From Concept to Closet: The Journey of Our Autumn Collection
For fashion lovers, trendsetters, and those who simply enjoy refreshing their wardrobes, the arrival of a new season is always filled with excitement and anticipation. What’s new? What are the hot colours? What pieces are 'must-haves' for the season? As we dive into our favourite autumn season, we wanted to take you behind the scenes and share the entire process of how we bring our stunning collection to life—from start to finish.
It's a process that starts long before the autumn chill hits. In fact, the journey begins the previous autumn, and takes us across the globe before everything finally lands at our Cheltenham base, ready to launch in September at Blenheim.
The Start of It All
The autumn range you see in September actually begins taking shape 11 months earlier, in the prior October. While we don’t follow trends directly, it’s essential for us to predict with a fair degree of accuracy what will be hot in the fashion world. With our extensive experience and a lot of research, we’re able to anticipate upcoming trends and colour palettes, so we can bring you designs that hit the mark every time.
We’re also keen listeners. By gathering feedback from our customers, we identify best-sellers, popular styles, and colour preferences. We keep an eye on fast-selling items and use all this data to shape the new range.
Then, in late October, the fun begins! The creative process kicks off with sketching, fuelled by those exciting new colour charts for the coming season. We pull together ideas from fashion blogs, images, and any potential trims that catch our eye. The kitchen table quickly turns into a sea of sketches, papers, and inspiration. It might look chaotic, but in this "creative mayhem," the seeds of our new collection start to take root. Over time, we narrow it down to a cohesive, well-balanced selection of designs that we’re proud to showcase.
The Middle: Turning Designs into Reality
By November, we’re ready to collaborate with our incredible supplier in Beijing. As a smaller brand, travelling isn’t always feasible. Thanks to advances in technology, we now send our designs remotely, along with detailed instructions for how we want the samples made.
Though remote work can be tricky, our long-standing relationship with Jerry and his team, has made the process much smoother. Over the years, they've come to understand our aesthetic and the vibe of our brand, which allows us to be part of the creative process, even from afar. We’ve been lucky, and so far, things have turned out just as we envisioned—no major hiccups!
After the hustle and bustle of the holidays, January brings a party of its own—when the samples for the new Autumn Collection finally arrive. There's nothing quite like seeing your ideas come to life for the first time. There’s a lot of excitement, running around, and trying on clothes in our design “lab” (the kitchen!).
January also brings the more challenging side of things: cost negotiations. As a small brand, we don’t have the negotiating power of big names that order in the thousands, but that’s part of what makes us unique. We work hard to get great prices so we can offer amazing value to you, our loyal customers. We also have the fun of the photoshoot, making sure we capture our collection with images and video that will go on our website, social media posts and the Lookbook that we send to the boutiques.
As spring starts to emerge, we begin placing orders for the website and the independent boutiques that stock our brand. There’s also a lot of travel involved as we seek new ways to increase brand awareness and expand our reach. While it means lots of nights in budget hotels, it’s all worth it when we see how excited people are about the new collection.
By May, the final orders are placed—both for our own stock and for the boutiques—and then... it’s just a matter of waiting.
The End: The Collection Is Here!
August rolls around, and while summer might have come and gone (did it even arrive?), we finally receive the new Autumn Collection! It’s always worth the wait to see the finished product looking fabulous and ready to go.
Now, the real work begins. We start packaging up all the wholesale orders—usually surrounded by boxes and boxes of beautiful cashmere goodness, with the living room floor acting as our workspace. Once everything’s packed, it’s off to the post office for a mammoth dispatch.
From September to January, we’re in full-swing sales mode! We attend various events, sell face-to-face to our customers, and gather valuable feedback. Our website is up and running, showcasing the full collection where you can shop till you drop!
We hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at our journey from concept to closet. It’s a labor of love, and we couldn’t do it without your support.
Debz & Nicky xx