E
-commerce, once just a nifty feature for traditional bricks and mortar retailers, has gone on to transform the fashion industry forever. In the last few years we have seen e-commerce evolve from a new wave idea to a relentless digital tsunami, ripping through the rag trade and devastating any retailer who thinks they can continue to function offline.
With the UK fashion industry now worth £21 billion to the British economy, both small and large retailers across the nation who want to survive need to understand how integral an e-commerce platform is to their business, particularly if they want to compete on a global scale. This sea change has meant that fashion houses are even abandoning physical shop fronts, existing solely online and reaping monumental success as a result. These are exciting times for retailers, as long as they can keep up.
One particular fashion retailer that moved fast in the midst of a digital revolution is Sarah Curran, founder of my-
wardrobe.com, one of the UK’s fastest growing fashion e-commerce businesses. I met Sarah at a recent Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) event in London and she kindly agreed to tell Entrepreneur Country her story on how her business went from a small boutique in North London to a global brand with over 100 employees, filling the gap of affordable, luxury clothing online. Sarah begins by telling me a little about her life before embarking on her path of entrepreneurship in the world of digital fashion.
“I began my career as soon as I left school at 18,” says Curran, “my father started his own business and I grew up with him working 24/7 to make it a success. I worked in his office during the school holidays and would save up my earnings to buy a new blouse or jacket. I guess this instilled a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit from an early age.
“I also remember a teacher at school telling the class that we could achieve anything we believed in. That has always stuck with me.”
Whilst business acumen was in her genes, Sarah intially took a keen interest in journalism, briefly taking on the role of sub-editor at the Times. However, Sarah hadn’t forgotten vital business lessons learnt when working with her father, departing from the newspaper group to set out on her first entrepreneurial venture in 2003, launching fashion boutique ‘Powder’ in North London. The shop was a success, primarily due to a bespoke, intimate shopping experience that Sarah encouraged from day one, but it was a move to France with her husband that opened up the possibility of venturing online.
“I first noticed that something was occurring in the world of online fashion whilst I was at The Times,” says Curran. “Then when I moved to France I attempted to shop on the internet for designer items and there were so few online choices and I could see that there was a gap in the market.”
Sarah also observed that there needed to be a friendly online 10
entrepreneurcountry
fashion destination that replicated the in-store experience, as a well a middle ground between ASOS, which stocks fast, high street fashion, and Net-a-Porter, providing luxury, high-end clothing. Including the fact that it was logistically impossible opening up more physical stores in the UK when based in another country, my-wardrobe was born. “My husband Andrew and I decided to name the business my- wardrobe as I wanted to build a global brand that women all over the the world could be loyal to. From our kitchen we launched the site in April 2006, doing the buying, styling, photography, editorial, packing and customer service. Within three months my-wardrobe was outperforming the sales of Powder.”
Sarah and her husband then sold their house in France as well as Powder to fund the growth of my-wardrobe. “It was a low point putting our financial security on the line but it did make me get up every day and work as hard as possible to make the business a success.” Sarah tells me this included refining the customer experience and taking on board lessons learnt when running Powder, such as attention to detail, which included a customer service adviser for buyers to call in place of a generic email. “A new learning curve for me when opening an online store was the great deal of persuasion involved when liaising with brands, who still couldn’t understand how the luxury experience could be replicated online.
“My belief and passion are definitely my strengths”
“Another important lesson was seeing the amount of returns we were getting and taking it personally, until I realised that when people shop online, their bedroom becomes the changing room and customers were simply trying pieces on before deciding on their purchase.”
These intial learnings when moving from a physical store to online proved invaluable for Sarah and her team, and due to constantly refining and understanding a new way to sell fashion to consumers, my-wardrobe now boasts exponential increases in profit month on month.
“My belief and passion are definitely my strengths,” says Sarah, “I have always believed my-wardrobe could become a global brand and our focus for the business over the next 10 years is driving our international growth. We have an exciting future ahead.”
Since bringing the business to the UK my-wardrobe has continued to experience rapid growth, with over 1.4 million global visitors every month, a base in Notitngham, a HQ in North London and international offices in Australia, Middle East and Scandinavia. The team have received a plethora of awards, including Best Customer Experience at the Drapers
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