What we learned from Jenny Holloway of Fashion Enter:
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| Jenny and our President Felix |
Cabbage, it turns out, can be something other than a vegetable. Or so the Oxford Fashion Society learned at Friday’s guest speaker event, featuring Jenny Holloway of Fashion Enter. The term refers to when manufacturers make extra garments using your patterns and excess fabric to sell on the sly for their own profit. It is one of the risks, Ms. Holloway warns, entailed in developing one’s own label. Fashion, at the end of the day, is a business. And like any business, requires the ability to assess and navigate the field to become successful. Undertaken alone, the journey can be daunting which is where Ms. Holloway steps in with Fashion Enter, an industry specialist and training provider and Fashion Capital, the leading industry portal for networking.
During her hour presentation, Ms. Holloway provided an overview of her company as well as valuable insight into what goes into the creation of a fashion label. Business acumen, Ms. Holloway is quick to point out, is an important component of the process. This notion was highlighted through her own personal experiences. Her successes, in some ways, stemmed from a combination of skill and of experiences: particularly, of her more trying times. She began her career at Marks & Spencer where she enjoyed a string of successes. However, upon leaving a two-year position in Canada after only four months, Ms. Holloway found herself in a rut and eventually ended up in raincoats. Her discovery of a material called microfiber put her back on the path of success after fighting for the production of coats made of the material and its subsequent commercial success. She attributed her push to use microfiber despite senior opposition to that fact that she felt she was at a point where she had nothing to lose. Her courage to follow through on her convictions, backed with good judgment created a recipe for success.
This motif was echoed throughout her career journey, which eventually led her present creation, Fashion Enter. The lesson drawn from her experiences is that setbacks should be seen as opportunities to try things we would not otherwise do. This should not be done recklessly, but in concert with good business sense, credibility, and timing.
We are excited to continue our experience with Ms. Holloway by attending Profile, a fashion event run by Fashion Enter showcasing 22 emerging designers. She has generously invited Oxford students to the event, which is being held this Thursday at One Marylebone, 1 Marylebone Road, London NW1 4AQ.
So be brave, and come join us!
JP
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