Eloise Grey Ethical Fashion Business Blog

My New Mentor: Anda Rowland

I can formally reveal the identity of my mentor on the Crafted programme. We met on Tuesday in the hallowed confines of bespoke Savile Row tailors, Anderson & Sheppard. Entering the premises is completely different from a 'shop'. Wood, leather-bound books, fabric, gentle lighting, sofas. It felt like going into a previous era, with neither fustiness nor fakery. A warm friendly and professional welcome. I was then invited into the cutting room and then downstairs where the making takes place and met Anda Rowland, the CEO.

Anda is delightful and charming as well as being a astute businesswoman. She is infectiously passionate about her product and customers. I could hardly contain my delight at getting to know Anda in the workroom  basement while all these craftsmen and women were carefully working away around me. There is something calming and serious about being in the presence of this type of craftsmanship. I couldn't help sneak a peak at a gentleman expertly pressing a midnight blue velvet dinner jacket. (Or does one say, smoking jacket?.. and while I'm being precise, I think he was actually steaming rather than pressing the velvet.)

Anda Rowland works primarily on the business and marketing side, leaving the managing director to oversee production and ensuring the customer experience is second to none. And it is. It was rivetting hearing about that process and seeing it before my eyes. It was also quite straightforward. You have a special product and you have a set of customers, and a desire to maintain and grow this. You learn what your customers want in terms of product, and how they want to be informed about your product in order to remain loyal. For example, no advertising, ultimate discretion, a sensible openness to changing modern needs and a product second to none.  It felt and was so different to mainstream retail. 

Thankfully, Anda perfectly understood what I was doing and we discussed many aspects of my business and she revealed the Anderson & Sheppard approach. I enjoyed being able to talk through my thoughts around luxury and quality and hear that this chimed with hers. In the course of the conversation and in my reflections afterwards it became clear that I have been trying to do too much, that I need to really focus on my core product, my message and continually return to that. Over the next year we will meet regularly and this will help me to position my product correctly, develop it within this space, and grow my customer base.

There is a version of luxury and quality which is about the product, the process and the experience which Anderson & Sheppard embody. This is the real deal, if you ask me, compared to the over-branded, trend-led luxury industry which to a certain extent has been discredited in the sobering light of recession. These products have huge marketing and retailing spend built into them at the cost of quality and soul. Where once they were made in artisan workrooms like Anderson & Sheppard, they have been re-designed and made out of China and similar places. The connection has been lost. Also, if you want customers to buy the next trend obsolescence is built in, so quality is less important.

I have been battling with whether to focus on wholesale or selling direct to my customers. Each requires focus, dedication and financial investment. More immediately I've been trying to decide whether to show at London Fashion Week this February for AW10/11. I am resisting. I feel it in my bones. I need to evolve organically and the cost of going to tradeshows and producing a whole new collection is steep. My next move along that trajectory would be to show in Paris as this would put my work in front of more international buyers such as the Japanese or Americans. However, it's a long and slow process and one can't expect to make sales for some time.

At the same time I want to serve my customers and grow those precious relationships. Opening my boutique, however modest, has been a good start in the right direction. So my conclusion, at the moment is to focus on that. Therefore I shall develop my summer collection and extract myself from the process of creating new collections twice a year. It's not the right pace for me, nor my customers I should say. I shall always do something new; new tweeds, on or two new styles and let them evolve, organically rather than fitting into the trade show system. It was good for me to show last February and I shall continue to wholesale in a more discrete way. I find wholesale customers really need to understand what I am doing for it to work. My product has a strong story which needs to be communicated.  

So, I left the tailors and Anda with a strong sense that this year ahead would be invaluable and exciting. I am hoping it will ground me and give my label a good base and grow my customer numbers. As we were leaving she showed me a tailcoat from the 1960's which a customer had brought in to adjust. There are very few businesses that would have such a relationship with their customers.

Some Colours and Textures.

I was taking a picture of Toklas wearing a Makepiece scarf today and got all overwhelmed by the textures and colours in the boutique. So here is a selection.

 

In the black and herringbone rail.

 

the Makepiece scarves

Elena Garcia

beautifully felted jacket

Now for a bit more colour

 

 
 

 

Crafted Mentoring Programme

I have recently been accepted on a programme called Crafted. I sold a coat to an inspiring woman, Janice Blackburn, who is a writer and curator - or should I say - the writer and curator on contemporary craft. She is also a huge supporter of emerging makers and artists and understood what I was doing in a second. As a result, within weeks I'd been interviewed for Crafted and I'm on the programme. Crafted is funded by the American Express Foundation and is a joint venture between Arts & Business and Walpole. Arts & Business forge links between commerce and culture and Walpole furthers the interest of the luxury goods industry.

