My first mentoring session at ASOS HQ by Samantha Mcewen from Isolated Heroes

On Friday we had our first mentoring meeting with Alison Lewy from Fashion Angel at ASOS Marketplace HQ in Camden. To say I was a little nervous was an understatement!! Being the kind of person who panics over EVERYTHING, I had visions of getting out the lift on the fourth floor of Greater London House to be greeted by scenes of the devil wears Prada. I couldn't have been more wrong! My mind was automatically put at ease as soon as I entered the reception and was introduced to the lovely Alison Lewy and Letitia Allman from ASOS Marketplace.

Alison Lewy and Samantha Mcewen at ASOS head office

I have been following the Fashion Angel Website for some time now and monitoring their progress with other designers. Therefore I jumped at the opportunity when Fashion Angel announced that they would be working with ASOS Marketplace for a second consecutive year mentoring a young designer and developing the strategic and operational direction of their business to secure it's growth and sustainability.

As soon as we arrived at the building we were taken on a short tour and introduced to members of the buying and selling team, a host of stylists, the woman's wear department and most importantly the ASOS Marketplace team.We had a short sit down with James Hart (E Commerce Director of ASOS) who asked for our feedback on ASOS Marketplace and any changes we thought could be made as sellers. It was great to be giving the opportunity to have our ideas and opinions considered by someone in such an influential position. We were then shown inside the press showroom where there were Sooo many pieces that I wanted to take home!!

ASOS reception area

Soon it was time to get down to business and for our first mentoring session to start. Alison and I headed to one of the main meeting rooms where we sat down for a good three hours talking over everything from the Isolated Heroes brand history, to our current client base and where I want to take the brand in the next few years. It was great hearing Alison's advice and having someone who has so much experience in the fashion industry give us guidance.

Running a clothing label which is only in its first 18 months is an extremely daunting task as not only do I design and make all the pieces I also handle the majority of PR, Client liason and maintaining our website. Therefore sometimes the business sides of things become a little overwhelming and it is hard to find the time to map out exactly what the next steps should be. It was great to be able to sit down with Alison and set up some next clear steps for the brand. Alison gave me so much invaluable information on everything from fabric suppliers, manufacturers for our product, how to correctly cost our items and also some great guidance on trademarking and selling our products wholesale.
The first mentoring session has by far been the best business experience Isolated Heroes has had to date and we are now buzzing with information! I already cannot wait to get back down to London for the next one!

By Samantha Mcewen
www.isolated-heroes.com

See how Fashion Angel Business Mentoring can help your fashion business.

Diary of a Fashion Start up - Part 1

We are pleased to host a new series of guest blogs from Meeka Harrison-Topham who's blog my fashion start up chronicles the issues faced by an aspiring fashion business entrepreneur.


Business plan 101

Putting pen to paper and churning out a 15 page document mapping out the backbone of your business can be an excruciating task, despite the wealth of resources and guides at our finger tips via the web. To help me along the way, I decided a bit of interactive focus wouldn’t go amiss, so last Thursday I found myself biking over to Tottenham Court Road to attend a workshop run by Alison Lewy of Fashion Angel, entitled “how to write a business plan”, aimed at fashion design businesses.

While these kinds of workshops inevitably put forward the same guidelines and tips contained in business guide books which you can get for a fraction of the price, the money spent was well worth it  – as the interactive style workshop ensures that you come away with better presentation skills, a clearer idea of the strengths and weaknesses of your idea, and maybe a fruitful contact or two found through networking.

Here are some key points I took away with me from the workshop:

• A business plan is essential to provide a clear structure for your business, as well as to create momentum and keep you along the right path.
• Research is key, and will form the most labour intensive part of the process, from looking at your market segment, ideal customer, competitive field, price points, to targeted boutiques.
• Financial forecasts can be brutal tasks, but are vital in order to draw all the aspects of the plan together in numerical form, and of course ensure that you make money!
• Business plans evolve – they are not static, so keep on adding to it as your business grows and changes

The workshop put a useful amount of emphasis and time on how to put together financial forecasts, and to monitor cash flows – no doubt both the dreaded nemesis of any designer! So all in all a productive morning, and very useful to meet Alison, who has just written a book called “Design, Create, Sell”, offering advice on cracking the hard nut of the fashion industry, which I’m sure is vital reading…

Fazane's first business mentoring session with Fashion Angel

Alison Lewy, Fazane Malik, Joseph Malik

Both myself and my business partner Joseph were excited and honoured to attend our much needed first session with Fashion Angel and ASOS Marketplace this week!

We both work full-time still and as a result have had very little time to concentrate on the business side of things….any time we do have we spend on the creative side as it’s much more fun!!

We have known for a while now that we needed help with the business side of things and actually had Fashion Angel down as ‘MUST’ to contact…….so we were super excited when we won the competition!!

Joseph & Fazane Malik

'fazane' womenswear was launched back in June 2011 with a small collection that we have now added to and re-launched for 2012 as we didn't have the time to really put enough effort in the first time round. 

