Why is a global bridal company based in Johnson County? For one, it’s ‘unexpected’
On a Monday, Taylor Shatz, Karli Kuntz, and Lauren Jamison wind through rows (and rows, and rows) of white dresses.
Drop waists. Lace sleeves. Corset backs. Full skirts.
The three young women from Spokane, Washington, are among 500 people who traveled from across the country — some of them across the world — to Lenexa.
The Essense of Australia bridal summit is the culmination of at least 18 months of scouting out trends, sketching, sewing and seeking feedback. Now, bridal shop owners have a chance to choose which of the dozens of new dresses they’ll carry for 2025 brides.
Like trained Olympic athletes, Essense’s team hopes their months of tireless preparation will pay off during the fashion-filled week-and-a-half — July 29 to Aug. 7. The Star was recently invited to spend an afternoon at Essense during the event.
A monotonous voice trills over the intercom, alerting the sellers that it’s time for the next fashion show to start. The lights near the runway dim and a synth begins to pulse.
Shatz, Kuntz, and Jamison are attending the event on behalf of their wedding dress store, Honest in Ivory in Spokane. They’ve spent the last 24 hours buying dresses, watching models float down the catwalk and jotting down notes on trends.
The information (and ivory ball gowns) they gather from the bridal summit will determine their next year’s sales.
“Whenever we come here, it’s really cool to see all the data,” Kuntz says. “They do a lot of testing of their dresses … It makes it really easy for us to know what to buy.”
The scoop: romantic, “Bridgerton”-esque dresses are in. Super sexy is out.
In fact, the majority of Honest in Ivory’s dresses are Essense designs. They’ll head back to the Pacific Northwest with upwards of 40 dresses.
A global company in the heartland
While Essense was founded in Australia in 1996, its North American headquarters and largest office is at 15500 W. 113th St.
So, why Kansas?
It may seem odd, but the choice was obvious for co-owner Martine Harris when she and her husband, Wayne, opened the office in 2003.
“I think Kansas is unexpected… I think we do a lot of unexpected things,” Harris said. “I think Kansas people really care about what they’re doing and get really invested, and we’ve seen that in our business.”
Plus, she adds, the central time zone and location in the heart of the United States makes it easier to coordinate with bridal stores across the country.
Lindsay Santee, a communications director for the company, agrees that it’s unique for a fashion company of this scale to be based in the Kansas City area.
Most are in New York or Los Angeles. Not the Midwest.
And while Essense of Australia has offices in Perth, Australia, and Zug, Switzerland, its largest is in Lenexa, with 232 of its nearly 400 employees based in the Kansas City area.
“It’s something we’re really proud of,” Santee said.
Wedding dress enthusiasts may have even seen Essense’s styles on the popular TV show “Say Yes to the Dress.”
The store featured in the show — Kleinfeld Bridal in New York — is another one of the 300-plus stores that flew in to see the new dresses. Like the others, Kleinfield shop representatives attended multiple fashion shows throughout the week and ordered dresses for the next year’s brides (some of which will, perhaps, be featured on TLC).
Parent company Essense of Australia contains six bridal brands: Essense of Australia, Stella York, All Who Wander, Martina Liana, Martina Liana Luxe, and Oxford Street. Essense also owns bridesmaid brand Sorella Vita.
Most gowns go up to size 34/36. (Price ranges vary, so Santee recommends calling the nearest bridal store carrying Essense styles.)
Each line launched a new collection of dresses at the bridal summit, displaying 15 to 30 dresses each.
Many local brides have shopped at Essense’s bridal store, True Society, which has a location in the Lenexa headquarters building and in the Crossroads at 1715 Wyandotte St.
Catering to a modern bride
Harris walks past dozens of mannequins draped in white and points out more trends she and her design team noted while putting together the collections. While many Gen Z brides are asking for more simple, classic looks, they’ll often spice up their veils.
A rack of headpieces and embroidered, sparkly, and pearl-covered veils hang in one display.
“Girls want to be very unique in their look … Whether they want to be very bold or just a touch, we’re seeing that as a very big trend,” Harris says.
Figuring out what brides will want to see in the coming year is more of an art than an exact science. Harris said she pays attention to pop culture, runways, and what brides are telling shop attendants to determine what dresses they’ll put out.
“Sometimes trends come in really slow, other times it comes in very quickly,” she says.
The lights around the runway dim once more that day, and dozens of attendees shuffle over to their seats. After models take turns floating down the catwalk in their regalia, Martine walks out, bowing and waving to the audience.
Earlier that day, she recounted the story of Essense — her working in a bridal shop as a young woman and ultimately deciding that’s what she wanted to spend the rest of her life doing.
“I just fell in love with the whole thing,” she told The Star. “From that I went to design school, so this led into this. It’s been a really wonderful journey.”
This story was originally published August 13, 2024 at 6:00 AM.