BUYER PROFILE
Editor, Cheryl Taylor, talks to Nicola Jacobs, Footwear Buying Manager, Debenhams.
Tell us a bit about your background? I originally came from a clothing background and spent 12 years at John Lewis in their young fashion area ‘Trend’ buying offices. I left there to help start up the clothing range at LK Bennett in 2000, but then very quickly got the shoe bug and moved into their footwear buying after 6 months. I stayed at LK Bennett for 3 years and developed an absolute passion for footwear and learnt the trade working in Spanish & Italian factories. I moved from LK Bennett to Dune to enter the younger more fashion led footwear market and was there for 3 ½ years, moving to Faith in 2006 and ending up as Head of Buying. I have now been at Debenhams for 7 months.
Which particular footwear brands do you like and why? From the high street we have lost many solus footwear brands over the last few years, but of those remaining I think Office do a great job and have never strayed from who their target customer is. At designer level Laboutin is a footwear genius and the finish and make on his shoes is exquisite.
What are the big trends for the season? For AW10 it is again all about the boot, but this season sees the ankle boot really coming into its own. This trend had been around since last AW and has transferred into SS10 with summer ankle boots becoming a key fashion look. For AW10 there will be every conceivable look from wedges, hiker boots, lace ups and fur trims galore. Another emerging trend is the return of the court shoe, platforms are down trending which will lead to ‘wearable’ beautifully cut single soled courts on various heel heights but amongst these the key styling being the kitten heel. Also men’s styling, the brogue has now been around for a while, but has now become far more main stream and this will lead to more men’s treatments emerging i.e. loafers etc. Both courts and loafers will solve the footwear issue of what to wear between coming out of your sandals and before you go into boots, with the only real solution before being flat pumps.
What’s going up / what’s going down? Going up are wedges, hiker boots, fur trims, court shoes, loafers, cleated soles. Down are platforms, studding, over the knee boots, decadent decoration.
How do you select products – what criteria do you use / what are your customers looking for? I currently buy for 10 separate brands, which is about to grow to 14, therefore it is vital that we have completely individual handwriting and looks for each label. Within those brands we cater for every age and level of fashion awareness, from our ‘Good For The Sole’ contemporary comfort footwear to ‘Red Herring’ which is our young fashion label and then onto our various Designer collaborations.
T -Bar Sandals Cream Lace Up Brogues
We work long and hard on identifying the customer needs for each of our brands and from there plan the price architecture and looks that we believe would suit the customer’s lifestyle. We build the look first and then break this down into types of footwear i.e. pumps/courts/sandals and boots, our designers then come up with a range of footwear which we then source out to our supplier base. As each of our brands has clothing associated ranges we also work closely with women’s clothing and other accessory areas so that our footwear also compliments their outfits, to make the customers life as easy as possible when looking for footwear to complete the look.
What’s the next big thing for Debenhams in terms of shoes? What are you most excited about? We have put a big focus on footwear and AW10 will be my first collection for Debenhams so I’m excited (and slightly nervous!!) to see how we have moved the range on. We have really channelled into the successes we have seen out of the last couple of seasons and have grown our ‘Mantaray’ and ‘Good For The Sole’ collections to go to all of our outlets on bigger space. We are now comfortable that we are in a position to sell high fashion with the launch of Henry Holland collection this summer and this has given us further confidence within our own high fashion ranges within ‘Red Herring’. We have some great new designer collaborations about to come on board, with a Matthew Williamson shoe collection launching soon, Ben de Lisi in October and some other great names which are work in progress…watch this space!
What is your favourite pair of Debenhams shoes? Very hard to narrow it down to one pair! But from our current SS10 collection I love the John Rocha lace-up flat gladiator and from our AW10 range it would have to be one of our hiker & fur ankle boots….but hard to choose just one, I’ll be buying them all!!!
Have you always had a passion for footwear? I have always personally loved shoes, but my real passion started when I got involved with the shoe collection at LK Bennett. Shoes for me are unlike any other product and once you’re involved with them it’s in the blood, I can’t imagine buying any other product area!
How many pairs of shoes do you own? Impossible to say…currently in use about 60 pairs, but in storage…who knows (that’s my little secret)!!
Which Fashion/Shoe Shows do you attend? Pure London and Micam.
Contact Debenhams plc Tel: 020 7408 4444 Rose Detail Sandals Purple & Y ellow Zip
22 • FOOTWEAR TODAY
• SEPTEMBER 2010
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