The programme involves primarily pairing up craft makers with mentors in the industry. Examples of mentors are Bill Amberg and Ed Burstall who is buying director of Liberty. My mentor is not 100% confirmed yet so you will have to wait for the next post on the subject. Part of the deal is that we keep a log of the year so I shall be using the blog to do just that. In addition, we have a range of seminars and individual meetings with experts. I've got a meeting set up with a chartered accountant, who is unlikely to have looked at businesses as modest as mine for a few years.

The process is about developing the markets for crafted luxury products. We have a rich heritage and skilled makers in this country and the mentors we will be working with are proof of this, as many of them have been pioneers at producing at this quality and selling successfully.

We had our first session recently at the Prince's Foundation in Shoreditch, East London. This was a perfect setting, of course, because the Foundation works to support traditional skills (beyond architecture into design). We met the mentors and also the other craft makers on the programme. I had a great chat with bespoke shoemakers carréducker and we're thinking of doing something together as a result. 

The experience has really made me think about my label and where I fit in the market. In the debate at our first meeting there was also a hinted-at sense that the luxury industry had recently lost its way and credibility as a result of outsourcing and losing connections with the makers. This is very close to my heart. My fabrics dictate my prices and the way we produce is clearly going to make this a luxury product. I'm a little uncomfortable about the connotations of the word luxury, which can alienate people, especially some sectors of my market. However, this is where I sit much more in fact than the 'ethical or sustainable sector'. I am very influenced by the wwf report Deeper Luxury and feel that this is what I'm trying to do. That is, create a beautifully crafted product that is deeply sustainable and long lasting. In the end, this is real value for money. It's a healthy brand of consumerism. 

We were asked what we hoped to get out of this process. I need to find more customers and so I'm hoping to answer the questions around whether my decision to wholesale (and show at trade fairs such as London Fashion Week) is a correct one and how to access my customers. I feel it is about repositioning the label more in the luxury sector, but I shall wait to see how my mentoring experience evolves.

I am also interested in being part of the luxury goods sector in the way that I am now very well established in the ethical fashion sector. I feel that there is great potential for pioneering sustainable brands in the luxury sector. They can lead the way and should have the resources to do so much more easily than the faster moving high street labels who seem to only be able to produce out of places like China. 

So, I wait to share more news in due course. In the meantime, we've got an exciting launch evening at Soane coming up. 

Keep and Share

Here is another unique designer's work that I have in stock in the boutique in Farnham. I discovered Amy Twigger's knitwear Keep & Share at Origin at Somerset House a few years ago. I loved the styles - all hand-knitted with a strong fashion story. I tried on a lovely gladys cardi, which fortunately she's still running, but with different colours each season:

It took me a few years to decide to buy one for myself. Then I chose some for the shop. We've got it in navy (as in the picture), plum and black. They are lovely and popular with customers. I find mine great to wear over jeans and over smart clothes alike. It's a little like having a chic and cosy jacket.

Continuing the cardi department I've also ordered the Elm Cardi for the shop in lilac, grey and black. This is in a lovely wool & angora mix which is beautifully soft.

They are all lovingly knitted in Herefordshire. For those of you who are more knowledgeable than me about knitting, they have lovely clever features that knitters always spot and coo with impressed delight. Here are the colours we've got here:

Then for my Menswear Department I thought a couple of tanks would be fitting. Funnily enough both these and the scarves have been widely admired by ladies - in fact they are perfectly good for women too.

So we've got the Elm Gansey below in grey and black.

I think it's cool and classic with a hip thing going on to. 

The great story about the Keep & Share is that the clothes are made to keep in a way my tweeds are. Amy's philosophy is that you create classic but unconventional knitwear that is beautifully made with the idea that you will keep it, share it, and give it a full lifetime. It really is worth it's weight in gold if you find something you love because that's true value for money. You're using your hard-earned cash on something that carries all that feeling and craftsmanship.

You can always start by purchasing one of the lovely scarves. When we got Sam the model down to do the shoot for the tweed menswear, the scarves looked great with the dark herringbone tweed:

  I've also got this scarf in grey as modeled by mystery man below. It's got a different interesting knit on each  side.

I might be putting them on the online store but in the meantime, they are in the boutique.

Boutique Launch Party

The day kicked off with an excellent interview with Nick Wallis on BBC Southern Counties radio. He got the whole idea of slow fashion and the benefits of buying quality and knowing where your kit comes from. Then I raced to the boutique and put the bunting up as pictured. Just in case you ask about my nice cardy, that is a summer version of the gladys cardis I've got in stock from Herefordshire-based Keep & Share.  

Shortly after, quite frankly, overdoing it with the bunting (well I did make it myself and I do have at least 150 metres), we had the arrival of the glorious Beate Kibutz, from Makepiece, who ventured south from Todmorden, and bought her whole AW09 and SS10 collections with her.

