Exchange events put you in touch with brand buyers looking for products just like yours and provide dedicated advice from industry experts to help you grow your business.
Why attend?
• Hear how to get your products stocked by retailers and on marketplaces
• Learn how to engage with your audience
• Hear from industry experts and on how to grow a socially responsible business
• Gain top tips for growing your brand on social media
• Understand how to create a sustainable brand
Agenda
12:00pm: Welcome to The Fashion Exchange!
Hear from Jess Salamanca, your host for the day. Jess will give you a warm welcome to the event and let you know what to expect.
12.30pm: Best channels to build a direct-to-consumer fashion brand
Join the GS1 UK session, to hear from the co-founder of Duco Life and the co-founder of Sante + Wade, who will discuss their experiences of different marketplaces, from traditional high street retail to getting listed on digital platforms.
1.00pm: How to work with wholesale for your fashion brand
Ami Rabheru is a retail business mentor and product strategist. She specialises in teaching product entrepreneurs to build retail brands and pitch and sell into retailers.
Having worked for some of the biggest retailers on the UK high street like M&S, Next and Tesco, Ami left her corporate career six years ago to start her own fashion brand. Ami will join the virtual stage to share how she started her own fashion brand and give her top tips on why you should consider wholesale to build your business!
1.30pm: 10 tips to get your fashion brand featured in the press
Do you want to pitch your fashion brand and products to editors and journalists, but don’t know where to start? Rosie Davies-Smith, founder of PR Dispatch will run through her 10 tips to help get your brand noticed by the press. You’ll walk away with a clearer understanding of the PR process and what you need to kickstart your PR journey.
2.00pm: Building a socially responsible fashion brand
Victoria Jenkins is a multi-award-winning adaptive designer, disability advocate, speaker and writer. With 14 years’ fashion industry experience, she founded Unhidden to address the severe lack of inclusion and representation within the fashion industry. Unhidden is now the leading adaptive retailer in the UK.
In this session, Victoria will be discussing the simple steps people and brands can take to be more inclusive, what socially responsible means and why it’s not all about recycled fabrics.
2.30pm: From take, make and sell to rental, resale and mending: How to be more circular
Lucy Kebbell is a former fashion stylist, turned sustainability advocate, writer and advisor to small businesses. Having worked in luxury fashion editorial for 10 years, Lucy became a freelance fashion stylist and accessories and jewellery editor for Phoenix Magazine. On her quest to live a more sustainable life, she has applied her learnings and beliefs to her work and now writes for her sustainable style platform The Vendeur.
Join Lucy who will be discussing alternative business and revenue models that you can apply to your business and how you can move away from take, make and mending and adapt into a rental, resale and mending approach for your fashion brand.
3.00pm: Support for your fashion brand
Hear from our panel of experts from TSB Bank who will share their expertise and provide you with more information about how they can support you and your business needs.
3.30pm: My journey launching a fashion brand: Gulzhan Namazbaeva, founder of Five Stars Design
Gulzhan Namazbaeva has over 25 years’ of experience in the fashion industry, building a couture fashion business in Moscow, resulting being one of the original houses shown at Moscow fashion week.
Gulzhan began her journey in fashion by daydreaming of beautiful dresses and making clothes for her dolls before finally attending fashion college. Moving from Kazakhstan to Moscow, Gulzhan taught during the day and took on private commissions at night.
Gulzhan will be joining the virtual stage to discuss her journey launching her own fashion brand and to share her experience and advice with you.
4.00pm: How to use social media to engage a small audience
As a creative sales coach, Elizabeth Stiles truly believes that independent brands are the future, so she works with creatives and brand owners who are passionate, purpose-driven and ready to monetise their businesses.
Equipped with over 15 years’ experience in the fashion industry, Elizabeth enables you to grow your business with the expertise to succeed and flourish into the future.
She’ll help to bring your ideas to life, give you a serious confidence boost along the way and share the fundamental practical knowledge that helps to form a financially sustainable small business. In this session, Elizabeth will share how you can really engage with your audience on social media – no matter what the size.
4.30pm: Meet the fashion buyer
Join us on the main stage to hear from a fashion buyer, who will share with you what they’re looking for in a brand, trends to look out for in 2022 and how to get your products listed.
More information on the buyer and how to apply coming soon!
4.45pm: Meet Clare Alexandra, the fashion brand consultant
Hear from Clare, a fashion brand consultant with a passion for small businesses! With 25 years industry experience, working on the supplier & manufacturing side with everyone from Topshop to Temperley, to wholesale sales and finally to working for small brands such a Millie Mackintosh, Clare has a true 360 take on the fashion industry and how to support startups grow and scale their business.
5.10: Let’s network
Join us at our roundtable for a virtual glass of wine or anything else to finish the day for an informal discussion to reflect, share, connect and exchange tips on how to grow your fashion brand and optimise your product data to increase online visibility.
About Enterprise Nation
Enterprise Nation is the UK’s most active small business network, helping thousands of people turn their good idea into a great business. Join today to get everything you need to start and grow your small business, in one place.
We are excited to invite you back to more exchange events, coming up this year. Whilst we get to work, take a look at previous exchange events, here.
If you have any questions, please email events@enterprisenation.com