Best-Dressed Samsung

The Project

Known for its high-quality garments and contemporary Australian aesthetic, Melbourne-based luxury menswear brand, Christian Kimber brings a sense of simplicity and elegance to the everyday.

When British-Australian designer, Christian Kimber arrived on Australian shores in 2011, he made an immediate observation: there were no fashion designers in the local market offering luxury quality menswear brand that was accessible both from a brand and price point of view. Instead, Australians seeking this service needed to look to European suppliers who didn’t truly understand the local climate or culture to produce pieces that met the needs of the Australian lifestyle.

With the aim to redefine the concept of contemporary Australian menswear, Christian Kimber launched his label in 2016 from the spare room in his Armadale apartment with the support of his wife, Renuka. From this humble beginning, the Christian Kimber label has launched three retail stores across New South Wales and Victoria, employing over 10staff, and building a client list featuring household Australian names. 

Recently, Christian Kimber opened a new flagship store in Melbourne’s CBD, bringing in esteemed interior designer, Brahman Perera to build a warm yet sophisticated physical retail space to elude a sense of ‘your home away from home’ to its discerning clientele.

At the heart of this luxury retail experience is a Samsung 85-inch QC Series Professional Display, which is used to showcase visually stunning local content and art from the moment a client enters the space. The display helps Christian Kimber bring dynamic story telling into its retail environment, complementing the brand’s vision, deepening customer engagement, and elevating the customer experience to a level unmatched by luxury apparel tailors in Australia.

The Business Challenge

Christian Kimber has an unwavering dedication to ‘attainable luxury’, helping discerning gentlemen curate their dream wardrobes with timeless, hand-crafted pieces made with the finest materials. This ethos is reflected in its new flagship store located in the heart of Melbourne, which features wood-panelled wardrobes to house clothes, 100% wool carpeting that lines the floors and walls, beautifully curated and commissioned Australian indigenous artworks, and a physical chalkboard where it’s in-house and always on-site tailor handwrites garment measurements.

The purpose of meticulously curating a tactile space as its flagship store was to create a holistic sensory experience that represents Christian Kimber’s relaxed yet refined design philosophy: high-quality, ethically-sourced natural textures with a contemporary touch to create a unique sense of self. The brand wanted to build on this by incorporating a dynamic audio-visual component that elevated the shopping experience whilst maintaining its comfortable yet refined atmosphere.

“We wanted to incorporate a large format display into the space to touch every sense of the customer. Customers walk in and they smell eucalyptus, lemon myrtle, and sandalwood, they feel the texture of the timber and wool carpet flooring, and they are served a home-brewed coffee. It’s all about building a space that’s alive and vibrant and the Samsung display helps us do that.” – Christian Kimber Co-Founder, Renuka Kimber

The Samsung Solution

Samsung’s Professional Display team worked with Christian Kimber to understand the business’s requirements, identifying the 85-inch QC Series Professional Display as the perfect solution due to its ultra-slim design and vibrant 4K resolution display. As the slimmest UHD display in Samsung’s Professional Display range, the QC’s minimalist design blends seamlessly into the store’s charming décor, becoming a natural extension of the space.

“We approached Samsung because, for us, when we think the best screens, we think Samsung. I’m a member of the National Gallery of Victora Women’s Association and I’ve seen Samsung’s displays used for a range of incredible video art, which is what we wanted for the store. Samsung was top-of-mind, and the display we have is perfect for bringing our flagship store’s aesthetic to life.” – Christian Kimber Co-Founder, Renuka Kimber.

Christian and Renuka tapped director and long-time friend Alex Naughton to develop a short film capturing iconic Victorian landscapes, from sprawling coastlines to picturesque Mornington Peninsula wineries. This stunning footage reflects Christian Kimber’s offering: timeless refined style from the country to the city to the coast.

Aligned with Christian Kimber’s passion for perfection, the Samsung 85-inch QC Series Professional Display’s Smart Calibration feature ensures the display showcases the brand film in the exact colours Alex Naughton intended. With the Samsung display’s ability to play content for up to 16 hours a day, seven days a week, the seven-minute film typically plays on repeat on the large format display, which positioned at the store’s entrance flanked by floor-to-ceiling mirrors to form an attention-grabbing, memorable, and immersive installation.  

Results

The Samsung 85-inch QC Series Professional Display adds an audio-visual experience that builds on Christian Kimber’s in-store ambience, elevating the in-store luxury experience for the label’s discerning clientele. The screen’s 4K resolution, Dynamic Crystal Colour technology and powerful audio performance helps drive a sense of providence, showcasing vivid sights and sounds from Australian landscapes in lifelike quality, heightening the sensory impact for visitors.

“The screen is probably the most visually impactful element of the space. It allows us to do something different and creative you don’t see in many menswear stores. It also helps us keep the store feeling fresh because we regularly change the display to showcase new collections or lifestyle videography. It’s one of the first things people notice when they walk in, and they always mention it.” – Christian Kimber Co-Founder, Renuka Kimber.

The display helps Christian Kimber build on the experiential retail vision he has for the store and the brand. The success of the project has sparked a desire to extend the partnership with Samsung in the future, with similar visual display solutions for future stores and other technology such as tablets and point-of-sale systems. It’s all part of a wider mission to meaningfully encourage Christian Kimber clientele to linger for longer via valuable immersive experiences, beautifully made products, and a personal service that makes them feel at home.

Samsung Website: Samsung Australia