Start Up Loan recipient Charli Cohen launches new collection at London Fashion Week

We were delighted to catch up with some of our Start Up Loan recipients at London Fashion Week yesterday.

Luxe sportswear designer, Charli Cohen had an innovative approach to launching her eponymous label's new Autumn/Winter 14 collection.

Charli's Angels getting ready for the workout!

She staged a rooftop workout at the ME London hotel, as part of the Felicities showcase, to show off her designs in action! The London skyline was a stunning backdrop for the workout, and luckily the rain held off.

Charli Cohen A/W 14 Collection

Needless to say the Fashion Angel team didn't join in and were happy just to watch!

Charli made her business dream a reality with the help of a Fashion Angel Start Up Loan and the FREE mentoring support offered as part of the scheme.

To see the full collection go to  www.charli-cohen.com

For more information how Fashion Angel can help you launch your fashion brand, and the Start Up Loan scheme, go to our Start Up Loans page.

Managing distribution as your on-line fashion boutique grows.

Space for a growing business is always an issue.

One of the main Routes to Market for many of the Start Up Loan businesses we work with is selling their products on-line, either via their own e-commerce website or on other marketplaces.

These on-line boutiques are often run from home, to keep overheads to a minimum, and technology has made it possible to be a global brand from your bedroom. However, as a  business becomes successful and orders increase, it may well become impractical to manage the distribution from home as additional space and staff may be required to accommodate stock and order processing.

This can be a critical point for the business as it may be doing well, but taking on premises and staff is another ball game. The extra financial commitment can easily turn a company making a small profit in to one making a loss.

courtesy of www.saderose.com

Luckily there are ways to manage this growth spurt without taking on large overheads. There are now an increasing number of order fulfilment houses that are set up to take in your stock from the manufacturer and distribute to your customers on your behalf. Traditionally these distribution warehouses only wanted to work with high volumes of stock and deliver to business premises. They were used mainly by large brands delivering to  retailers, but the experiential growth of on-line sales has led to many offering a menu of services to smaller web based retailers including pick and pack distribution, re-processing and customer service.

Obviously there are fees attached to these services, which will need to be included in to your cost prices, but this can be a cost effective way of managing growth. There are many fulfilment warehouses to choose from including Intermail and Amazon offer this service for goods not even sold on their site.

As ever, you’ll need to do your research to check out the comparative costs between companies offering these services. You should find out who else they work for, if they have minimum quantities, where they can distribute to (national and international?), what level of service they can offer you ect. You'll need to manage the relationship carefully and brief them on how to respond to customers and how your goods should be packed as it is important they maintain your standards and reflect your brand in a positive way. Mystery shopping can be a good tool to monitor their effectiveness and check if they are following your brief.

If your brand continues to grow there will come a point where the critical mass could mean it is better to take on premises and staff to bring the distribution back in-house, but by that time hopefully the business will be in a stronger position to take that next step.

If you want to find out more, our practical Routes to Market workshop will inspire you and further information on access to funding and free mentoring is on our Start Up Loan page.

If you'd like to share your experiences with fulfilment houses and have any recommendations for our community,  we'd love to hear from you.

By Alison Lewy

Finance for Fashion Start Ups

At our recent  packed Finance for Fashion Start Ups networking talk, the topic was alternative sources of funding including crowdfunding and Start Up Loans. As we all know, the traditional lenders are not supportive of SMEs, and fashion related ventures are considered high risk, so it’s even tougher for this sector. The good news is that there are now some credible alternatives.

The evening featured presentations from Muriel Dupas, founder of new fashion crowdfunding platform Audacity of Fashion and Fashion Angel’s Alison Lewy, followed by a panel discussion.

Muriel Dupas from Audacity of Fashion

The event was sold out, and attracted a long waiting list, so as requested we are posting a longer blog than usual to capture the key points discussed at the event for those that missed it.

The first presentation was from Muriel, whose background in finance and experience with business angel networks, led her to notice that investors are generally only interested in fashion tech businesses as they don’t understand the fashion industry and are wary of investing. Also the nature of the fashion buying cycle means designers often have to fund several collections and have the finance to support the necessary marketing and PR before they start to generate sales, thus leaving a big funding gap.

Some interesting crowdfunding facts:-
• Rewards based crowdfunding as a route to raising finance is growing rapidly, with the biggest US platform Kickstarter hosting over 4,000 projects and raising in total 400 million since it launched in 2008.
• The platform has hosted 700 fashion specific campaigns and raised around $8million with the average campaign raising between $1- 10K.
• In the UK, NESTA reports that in 2011 £100 million was raised through crowdfunding, which is expected to have doubled in 2012, and in  5 years reach £1.5 billion

One of the most recent successful campaigns on Kickstarter was run by US premium casualwear brand Flint and Tinder. They called for online backers to fund the production of the company’s “10-Year Hoodie” and through pledges and pre-orders, attracted over 6,000 participants and raised almost $700,000 – astonishing considering they were only seeking $50,000!

However, although there are successful fashion projects as this clearly demonstrates  there success rate for fashion campaigns is only around 27%, which is the lowest of the categories hosted.

Muriel came to the conclusion that a different crowdfunding model was needed that built a community of fans specifically interested in fashion and emerging design talent, and that it should  have added value and be more than a platform for raising funds.

Integral to the Audacity of Fashion platform will be the facility for its community to collaborate and connect with each other, allowing users to recommend and find support from photographers, stylists, graphic designers etc.

Designers will also be able to use it to get feedback on their designs and market test new product ideas before going in to production.