We also had a rather wonderful model, Helene Manca, who wore the knitwear most elegantly. Beate gave a talk about the history of the Makepiece label and the wool industry and Helene descended the stairs in a charming stream of knitwear, such as the specatular Briar Rose Dress from AW09:

In fact, we had a little double-act going as we styled, or I should say  award-winning personal stylist Chantelle Znideric styled the knitwear with some of my tweed.

the twosome..and Helene in the Toklas jacket.

 

We also styled the event with ethical jewellery from Cred, who are based in Chichester, which isn't too far away. Monica Mielgo from Cred pictured below with her assistant manager came along too.

 

It was great to get a preview of the spring summer 10 work. Here is the fine carapace dress.

And the carapace chunky dress from AW09 in pink. I've got this style in black and a dusky blue. The necklas is also from Cred

 

Eloise and Beate in amongst the tweed and knitwear..

Another feature of the evening, somewhat overshadowed by the beauty of Helene and the colours of Makepiece was the previewing of my menswear. Fortunately, we had a couple of handsome chaps who looked rather dapper and enthusiastically modeled them for us.

So the boutique is now open for business. We've had a great few weeks with ladies and gentlemen curiously venturing upstairs only to be delighted with the unique, beautiful pieces we've got on show.

 

Eloise Grey, Upstairs at Purity is at 20 Downing Street, Farnham, Surrey GU9 7PB. It's about an hour by train or car south-west of London on the Surrey/Hampshire border.

P.S The bunting is also available to rent.

Menswear - The Somerset Maughan Collection

So those of you who read my blog can see the menswear collection first. I am still working on the 'menswear department' of my website so here you can see the styles and get the background on the collection.  The inspiration was Somerset Maughan, a writer I fell for last year (especially number one favourite, Of Human Bondage), though it was really this picture by Sutherland that captivated me some time ago and worked its way through into a garment design:

I love the slightly louche relaxed pose and expressions and rather like the Beckett portrait by Richard Avedon, the wrinkles and folds of cloth seem to work together. 

So, I have the jacket here. This is a size 40. This is in the certified organic silver Herringbone.

I found this amazing guy through Neil, my tailor, who is a Savile Row-trained tailor. His basic pattern, or block, is, he told me, on the lines of Gucci, so a slim fitted style that is waisted. It sounded perfect and modern, and we decided to make this semi-fitted. I am tempted to do an uber-fitted suit but we shall leave this for another day (maybe I'll do this for LFW next Feb).

My idea for the jacket was to make something that's not a formal boring tweed jacket. A jacket that's informal, that you can just throw over anything, but that has that quality and texture that feels special and something you'll cherish for a long time. Tweed is very robust and warm so  you can wear it instead of a coat.

However, I couldn't avoid doing a proper smart coat. I wanted something with a 1930's flavour - and young too - that again you could throw over anything and feel you're smart. It's a low-buttoned double-breasted three-quarter length coat. Double breasted is so much funkier if you ask me, without being pretentious. The shorter length I think gives it a more modern and younger appeal.

The last piece in the collection was the gilet. I wanted something that men-who-don't-wear-tweed-jackets might like. Maybe I had my husband in mind, but he's surprised me and wants a jacket. (That's quite a good sign in fact that we might be onto something.) You can wear this over your sweater, just to keep you warm and cosy and look quite cool too. I have quite a lot of imagery of Indian military clothing and civilian clothing and the Nerhu collar looks elegant and chic with and informality. It looks wonderful in this tweed too.

These will be on display in my shop and then online shortly afterwards. Thanks to the nice folk at I Heart Studios for the great photos.

Elena Garcia - heavenly eco-silks in my boutique

I've opened the boutique. We now have my tweeds all in one place. Alongside them is a range of Elena Garcia's heavenly so I just wanted to give my readers a flavour of this work. Elena works primarily with peace-silk and creates evening dresses, smocks and tops that you can layer and pull out to look like something serene and heavenly. She uses real craftsmanship in the detailed handwork like cutwork, shibori dyeing and also felting with organically-reared Blue-Faced Leicester sheep wool. Feast your eyes.

Or, should you be Farnham-way. Come and feel and try on.

Makepiece, Todmorden and My New Shop

Yes I'm opening a SHOP! I've got to know Paula Beaumont who owns the only-eco-fashion-shop this side of Brighton and indeed London, Purity. It happens to be in my nearest town, Farnham. Paula sells brands like People Tree and Kiyuchi in her shop and she wanted to do something more luxurious on her first floor. So, thanks to a series of fortuitous events, it all came together that I'm going to have a kind of concession for my work on her first floor. However, I have always wanted to show other people's work and so I'm going to get in work from other designers who, like me, produce in the UK on an artisan scale, have a strong sustainable credentials and who are also fashion led and luxurious, in a deeper way than 'notable luxury labels'.  Yikes that was a long sentence, 'scuse the grammar just so much to say.

