholders. “We’ve been expanding the RB Sellars footprint in Australia and New Zealand. We’ve opened about five stores in this calendar year to date already and we’re going to continue to do that,” Elliott said. “With the sale of one of our brands out of the group, it allows that to potentially fast track our investment into the brands that we’ve still got in our portfolio.” Elliott confirmed that heritage brand Rossi Boots, which Propel acquired in April 2020, is in negotiation to be sold toKidman and Co. “Yes, that is under discussion at the moment, but I can’t give you any more than that at the moment,” she said. What’s left to Propel into the future With the deal done on Driza-Bone, and Rossi Boots soon to follow, Propel is now focusing on actively expanding RB Sellars’ market share in Australia and globally – both through brick-and-mortar stores and online. “We still have a lot of growth in the other brands that we’ve got. We’ve got a really good team here,” Elliott said. “We run a shared services model, so although the brands sit autonomously, behind that is a shared services team that I run to make sure that we can efficiently support the brands as best we can, so nothing really changes there. The staff who currently work for Driza-Bone will transition over to Kidman and Co, but our shared services model stays in place.” For example, the company set up its own distribution centre this year, so it no longer needs to use a third-party logistics provider. “That’s been operating now since April and going really well,” Elliott said. Beyond workwear, another area of expansion for the company is in the equestrian space through Goodwoods, an online retailer of equestrian products, and NatEquest, a wholesale business that sells equestrian supplies. Propel Group brought these businesses on board about 18 months ago through a new shareholder. “If you look at our social media and Instagram you’ll see that horses feature often with our customer base, and so having an equestrian [business] come into the group just made sense,” Elliott explained. Acquisition of new businesses could also be on the horizon. “I never say never, we’ve acquired three brands since I arrived,” Elliott said. “We’re always looking at opportunities that might arise, but they need to have some affiliation with the brands that we currently have in the portfolio.” Elliott said that Kidman and Co has agreed to continue selling Driza-Bone through RB Sellars stores. The upcoming autumn/winter collection, which Propel Group worked on as an extension of the 125-year anniversary range, will also go ahead as planned. “With the change in ownership of these iconic brands at the moment, I just think it’s great that they’re staying in Australian hands with people who are, you know, really invested in them and will invest in them,” Elliott said. “That’s good for Australia and good for the brand’s longevity.”