Like all such platforms, the basic principle is using the power of followers to finance a specific project by obtaining small contributions from a large groups of fans in return for a ‘reward ‘. This might be a thank you, original sketch, ticket for show or product voucher, depending on the amount of money pledged. It could even be to spend time with you in your studio – the aim is to get your followers to be active and develop an emotional connection with your brand – they are then likely to become loyal customers in the future.

In addition if you build a big following of active fans it can be a powerful tool to use as proof of concept to show potential investors if you want to attract external investment in the future. Muriel sees the non-financial benefits of the platform as important as the funding side.

Key aspects of the AoF platform:- 

• To maintain a high quality of campaigns the platform will be curated and selected by the selection panel of fashion industry experts. The panel will be looking for designers with credible businesses that have passion and drive to drive the campaigns forward.
• Pledges will typically start low at £5 - £10.00 and go up to £1000.
• Each campaign will run for a month however if it doesn’t reach the target then you don’t get any of the money and the participants get their money back.
• The cycle will be around 10 weeks from campaign launch to receiving funds
• Application is free with a 5% charge levied only on successful campaigns, plus any transaction fees.
• Audacity of Fashion will be engaging  a cohort of high profile industry ambassadors to champion the platform to the fashion community

Muriel’s tips for a successful campaign:-

• Your campaign needs to be specific -  be clear what the funding is for. 
• Produce an engaging video that tells your story – this is your main sales tool
• You’ll need good images 
• Your campaign needs to be part of an overall communications/marketing plan - if you generate positive PR around your campaign you’re more likely to reach your goals
• Be creative with your rewards - try and monitise what you’ve already got to offer 
• Your existing family, friends & followers are likely to be the first to support you so actively build your community in advance
• Important to set a realistic target  - if you don’t reach your target you don’t get anything at all and those that have pledged will get a refund.

The platform is due to launch in Spring 2013 www.Audacityoffashion.com

Next Alison gave a short presentation regarding the Start Up Loan (SUL) scheme, a government backed initiative to support young entrepreneurs aged 18-30 with an easy to access loan and business mentoring. So far over 2700 businesses have been helped with an average loan size of £3500-£6000 although it is possible to borrow up to 10K. Larger loans are available but need approval from Start Up Loan Company.

Key Benefits of a Start Up Loan:-
• Gives start ups easy access to finance
• It’s a quick process – decisions can be made within 48 hours
• You don’t give away equity in your business
• Unsecured loan with a low interest rate of 6%
• Flexible payments terms
• Added bonus of Free mentoring
• Global Partner offers including Paypal, Ebay & Intuit
• It’s the best deal on the market

Fashion Angel is the only delivery partner to focus on supporting fashion industry entrepreneurs and so far has approved loans to a wide cross section of fashion related businesses including womenswear, menswear, plus size, swimwear, online marketplaces, jewellery, footwear  and millinery. More information is on our Fashion Angel Start Up Loan page.

The  panel discussion that followed included input from two successful SUL applicants, Remy Ray who is setting up a plus size label, and Joel Adebayo from online platform Utter Couture, who both shared their experiences with the audience. Both confirmed how the SUL loan has allowed them to put their business idea in to reality and how easy they found the application process with the support of the pre-loan mentoring which helped them understand how to generate the  financial forecasts required. They both have also taken up one of the partner offers from Regis and now have a FREE virtual office for six months.

Muriel Dupas and AlisonLewy

The talk was sold out quickly but if you want to find out more about the Start Up Loans, or see if it's right for you, we’re hosting a FREE Finance for Fashion workshop on 30th April at 10.00am.

Spaces are limited and likely to sell out quickly again. For more information go to our Fashion Angel Events page, or click here to book a place.

By Alison Lewy

Fashion Angel helps young fashion entrepreneurs fly!

We are thrilled to announce that we are partnering with the government backed Start-Up Loans Company, to offer easy to access loans and business support to aspiring fashion industry entrepreneurs.

With London Fashion Week starting soon, highlighting the wealth of design talent and increasing number of fashion brands starting up new enterprises, we are delighted our popular mentoring and business support will now be available to new fashion businesses on the scheme, at the start of their business journey.

Involvement in this initiative continues our commitment to giving fashion brands the guidance and entrepreneurial skills they need to be successful.

Alison Lewy, Fashion Angel’s founder  welcomes this opportunity to support start up fashion businesses in this way

“We are so pleased that we can help fashion start-ups get funding and business mentoring to help make their dream business a reality. Traditional lenders are often unsympathetic to lending to creative businesses, so it’s exciting to be able to offer an alternative funding route. As the only delivery partners specialising in this area, we are looking forward to playing an integral part to the success of these young entrepreneurs.”

We have already started approving loans and have now developed a very
simple on-line application process . We're on hand to support applicants both during the application process and while they get their business off the ground.

Start-Up Loans Company chairman, James Caan says”

 “Having started my first business in the fashion industry, I’m delighted to see a fashion-specific Partner on board to help support creative entrepreneurs turn their passion into a business. I believe this surge we are seeing from young people starting their own businesses is simply the beginning of an emerging and lasting trend in entrepreneurship in Britain”
 “Start-Up Loans are unsecured which is exactly what young people with no track-record of business or collateral need to get their idea off the ground. “

Come and find out if a Start Up Loan is right for you at our FREE talk and networking event, Finance for Fashion Start Ups in London on 27th March 2013, where successful Start Up Loan Ambassadors and loan recipients  will be on hand to share their experiences. Places are strictly limited and you can book your place on-line on the Fashion Angel events page

To start your application or to find out more go to  Fashion Angel Start Up Loans