Inside Industry: Benna.co.uk
25-05-2010
Benna Harry is owner and founder of accessories e-boutique, benna.co.uk, selling jewellery, bags, underwear and most recently, shoes from some of the big names in fashion, as well as those somewhat unknown. Flicking through her S/S10 lookbook, there’s a clear identity in all the jewellery and accessories she stocks, originality and curiosity are the predominant airs that lend themselves well to the pieces. I popped in to see how her latest venture, a concession in Liverpool designer, Kirsty Doyle’s shop, is going and find out how it all started…
Isharya Earrings and Assya Bangle
In the flesh, Benna personifies the jewellery she sells, her laid back yet stylish clothes have a vintage feel, and she clearly loves her job. With a past in all corners of fashion it’s no wonder. After studying Jewellery Design at Central Saint Martins, Benna worked as a freelance stylist in London for six years before setting up an underwear company with her friend.
She then went on to launch her online shop,which now at over two years old has managed to avoid being part of the 50% of new business that fail within their first year. So what is her secret? She cites “gritting your teeth and sticking your heels in” as her way of going about getting the company up and running. Benna states she didn’t have any help setting up her business and did it purely off her own back. But that doesn’t mean it was easy. As her whole business is a website, that part alone was hard to set up, “I’m not trained in computers so it was difficult because you just have to trust the web designers with what they’re doing. It was a steep learning curve!” she explains. “People seem to think though that it’s much cheaper just operating off a website though and having no premises, but it’s not! The rent for a concession is quite high but I get equal sales from the concession as the website.” I was curious to know how she had built up such a big customer base with her shop being online, and not really using any major advertising. She tells me she has a PR manager in London who sends samples to magazines and newspapers, but here she really just relies on Facebook and blogs.
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Lara Bohinc Shoes
Benna designs some of her own pieces, however she says she doesn’t really have the time to do as much as she’d like, part and parcel you would think, with owning a successful business. She has recently started stocking Lara Bohinc shoes to go with the array or bags and jewellery that she already sells. One of the things she likes to do she tells me, is try to pick up designers before they get really big, because Benna as a website, itself isn’t that well known. That said, many of the pieces she stocks have been featured in all the glossy fashion magazines. Elle and Vogue particularly like the Annina Vogel pieces, and the Jennifer Behr headbands have a celeb following in Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton, despite the brand’s fairly low profile.
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When I ask about her future plans, its clear Benna has a lot of ambition and wants the company to grow. As well as expanding on the shoe facet of her company, she also wants to develop more of her own range and possibly introduce Stella McCartney underwear. Thinking on it she also says another concession would be a good thing to aim for, but she shakes her head definitely at the notion of diversifying into clothes though. “It’s all been done, with Net-A-Porter, Browns, Matches and My-Wardrobe, they’re all really successful. Jewellery-wise there’s only a couple of big-ish websites!”
So what advice does she have for someone who is thinking of setting up their own business in such a competitive industry? “Be completely passionate, don’t think about making money, and just hope that you do eventually! If you go into it purely as a money making exercise, you won’t stick at it. You have to love what you’re doing.”
Visit Benna’s website – www.benna.co.uk
Interview and Words Hannah Ramsay
Pictures Matt Ford
Inside Industry: Benna.co.uk
Benna Harry is owner and founder of accessories e-boutique, benna.co.uk, selling jewellery, bags, underwear and most recently, shoes from some of the big names in fashion, as well as those somewhat unknown. Flicking through her S/S10 lookbook, there’s a clear identity in all the jewellery and accessories she stocks, originality and curiosity are the predominant airs that lend themselves well to the pieces. I popped in to see how her latest venture, a concession in Liverpool designer, Kirsty Doyle’s shop, is going and find out how it all started…
I
Isharya Earrings and Assya Bangle
n the flesh, Benna personifies the jewellery she sells, her laid back yet stylish clothes have a vintage feel, and she clearly loves her job. With a past in all corners of fashion it’s no wonder. After studying Jewellery Design at Central Saint Martins, Benna worked as a freelance stylist in London for six years before setting up an underwear company with her friend.
She then went on to launch her online shop,
which now at over two years old has managed to
avoid being part of the 50% of new business that fail within their first year. So what is her secret? She cites “gritting your teeth and sticking your heels in” as her way of going about getting the company up and running. Benna states she didn’t have any help setting up her business and did it purely off her own back. But that doesn’t mean it was easy. As her whole business is a website, that part alone was hard to set up, “I’m not trained in computers so it was difficult because you just have to trust the web designers with what they’re doing. It was a steep learning curve!” she explains. “People seem to think though that it’s much cheaper just operating off a website though and having no premises, but it’s not! The rent for a concession is quite high but I get equal sales from the concession as the website.” I was curious to know how she had built up such a big customer base with her shop being online, and not really using any major advertising. She tells me she has a PR manager in London who sends samples to magazines and newspapers, but here she really just relies on Facebook and blogs.
B
Lara Bohinc Shoes
enna designs some of her own pieces, however she says she doesn’t really have the time to do as much as she’d like, part and parcel you would think, with owning a successful business. She has recently started stocking Lara Bohinc shoes to go with the array or bags and jewellery that she already sells. One of the things she likes to do she tells me, is try to pick up designers before they get really big, because Benna as a website, itself isn’t that well known. That said, many of the pieces she stocks have been featured in all the glossy fashion magazines. Elle and Vogue particularly like the Annina Vogel pieces, and the Jennifer Behr headbands have a celeb following in Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton, despite the brand’s fairly low profile.
When I ask about her future plans, its clear Benna has a lot of ambition and wants the company to grow. As well as expanding on the shoe facet of her company, she also wants to develop more of her own range and possibly introduce Stella McCartney underwear. Thinking on it she also says another concession would be a good thing to aim for, but she shakes her head definitely at the notion of diversifying into clothes though. “It’s all been done, with Net-A-Porter, Browns, Matches and My-Wardrobe, they’re all really successful. Jewellery-wise there’s only a couple of big-ish websites!”
So what advice does she have for someone who is thinking of setting up their own business in such a competitive industry? “Be completely passionate, don’t think about making money, and just hope that you do eventually! If you go into it purely as a money making exercise, you won’t stick at it. You have to love what you’re doing.”
Visit Benna’s website – www.benna.co.uk
Interview and Words Hannah Ramsay
Pictures Matt Ford
