Samantha McEwan from Isolated Heroes announced as winner of business mentoring competition, sponsored by ASOS Marketplace

Isolated Heroes

We are delighted to announce that the winner of our second business mentoring competition, sponsored by ASOS Marketplace, is women’s wear brand ISOLATED HEROES founded by designer Samantha McEwan.

Samantha has won a place on the Fashion Angel business start up mentoring programme. During the six months programme the Fashion Angel team will work with her to develop the strategic and operational direction of the business to secure its growth and sustainability.

The competition was open to ASOS Marketplace sellers and continues our  commitment to nurturing and developing young creative talent to turn them into successful businesses.

The entries were judged by Fashion Angel Director, Alison Lewy and Rachel Humphreys, ASOS’s Senior Marketplace Manager.

Isolated Heroes

Alison Lewy, Fashion Angel’s Director welcomes this opportunity to support an aspiring design business in this way: “We were overwhelmed with applications which show the high demand for industry led mentoring support to assist fashion enterprises. It was a difficult task to choose a winner with so many strong entries. We selected Samantha as we loved the brand aesthetic and felt with the right support the business had potential for growth. Samantha will now have the opportunity to work with a team of high-level, industry professionals from Fashion Angel to ensure the on-going development and success of her business, as well as exposure for the Isolated Heroes brand.”

James Hart, E Commerce Director of ASOS, said: “We are excited to announce Isolated Heroes as the winning recipient of the mentoring programme with Fashion Angel.  Their entry stood out because of both their eagerness to learn, but also their clear ideas as to the way they wanted to develop their business and expand their label.  Samantha’s commitment to her collection on ASOS Marketplace has given her  the strong foundations on which the Fashion Angel mentoring program can build. We can’t wait to see her business grow.”

Isolated Heroes 

Samantha McEwan, Isolated Heroes Founder and Creative Director, said: “I am so excited to have won this competition and grateful to ASOS Marketplace for giving me the opportunity to be mentored by the Fashion Angel team and benefit from their industry expertise. I am looking forward to developing my business strategy and with their assistance, taking my business to the next level”

We can't wait to chart Samantha's progress over the coming months. For more information about our mentoring programme and how we can help your fashion business thrive go to the Fashion Angel Mentoring page.

Getting it Made - Part 1. Tips for finding a manufacturer for your fashion brand

A challenge for anyone starting a small fashion business is finding a good, reliable manufacturer. This is just one of many fashion start-up topics addressed in my new book Design Create Sell, published by Brightword Publishing.

Every designer needs the skills and support of a reliable manufacturer if they want to scale up their business. Finding these factories can be difficult, so make sure that you use
any friends, contacts or professional networks, and scour the web to identify the best candidates. Once you have done your research and compiled a list of manufacturers, it is important to assess their suitability to be part of your network of suppliers. this can only be carried out by visiting their premises and seeing how they work.

When you visit a potential manufacturer, it isn’t just to assess the physical conditions and their manufacturing procedures, it’s also to get some idea of how organised they are. Look to see if all the trims for the factory’s dockets are kept clearly labelled in one place. Are the working areas clear of clutter and is their paperwork neatly arranged?

The UK Fashion and Textile Association has a directory of UK manufacturers called Getting it Made and there are some LinkedIn in groups, such as Made in UK, which are worthwhile joining. Our Fashion Angel Business Club also provides members with a useful suppliers directory, as part of their benefit package.

Find a manufacturer: a 10-point checklist

1. What other designers do they work for and do those designers have the same quality and pricing strategy as you?

2. What type of products and/or materials do they manufacture?

3. Do they have all the machinery you require?

4. Is the factory willing and able to make your quantities by your deadlines?

5. Are the factory’s health and safety, ethical and housekeeping working practices compatible with your business?

6. Can they achieve the quality that your customers expect, within the price that you can afford to pay?

7. Are the premises easy to get to? Will you be able to pop in if there is a problem?

8. Is the owner/manager the sort of person you can create a business relationship with?

9. Have you discussed, and do you understand, the factory’s payment terms? You are unlikely to get credit terms straight away, but if you stick to your part of the bargain and pay promptly then they may offer you credit in the future.

10. Now that you have compiled a list of potential manufacturers, you have to match the factory to the orders. If your collection is multi-category and includes, for example, jersey, denim and lightweight dresses, then your choice of manufacturer will be determined by their technical capabilities. If, when you visited them, they were making tailored woven jackets, are they going to be able to successfully make chiffon dresses?

Tips:

• The most effective way to select the right factory is on the basis of a sample that they make up of the style in question at a cost agreeable to you.
• You want to avoid being totally reliable on any one supplier, so try to source an alternative as a back up.

Find out more about how to source and manage your sampling and production effectively at our GETTING IT MADE workshop on 3rd July 2013.

More about this topic and the processes you need to have in place when outsourcing your manufacturing is in the Design Create Sell book available
 for £12.99 in the Fashion Angel Shop.

By Alison Lewy

Follow @FashionAngel1

Project 104 - our second mentoring session

Project 104's designer Sarah Reader and I  had our second mentoring session on a lovely sunny  March day. I was so excited to find out what Sarah had been up to since our last session and was blown away by how much she had managed to achieve in the four weeks.

From not having any formal plan in place, using the Fashion Angel Business Plan Guide, she has now started to put together her  business plan and strategy for going forward with the business, and we have started to develop her USP and key messages that will be used to reflect her brand across all communications.

Project 104 jackets are now on sale on the Etsy.com website and she is investigating other online retail opportunities, as well as the development of her own website which is now underway.

An opportunity has risen for Sarah to participate in a pop up shop in May – this is a great way for her to promote her brand and generate income. Sarah attended our ‘Setting up an Accessory Business’ workshop and as we are moving into Spring/Summer season, has wisely decided to design a Project 104  limited edition accessory range.

It’s tight, but we worked out a manageable schedule so she can make up  enough stock to sell at the pop up shop and then online.

Accessories serve as a good way of allowing consumers to buy in to your brand at an entry price point level, even if they can’t afford to buy from a main collection.

It’s been a tiring month, juggling all the work entailed with starting a new brand, especially when you are also working part time and on a tight budget, but Sarah has done tremendously well and we are all very impressed with her progress so far.

As ever, we  finished the  session with some clear actions and target completion dates before our next session at the end of April.

Author Alison Lewy Follow @FashionAngel1