So, with that in mind I scoured the market place for designers who fitted these criteria. It's astonishing how few there are who make in the UK. Making in the UK is important for me for a number of reasons. Firstly there is the much smaller carbon footprint compared to more Fair Trade products which are generally made in countries such as India and Africa. Secondly, there is the connection with the makers and skills which are precious. And finally, it's the small-scale, slow fashion that I want to champion. I can't confirm all the designers til I get my orders in and this will take a while but I'm delighted to have ordered some fabulous knitwear from Makepiece. However, the credentials and the traceability are not enough, I need strong fashion-led clothing that looks stunning.

Makepiece is owned by Beate Kibutz, who I met at London Fashion Week. Beautiful dresses, cardigans, scarves all designed and made in the Penines. So, on my holiday to Yorkshire this August I made a detour to the delightful shop, workshop and even.. I visited the sheep:

  

Not sure about you but I haven't seen many more glamourous shepherdesses in my lifetime. Here is the shop in Todmorden. I recommend a visit.

Beate works alongside her business partner, Nicola, who is the designer. They work with interesting signature knits, which are unique. There is something very special about their approach which is very tightly sustainable from using their own sheep (Shetland) and turning it into yarn and sometime buying in British wool (Blue-faced Leicester), designing and making in-house.. here it is behind the shop:

I'd love to have a workshop out the back of my shop but sadly it's hard to find the skill-set for quality outerwear making and I'm not sure I can lure Neil to South West Surrey, so I shall have to continue to trek up to Edmonton. At least it's not India and China; a trip round the M25 has a lower carbon footprint.

So, lots more news on the shop will be forthcoming, as will the menswear project. Look out for it in the next few posts. In the meantime, I'm very excited about the Makepiece pieces that are being made up as I write. 

West Dean College

I was at Origin last year, the Craft's Council show at Somerset House. This interesting-looking guy stopped at my stand and slowly took it all in. I didn't interrupt and start chatting, as I sometimes do, instead I just let him read and absorb. I should do this more often, I thought. I like to wonder what story people are putting together before I start my story. I fear they might disappear if I don't lure them in with conversation.

So this chap was Robert Pulley from West Dean College. I knew the place, or more the website. I often found myself looking through the course details and wondering which course to do. Funny that the first course I should do is the one I taught. Robert liked my work and thought he'd like me to do something at West Dean. I met Rosemary from the short courses team and we brainstormed. I felt passionately about people knowing how to sew, however basic. People lose their confidence or don't have it to start with and somehow feel powerless. Being able to sew is a gift, and it's not that hard after all. It wasn't about tailoring and steaming ease and so on that you might do with tweed. It's about getting a sewing machine out and having the confidence to use it, to sew a few decent seams that won't come apart and that will even look neat.

So at the end of June - I taught a three day Simple Sewing course at West Dean. We braved the heat and got stuck in. One of the delights about West Dean is that you can stay there. They have lovely rooms. My room looked out over the South Downs.

 

We started off by making bunting. It was a good task to teach basic skills such as seams, pressing, corners,  and finishing off nicely. It was really useful. After this I let students work on their own projects, with the occasional interruption to go through some specific techniques.

West Dean has this atmosphere which is at once a place of excellence and at the same time a relaxed place. There is a nice mixture of full time students and professionals (such as the tapestry studio) and a moving population of people attending short courses.

However, I have to say that the lasting memory for me was wandering around the gardens after supper. As a student or teacher you have the luxury of access to most places. It was breath-taking and exuberant being in full bloom at the height of summer. I am not sure if I loved the famous pergola..

Or the Victorian kitchen gardens with the original greenhouses. There was something romantic but also 'man trying to tame nature' about these trees being invited to grow in a certain way.

I could spend hours there and will certainly be visiting again. In fact, I'm teaching again in March 2010 so I shall have the chance again.

Cheer Fashion Show

Yes it was a month ago... 11th June. A friend of mine, Vonnie, invited me to participate. I've been a little, er, busy, as I got married the week before so was on honeymoon etc etc so now am just getting back in the swing of things. Anyway here are some great pictures... which gives a bit of a preview on the AW 09 collection. This is the best pic I reckon of the Waugh suit in Silver Herringbone. I like this in the platform heels.

This is an interesting take on the Toklas jacket, which I've always thought of a very funky.

 

Of course with being in nuptual frenzy I didn't have time to even look into the Cheer Trust before the event. Fortunately, I've since seen that they do fantastic work, supporting single parents in London. Good on them and it also sounds like they've got a great bunch of people who have excellent fundraising projects like this fashion show.

Hope you like the pictures.