Case Study: Shameless Originals

Shameless Originals offers bespoke fashion design and garment manufacturing services to clients in the local area of Merseyside. The business also provides accessories to match the garments.

Introduction

The business is owned and run by Deborah Payne, who offers high-quality fashion design garments, creating clothing from the finest fabrics and trimmings with exceptional fit. Deborah is a qualified fashion designer who has worked in the industry for more than ten years. She also has received extensive customer service training and is endowed with excellent sales skills. Deborah started test trading late autumn 2005. Initially a range of garments, accessories and jewellery were produced on a one-off basis for direct sale. It was during this period of test trading that a demand for bespoke fashion garments became apparent. The business expanded to provide fashion clothing to clients in their own homes. This mobile design service proved very popular as clients benefited from a service that offered consultations and fittings with a degree of flexibility that suited the busy schedules of potential clients.

Growth

Whilst operating as a mobile designer, the main workroom/office was located at home. As the business started growing there was need for separate business premises. Initially retail premises were researched, but this proved too costly. A medium sized studio proved to be ideal solution. However, after a few months operating from the studio, the business continued to grow steadily and the client base broadened. The business ultimately moved to bigger premises which currently provide a separate consultation area from the modern design and manufacturing room. Currently garments produced by Shameless originals are very popular as these are designed from scratch, as one-offs, to meet the specifications and expectations of individual clients. The business has further progressed to include seasonal designs that are showcased on a stylish and professionally developed website. With this arm of new business unit, clients can order garments but with a bespoke twist that allow them to choose fabrics, colours and trims at liberty.

Market Overview

Deborah researched and found out that the clothing industry in the UK is fast-paced and is constantly growing and evolving. Trends are fuelled by the over-powerful media, which obsessively report on celebrity style and red carpet gowns. Many young women are only too happy to spend their disposable income on the latest trends to possess the most desirable brands. Many items of clothing and accessories are now status symbols. Television programmes such as Sex and the City highlight this fascination with high-end fashion lengthy waiting lists for ‘must have’ handbags and shoes are not uncommon. Deborah researched and found out that the clothing market has displayed steady growth over the past five years on average 5% each year.

Deborah was quick to establish a market niche that brings more benefits by choosing bespoke one-off garment designs. The mass produced clothing of high street stores have a limited choice of special occasion wear, with most people opting for stores such as Monsoon and Coast when in need of a special outfit. In addition, their peg garments only come in standard sizes whereas, Deborah designs clothes that are made to fit. The inevitable situation is that several women in one party would not want to wear identical outfits. Obviously, bespoke garments are more expensive than ready wear and the price structure for Shameless Originals reflects the time taken to produce each individual garment. This also includes time taken for consultations, fittings, fabric sourcing, pattern design and the manufacturing process.

Issues

The business has grown to a point where additional people have to be recruited. In the meantime, Deborah is finding that the responsibilities of the business are overwhelming. There is need to develop further and polish her time management and organisational skills to help her cope with these increased responsibilities.

Legal entity: Sole trader (Owner-Manager, Deborah Payne). Description: Shameless Originals designs and manufactures bespoke one-off garments. Products: Bespoke promotional merchandise. Trading since: 2005. Turnover: £36,000.

Success at Shameless Originals

Shameless Originals has successfully realised high profit margins from targeting professional women with high disposable income. Deborah’s personal experience has revealed that more than 50% of the business income comes from this main thrust of the market niche. Uniquely Shameless Originals offers its clients a range of accessories to compliment their bespoke outfits. Various styles of handbags jewellery, hats and fascinators can all be made to match. Furthermore, Deborah has complemented her market share by targeting students aged between 18 to 26 who want prom gowns and unusual party wear. Targeting these two market niches was done after conducting research, the results of which confirmed that these two age groups spend the highest amount of money on clothing and accounting for a higher percentage of clothing expenditure per annum.

Learning Curve

Deborah believes that small businesses should get advice from qualified business advisors and should not try and do everything on their own. Her advice was that business owners should only focus on what they are good at and source advice from people with special expertise in areas of need. She has received a lot of support from business support agencies that run courses such as bookkeeping, marketing, business planning workshops and many more.