Our aim is to provide 'exclusive classic womenswear with a fashion twist....pieces that will fit easily into any working woman's wardrobe but still stand out in a crowd. Our USP is that we only make 50 pieces of each style (with each one signed and numbered) so once that exclusive 50 pieces have gone....that's it!! We try and use luxury fabrics where possible but keep our prices affordable for all (retail £45-£249) .

We arrived at ASOS head-office for our first session this week and met Alison Lewy our mentor from Fashion Angel and Katie Oldham from ASOS Marketplace and had a look round the building…….we want to work there! So many stylish people and such a great atmosphere!! It was inspiring just looking at people…..and the clothes well it was like being in heaven!!  

Joseph & Fazane Malik ,Katie Oldham & Alison Lewy

We sat down with Alison for approx 3 hours and discussed our concerns about the business, things we needed to do, things Alison suggested we do etc and really looked over the current state of our business in detail.

It was so great to get an outside opinion and be given targets and actions to do before our next session......our stress levels reduced just from those few hours!!

We are really looking forward to the next session and are actually really enjoying completing our list of tasks! We would totally recommend these sessions to anyone else looking to do them.....

By Fazane Malik

Creative Director - Fazane Womenswear

www.fazanemalik.co.uk

For more information about how you can get help from the Fashion Angel mentors go to 

our Business Mentoring page.

Follow @FashionAngel1

Project 104 - Business Mentoring Session

Today was  the first mentoring session with our mentoring competition winner Sarah Reader founder of Project 104,  which was sponsored by Etsy.

Sarah wear Project 104 jacket 

photo Jay Mclaughlin

We had a really productive session, first discussing the current status of her business and outlining what the goals Sarah wants to achieve over the six month programme.  We defined  the key areas that are a priority  to focus on in preparation for the brand’s launch to market.

There are always so many things that need attention when starting up a fashion business,  but it is important to be realistic with what can be achieved with limited time and resources. It is far better to take things slowly and make sure you have everything in place, rather than rushing, making costly mistakes and putting yourself under pressure.

As with many designer, Sarah has so many ideas and plans for the brand  but has yet to formalise her strategy into a business plan  Many people think you only need a business plan if you are trying to raise money, and whilst this is certainly true, your business  needs one anyway as it is becomes your roadmap and guide, allowing you to keep on track with your goals and objectives.

Sarah in Project 104 

photo Elliot Rose

I  have given Sarah our Fashion Angel guide to writing a business plan – writing a plan isn’t  as onerous as it sounds and can be broken down into small chunks. It’s not something you can put together quickly – it usually takes a few weeks while you refine your business model and conduct the necessary research.Working on the plan makes you think about the direction of the business and the many aspects to running a successful business.

The plan will evolve as new opportunities and challenges arise. Sarah is at the perfect stage of her business journey start working on her plan and working with the Fashion Angel team will give her the tools and confidence to do this.

Aside from this we discussed how important it is for a brand to have a clear USP which will be the cornerstone for all brand development activity and be reflected in all sales/press and marketing channels. Over the next few sessions we will be defining the USP, looking at  production options, costings and profit models and researching routes to market.

We rounded off today’s session with some clear actions and target completion dates and will review  progress at our next meeting at the end of March.

I am really looking forward to working with Sarah over the next few months and watching her label develop and launch to market!!

By Alison Lewy
Follow @FashionAngel1

FASHION ANGEL LAUNCHES BUSINESS MENTORING COMPETITION, SPONSORED BY ETSY

We are thrilled to announce the launch of a new competition, sponsored by Etsy, for designer/makers to win one of our business start up mentoring packages. The competition will be launched at the E-commerce Excellence networking event on 19th January 2012 and continues our commitment to nurturing and developing young creative talent to turn them into successful businesses.

To book your ticket to the E-commerce Excellence networking talk click here.

The competition is open to aspiring designers and craftmakers who have been trading for fewer than two years. The winner will be announced as part of London Fashion Week on Sunday 19th February 2012.

The Prize

Fashion Angel business start up mentoring package

The lucky winner will win a place on the Fashion Angel six month business start up mentoring programme.

For new designer/makers with a new label, innovative idea, or product this is a unique opportunity to access six months of one to one mentoring from industry professionals.Our team of experts can give you the tools you need to give your business the best chance of success.

By the end of the programme the winner will have an infrastructure in place and have the confidence to build a successful and sustainable business. They will also benefit from the exposure their brand will be receiving as a result of winning the competition. For more information on the programme click here.

Deadline for Entries Sunday 12th February 2012
Finalist Notified Wednesday 15th February 2012
Winner announced Sunday 19th February 2012

Entrance Criteria

• Open to designers who have been trading for fewer than two years in the UK
• To enter the award, entrants must email info@fashion-angel.co.uk to request an application form or download the application form and submit to info@fashion-angel.co.uk
• Entrants are asked to submit product images and answer ’Why the Fashion Angel mentoring programme will benefit my business’ (500 words max)

To enter the competition, download an application form or request one from info@fashion-angel.co.uk.

Full terms and conditions can be found on the application form.