NEWSLETTER

30^th January 2008

Dear All,

As per usual we have lots to tell you about this week. At FashionCapital HQ we were all interested to hear the latest on Jane Shepherdson, now CEO of fashion chain Whistles. Rumours had been flying about her next move for months and it will be fascinating to see what she will do with the brand.

ASOS & Fashion-Enter Tie-Up

Senior buyers from the world renowned ASOS.com visited Fashion Enter’s Croydon Boutique earlier today. The meeting was extremely successful and the following designers have been chosen to feature on www.asos.com...

+ Whereareyounow?

+ Corsellis

+ Romeo Pires

+ La Damsel

+ Simon Wang

+ Bellanina

+ T & Cake

+ Monica Couture

The buyers were particularly interested in eveningwear rather than casual garments to best suit their target market, hence their choice in designers. Congratulations to the designers listed above the exposure from being showcased on such a popular site will no doubt benefit all concerned.

 

 

FashionCapital & Fashion-Enter Amalgamation

We are often asked what is the difference between www.fashioncapital.co.uk & www.fashion-enter.com?

 

And the simplest explanation is that FashionCapital is a one-stop-shop portal for the fashion industry with free access to the latest articles, forums, business & learning information, press releases, manufacturer’s online showroom and much, much more.

However, we understand that many young businesses out there need individual mentoring and support and this is where Fashion-Enter comes in. Fashion-Enter is a fee paying members service which we will be amalgamating with the FashionCapital members zone. This paid members area offers essential services and support such as:

+ Mentoring and support – if you have a question you can call us direct.

+ Access to 15 specialists – these specialists are for your exclusive use i.e. Andrew Fearon Production Specialist from Hobbs, Nick Fenner Legal Specialist from Shoe Smiths and of course Karen Levy Fabric Specialist who can source anything!

+ One to one mentoring with Jenny Holloway industry specialist. Jenny has been a buyer and has spent many years in fashion retail, she still has many of her contacts and will do all she can to network you into the industry.

+ Fashion-Enter Boutiques – one in Croydon and the other in Barking features ranges from our members. A third one is planned for Kingston in March and Kingston is next on the agenda - plus there’s the online boutique too.

+ PR Dispensary - this is a specialist service that targets leading press and buyers. We have had some amazing results such as the recent WGSN report and a full page feature on Joe Blake.

+ Work shops and seminars – again strictly for members only unless we receive funding and then, annoying as this is, they are post code specific.

+ Trade Missions – again strictly for members. Our next trade mission is to South Africa in March. More on this soon.

+ Representing – this is the wholesale section of our operation. Retailers and buyers contact us directly and we “sell” your collections to them for a 10% commission. The latest here was Jo’s from Cyprus and again Joe Blake did well along with La Damsel, Romeo Pires and various others.

Homepage Preview of the Forums

 

The forums have been buzzing this week and to make it easier for you to check out all the latest action our web wizard Yoel has added a sneak preview of the last 3 posts to the homepage of FashionCapital. Check out this latest job post that has come in directly from the British Fashion Council...

BUSINESS SUPPORT MANAGER

 

Background to BFC and LFW

The British Fashion Council (BFC) owns and organises London Fashion Week (LFW) and the British Fashion Awards. LFW is one of the “big four” fashion weeks and provides a twice yearly platform for top British and international designers to hold their catwalk shows and exhibit to an international audience of press and buyers. Funded by industry sponsors, the BFC has a Colleges Council which aims to develop links between the industry and the top UK fashion colleges and it also helps designers in their business development, through sponsorships and publications.

The BFC has recently been awarded a 3 year grant by the London Development Agency (LDA) to raise the international profile of LFW and develop business support available to London based fashion Designers.

Job Description

The Business Support Manager is a new full time position. The role will include the following:

• Activation of the business support elements of the LDA grant (see above)
• Liaison with business support bodies both in London and nationally
• Development of mentoring scheme and business advisory programme
• Handling business elements of applications for LFW award scheme sponsorships including New Generation and Fashion Forward

The position will be based at the BFC’s headquarters at 5 Portland Place, London, W1 around usual office hours.

Salary

From £30,000, depending on experience.

Skills and experience

Experience of day to day operation of a designer business. Standard IT literacy.

Person specification

The successful candidate will be a self starter, comfortable working in a small and committed team and with good communication skills to facilitate liaison with a wide variety of external organisations and individuals.

BFC Equal Opportunities policy

The BFC is an equal opportunities employer.

Applications

If you are interested in being considered for the above position, please apply by email, no later than 8^th February 2008, to the applications@britishfashioncouncil.com including your CV.

FC Boutique

Setting up your own online boutique has never been simpler. All you need to do is register with FashionCapital, view your profile, edit your profile, click on the boutique tab and set up your boutique. Tomorrow is the last day of the special offer with a 50% discount off the usual price which is £250 plus VAT - so what are you waiting for - start your own online boutique today.

 

 

The Next 7 Days:

The month long Dubai Shopping Festival is in full swing and with reductions of up to 70% it may well be worth the air fare out there. Premium trade show in Berlin kicks of on the 1st of February as does New York Fashion Week – watch out for our exclusive reports from our director Jenny Holloway!

On FC this Week...

Vanessa Camelia reports on last night’s Fashion Extravaganza - a catwalk presentation that included a variety of schools in the South East, our Jenny Holloway and Lee Lapthorne from the Doll / On|Off – lent their support. Fiona wraps up her factory sourcing blog and gives essential tips when travelling to Bangalore plus, coming soon, JoJo Iles talks to Belinda Manfo, Concessions Buyer for TopShop about getting stocked in such a high profile fast-fashion store.

Boutique Piece of the Week

With Valentine's in mind this 'Here's to Love' top is just the ticket and in superfine gauge silk/cashmere it feels pretty nice too! Here's to Love short sleeve top from Isis Cashmere on www.fcboutique.co.uk price £62.50

 

And finally…

It’s always good to know about the success stories along the way, take this bit of news from Zoe Corsellis:

“Just thought you might like to know that after TopShop requested samples after the FashionExpo/Profile 07 event, I have since had a couple of appointments with Lisa Honey regarding the collection being stocked in the Bazaar section. I worked a little more on the collection to make it more suitable for TopShop and since then the last meeting they had with the brand directors was a total success and they’re really happy with the collection so hopefully by Easter, Corsellis will be stocked in the Oxford Circus branch. I’m very happy and also very grateful to yourself and the rest of the team because if wasn’t for Profile I would never have gotten this far so quickly! So once again thanks and I shall look forward to hearing more about Profile going to New York – sounds very exciting!”

Until next time, have a productive week.

The team at FashionCapital x

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