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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