If there’s anyone you should be taking notes from when it comes to understanding what it takes to launch and run your own fashion line right now, it’s Charlie May. Despite a short stint working for designer Thomas Tait, May has been working solo on her eponymous line pretty much from the beginning.
While it’s only relatively recently that designers have finally caught up to the power of social media, it’s something the 26 year-old had mastered way back in 2010, when she set up her blog Girl a la Mode as a visual scrapbook while finishing of her graduate collection at the University of West England.
But May isn’t just another blogger-turned-designer though – a career in design was always the plan. Instead, she’s cleverly used the blog as a platform to give her audience a greater insight into her aesthetic. The fact that her images on Instagram are one of the biggest sales drivers to her e-commerce site is a case in point.
Since launching her line five years ago, fans have been able to follow her from fashion student and intern to a designer at the helm of her own label as she does it all, from designing each and every collection and collaboration, to managing everything from PR, stockists, production and everything in between. Here she tells the top five things she learnt from setting up on her own. Take notes:
Social media is everything: When it comes to customer knowledge and brand power, social media is key. It’s the best and only way that potential customers and stockists are going to hear about your business from your own unique voice. It’s given me the opportunity to have a really international voice; which is something that smaller labels struggle to achieve without international PR offices.
Make sure you create your own content: Social media, especially Instagram, can seem like it should be a quick unimportant thing but I dedicate a few hours each day to creating my own content for the channel. This will set you apart from all the Instagramers just reposting inspirational imagery, which can look pretty but there are so many accounts doing that now so it’s important to set yourself apart as a leader. There are plenty of photo editing apps out there too: my favourites are VSCO cam, Snapseed and Afterlight.
Be social when it comes to business: It took me a long time to realise that being in business really means being friends with those you work with and being social is key. I was quite shy in the beginning and hired a PR company to do the work that actually comes naturally when you have the confidence in what you’re building. My PR is now in-house and I find that people react so much better to me reaching out personally and taking then for out for coffee.
It takes time to sew seeds when it comes to new stockists and new press contacts: You need to meet with people and put it in their ear so to speak. Make the effort to go to them and a few seasons down the line you’ll see that they’ll helpful and on your side.
Cash flow is everything: Especially when it comes to running a fashion label. Don’t think that you can do it alone. A part time job on the side to start with is a must and even now I work on a lot of freelance projects to help fund the difficult periods of the business, especially in between seasons. Problems with cash flow are the easiest thing to ruin a business in its early stages (1-5 years). It’s a big headache but just be really careful and always be aware of what’s going out and coming in at all times.