Do you want to design for asos.com?

The International Fashion Fusion competition has opened its doors to the whole of the UK and now anyone can enter. You just need to be 15 years or older and be able to translate your design ideas into sketches. The winner will not only have their design sold on asos.com but will also receive a 6 month placement at the leading etailer and to  work along side Madras designer Jessica Ogden. This really is the chance of a life time and should not be missed by any budding fashion designers.

Full brief and further information on the competition

IFF also hit the press this week.

Copenhagen Fashion Week

Today FashionCapital has jetted off to Northern Europe’s largest fashion event Copenhagen Fashion Week. A jam packed schedule of catwalk shows, press openings, meetings with designers and of course after parties has been organised and we are very excited to be bringing you a unique insight into the Danish fashion industry. Watch this space!

London Fashion Week

Next week on our return to home ground it’s straight into this season’s London Fashion Week for the Autumn/Winter 2010 collections. A dedicated team of top journalists and photographers will be bringing to you daily reports and images of all the major catwalk shows and exhibitions taking place.

Ideal Homes Exhibition

An opportunity has arisen for designers to take stand space at the upcoming Ideal Homes Exhibition at Earls Court this year. It is a 17 day event taking place from 20^th March – 5^th April 2010. Full article

The space is 22sqm with one designer already taking half of this so leaving 11sqm. There is either space for three designers to share the remaining space for the full 17 days or if a number of designers were interested but could not attend the whole event then we could work on a rota system.

1sqm costs £250 plus VAT.

At this stage I need to know who would be interested so please contact jenni@fashion-enter.com as soon as possible.

British Designers Collective

Last week we announced the new working partnership with Value Retail in the Bicester Village in Oxfordshire where together we will be launching the first ever ‘Pop-Up’ store designed to showcase British Designers of the industry.

ASUS – winners announced

The brief was to design an innovative way to carry a laptop… We had some beautiful entries from students and designers alike. After frantic voting a panel has chosen the final two winners.

And the winners are….

1^st Cathy Li

 2^nd Helen Batstone

CAD/CAM Course at The Workshop  

Spaces are filling up fast so if you would like to take the 5 day intensive CAD/CAM course at The Workshop please contact jenni@fashion-enter.com as soon as possible. The dates are 22^nd – 26^th February.

Clothes Show London 

Many of you have already expressed a strong interest in this years Clothes Show London at Earls Court and stands are starting to fill up. The event takes place from 25^th – 27^th June and after last years success the FashionCapital boutique is set to become a hotspot for fashionistas. To ensure you secure your stand please contact leith@fashion-enter.com

Booking form

Membership Increase

If you are putting off renewing your membership for whatever reason, put off no more!

The monthly and quarterly subscriptions will cease to exist and the full annual membership https://www.fashioncapital.co.uk/GetNewSubscription subscription with Fashion Enter and FashionCapital is due to increase as of March 1st 2010 to:

£199 + VAT

To join now, pre increase all you need to do is login with your username and password then click Membership to select the subscription you require.

Dee Normoyle

We are delighted to introduce our latest trend forecaster; Dee Normoyle on board at FashionCapital.co.uk. Dee has worked as a freelance designer through Intraport for M&S, ASOS.com and ASDA and has experience via Top Grove for Next. Dee hails from New York and has previously owned her own supplier and design business, with her designs selling throughout the USA and Topshop. With a strong wholesale, retail and design background, Dee's experience in seeing the upcoming trends has equipped her with the perfect eye for predicting future fashions herself.

New Specialist – Garment Specialist: Pippa Lazaro

My mission is to provide clients involved in the creative,product development and manufacturing process with useful tools that make their journeys more efficient, less costly, faster and more accurate. "

Workshop makes the Press

Need Insurance?

If you are considering becoming involved in any events, opening a retail store or taking a stand at the largest fashion and beauty event in the world, for example; Clothes Show London this June then considering insurance should be on your list of “Things to Do”.

Within our members only section hosts a selection of key specialist industry advisors to further assist the development and regulation of your business. We will be featuring a different specialist advisor each week in the newswire, and to start this new category off, we recommend the services of Gillian Fearon

Tools of the Trade

One of the most frequent problems seen in the fashion industry that designers encounter is when manufacturing units fail to produce samples that match the requirements initially outlined from the designer. This is where our Tools of the Trade section is so vital to ensure such risks are minimized. The Docket is an essential piece of documentation that specifically outlines what is required of the manufacturer for production to run as expected.

Affiliate Network

FashionCapital.co.uk are jumping on the affiliate advertising bandwagon soon, therefore to drive sales via your site, we can divert links from our portal promoting specific products under the affiliate advertising scheme. If you have set up your website with an affiliate network and are interested in free promotion within our brand new Lifestyle section, please contact jemima@fashioncapital.co.uk and emily@fashioncapital.co.uk.

Oak Lodge School

Fashion Enter visited the Oak Lodge Primary School in Croydon this week to kick start the launch of an exciting project. The students were asked what they thought fashion is and what it means to them followed up with the 4 P’s of marketing to then split into teams and create their own brand. The year 4 students then began to create mood boards, carefully selecting colour themes and a vision for their company.

Retail News

Retail sales in the UK fell 0.7% on a like for like basis in comparison with January 2009, despite sales having risen from 1.1%, however total figures show a rise in 1.2% against a 3.2% increase from January last year.

The adverse weather conditions lead to increased food sales at the start of January as consumers prepared for the worse, having seen the effects in December; however non food items were affected negatively with the largest impact falling on discretionary items. As the weather improved, sales of food slowed once again whilst non food products began to recover slowly. As January progressed, food, clothing and footwear saw gains against last year however homewares and furniture declined.

We do look forward to the day when something positive to report in retail/business occurs…

Job of the Week

SALES & MARKETING INTERNSHIP – top London Agency

Applicant of the Week

Fashion stylist/ Personal shopper available

Boutique Pick of the Week

You could have one of these delightful transitional jackets in your wardrobe to gracefully transcend from the coldest months into summer. The intricately detailed double breasted blazer provides the perfect platform for an elegant yet powerful style for work. The check detail reinforces a somewhat playful element in line with the feminine shoulder and blouson collar making this fabulous creation by Eva Evanovich the ultimate perfectly balanced start to shape your style around and for just £50 now on asos.com, how could you not?