Q&A
Q: Tell us about some of your latest key product ranges?
Caroline Sheppard: Both XTI and Carmela offer two collections per year. The ranges include a “wardrobe collection” offering shoes, boots, sandals, slippers and
wellies, depending on the season. We also offer a collection of handbags which sit alongside the ranges.
We have 12 designers based in Spain who collaborate to produce collections which offer a fashion story with unparalleled comfort, whilst delivering excellent margins for our customers. We have numerous certifications under AMFORI & Carbon Footprint standards and quality standards in ethical practices, environmental protection and human rights. Our key product ranges for AW24 are our sheep skin ranges – which are selling in alongside my ath-leisure range, called Original Creator, and our western boots; these have a fantastic play on feminine handwriting whilst using metallic and leather combos. Feedback from our retail buyers has been extremely encouraging; they tell us “as soon as their customer becomes a Carmela customer they come back in at the start of the following season to see what’s in the next collection”. We are known as a “wardrobe staple brand” offering the customer a chance to “buy once and buy right”.
Q: The brand continues to grow in the UK market, how will you build on that for 2024? CS: Season upon season we are growing our client base. We are already a very popular brand in Ireland and the UK is now catching up. With the growth of online retail we are finding that our bricks and mortar businesses are looking for more help trading online. As a result, we have been working in partnership with Modular Commerce, which provides expert support for
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every aspect of a company’s online journey. We found that last season with the support of XTI B2B we were able to repeat multiple times throughout the season. Product has always been King and once we understand very early in the season what our best sellers are, we are able to repeat on these very quickly. I had a customer last season who repeated 14 times on one white leather boot style!
Q: How are you finding the footwear sector in general? With the cost-of-living crisis and consumers cutting back generally, how do you ensure your brands remain relevant and appealing to consumers in this tough climate? CS: It is so important for us to remain relevant and appealing to consumers in this tough climate. We have found it is all about style, price and quality. Some of my retailers have made the difficult decision to “trade down on their RRPs from other middle-market brands”. Carmela gives them the opportunity to deliver style and comfort at more affordable prices. We have leather ankle boots with built-in comfort retailing at less than £100 for AW24 and this is also helping us to gain more clients.
Q: How do you engage with your end consumer via your retail partners and other channels? CS: I really enjoy going back to the shop floor and selling. Whilst in store I will quite often jump
in and help sell – I’ve also been known to do this whilst on holiday and I’m just “popping in” to see a customer! I also enjoy offering to help at season launches in customers’ stores and this gives me invaluable insights into how my brands are performing against our competitors.
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