Just because you started your brand and it is your "baby" doesn't mean that you know or have the skills to grow it and make it profitable.  And unless it is profitable and operated in a way that allows it to grow - you will be stuck in a hamster wheel feeling exhausted and frustrated. So here is what you or your CEO needs to do in your business to ensure you end up with the fashion brand that you envisioned and want to have. Discover: The 3 key roles a business CEO must fulfil Why are they important Should you be the CEO of your own brand and business?   About the Podcast Host: Des ..read more

Jane Hamill, a successful ex-clothing designer and retailer who saw a growing need in this niche for honest advice and specific step-by-step strategies to run a profitable product business without losing your shirt – or your mind. In this episode we chat about all things fashion business, lessons learned from mistakes made and what works now that leads to more sales. Discover more in this episode: 6:00 - pricing fears when launching your brand for the first time; The reasons why we underprice  The mistakes Jane and Dessy made early on with their brands  Why “copy-paste” what others ..read more

If you have a fashion brand chances are at some point or right now you might be wondering why you are not selling - at all or more of your products.  It is very common for new brands to launch and sell nothing for a long time. Imagine having spent months and years working on your brand and a vast amount of time and money and then silence. No traffic to your website, no sales...and everyone you ask telling you how nice your product is. This is the reality for many newly launched brands.  Then a few years later - you are not selling enough - you know you can sell more but why is it not ..read more

Back in 2008 I launched my very own fine jewellery brand Deci London. Despite knowing so much after working for 10+ years in the fashion industry, launching and growing a brand and business of my own came with a whole new set of learning and lessons I didn't expect.  Reflecting back on running the brand for 8+ years has resulted in 19 lessons which you can read all about HERE, but in this episode, I share 3 invaluable lessons that I often share with brands I work and advise and are lessons everyone must learn from.  Listen to this episode and discover: Why asking for advice from exp ..read more

A childhood love for hats became a thriving business for Swiss-born, Thailand based Anne-Claude, the founder of accessories resort brand Mon Panama. When the pandemic came, the demand for her retail business overnight dried up. But closing down never crossed her mind. Her passion and determination to save her "business child" led her to pivot to survival.  Listen to this episode and discover: How Anne-Claude started the MonPanama hat brand; Discover the origins of the famous Panama hats (hint: you'd be surprised to know they do not come from Panama at all);  How she overcame the cha ..read more

Meet Monika Young, a London-based creative, ex-fast fashion buyer and a lover of all things California.  When her buying job in Berlin started giving her the blues, she knew she had to make a change. She saw first-hand how fast fashion brands were destroying the planet and she wasn’t down for being part of the problem. Launching Monika The Label was born out of her love for fashion and desire to re-imagine how a fashion brand can be fun and do good at the same time.  Listen to this episode and discover: How her dream job of being a buyer pushed Monika to walk away and start her own ..read more

Most fashion brand founders chase cash in the wrong way and for the wrong reasons. Often if they find financial success at the beginning, they struggle to maintain it and make it last.    Others spend years building a "brand" without (seemingly) much success until one day...everything seems to fall into place and money starts to pour in.  Ever wonder how success is created in the fashion industry and what it takes to monetise your brand and business....then listen in... Listen to this episode and discover: What is branding How is branding different from direct response type of ..read more

Yusuf’s passion for making started whilst reading law at The London School of Economics where he thrived in the extracurricular. He continued to explore his creative side whilst training to be a solicitor. An avid workshop taker, he tried the gamut of crafts and discovered a passion for premium natural materials and a flair for working with his hands A chance weekend workshop in The Cotswolds introduced Yusuf to the world of traditional British leather craftsmanship and began a quest that has taken Yusuf all over the world to learn from the best and returning home to obsessively hone his skill ..read more

Most creative brand founders inexperienced in business observe and emulate how others do it. However, so much can be missed and left invisible to a trained eye. In this episode, you'll discover how to add to your collection range strategically and by taking a lesser risk. Growth can come from many sources and not everything you can offer as a product under the label of your brand must be completely new and designed and made by you alone.    Thinking and acting strategically with an end outcome in mind is the secret sauce many successful brand founders utilise successfully and use lat ..read more

Most creative brand founders and designers overestimate the importance of individual products and design elements and hugely underestimate the importance of having a cohesive collection.  In fact - most creative brand founders do not understand what "cohesive" means in terms of a collection structure.  Listen to this episode and discover: The two aspects your collection ranges must have in order to work harder for your brand and convert more sales; The three types of audience you are encountering when marketing The importance of having various price points within your range; What is ..read more