Profile: Jenny Holloway

Project Manager, London Fashion Forum

 Following her graduation with a 2:1(Hon) Business Studies degree, Jenny Holloway commenced her career as ladieswear fashion buyer at Littlewoods Chainstores. Within two years she had progressed to a buyer designate at Littlewoods and then became a fast track selector in training at Marks and Spencer. During Jenny’s six-year career at Marks and Spencer she was a ladieswear selector for formal and casual blouses, knitwear, coats and tailoring and also went to Canada on secondment. Jenny was then approached by Principles for Women where she became a senior buyer responsible for all formal ladieswear.

Jenny remained a senior buyer for two year operating budgets in excess of £150m. She sourced production, trends and fabric internationally. Both sales and profitability targets were surpassed and Jenny then decided to embark upon her own business with a design label Retro

Retro (UK) Ltd was incorporated in 1991 and for eight years Jenny designed and manufactured quality ladieswear (both domestically and internationally sourced) to a wide cross section of high street accounts including Burton’s (now Arcadia), John Lewis, Long Tall Sally, Makro,  Allders, Littlewoods and Matalan. Retro also successfully diversified into a Sun Protective childrenswear range that was supplied direct to the Department of Health called Sun Smart.

During this time Jenny commenced consultancy work with Nottingham Trent University working directly with CMT and manufacturers to manage change within the Textiles and Apparel environment. Jenny also provided a consultancy service for design houses such as Quorum and Radley which involved sourcing fabric, designing and selling collections.

Jenny diversified into opening up retail outlets for her label Retro and Essentials and also had a party plan business supplying quality classics to the mid market 35-65 plus lady. At its peak there were 150 selling agents throughout the UK selling the Retro and Essential labels in households from the North to the South and East to the West of England. Jenny also advised for Cutting Edge, a Business Link funded initiative, working on ’grass-root’ projects such as Manufacturers Showcase, The Lee Valley Collection and sourcing sale leads for CMT’s to upgrade manufacturing status.

Jenny sold her business as a going concern in 2001 to concentrate full time on consultancy work for both London Fashion Forum, www.FashionCapital.co.uk both funded by the London Development Agency (LDA) and a host of independent clients. 

Jenny has recently been asked to attend an international study tour organised by the LDA visiting Toronto, New York and San Francisco.

Jenny commented: “I am delighted to be asked to attend the study tour with the LDA and this could provide valuable leads for the talented designers of the UK not least a showroom in New York – fingers crossed! Fashion is a wonderful sector but, as many designers know, it’s not all the glitz and glamour that you outwardly see. There are long hours behind every collection along with highs and lows that can make you seriously question your sanity. There is no substitute for experience, good and bad, of which I have experienced both many times. I see my role now as an honest broker trying to help designers getting their business right first time and avoiding the pitfalls that are so abundant in the industry.”

September 2005