Attire Accessories - Mar/Apr 2018 (Issue 69)

98 ATTIRE vibrant city of Brighton and yet still close to London. We are both originally from this area and have been friends for years, which makes working together a blast! Dominique’s extensive experience in the fashion industry and creative mind works perfectly alongside Liz’s brilliant business head and love of fashion! How has the product offering changed since you started and how would you describe your current collection? Our very first range was all fabric, this then evolved to combine fabric and leather, and now all leather. We began with three styles, our popular Kennedy, a roomy beach bag, is a great example of a large bag not compromising style. The Lexi, a super stylish everyday holdall, feels effortless to wear and the Madison, a stylish yet super simplistic tote. We have since designed the smaller Liberty, a cute cross body style, and finally the Harlem, a beautiful soft structured clutch. Our S/S range is a mixture of bright and bold with stylish metallic and manipulated denims to create a sophisticated range with an edge. How often do you launch new lines? As this is our first year in business the plan is to launch two ranges per year A/W and S/S with the possibility of some high summer items. Our core styles will run throughout the year, giving our customer a wonderful range to choose from. What are your current best selling designs? We are super excited about our Kennedy, which has proven to be extremely popular across all colourways and we are already working on new designs and colours for high summer. When was the website launched and how does it support the business? The website launched at the end of October 2017 and was initially a showcase for our products. However, we will be launching our ecommerce site in early February. What have been the key milestones in the business? Taking the leap and going into business in the first place. Choosing the name was also a big milestone! Setting up the website, deciding to do a trade fair and being accepted into Spotted at Top Drawer have also been key steps along the way. How do you view the current market and what trends, both in business and product do you see emerging over the coming months? We believe people are looking for something a little bit different, a product that will last through many seasons. We want to move away from the disposable and create a collection that will become better with age.The beauty of our denim styles is they get better with each wash and use, just as one’s favorite pair of jeans or the old leather chair that was passed down through the family. Do you have any thoughts on how Brexit will affect your business? It was always our intention to create a British brand and Brexit has just served to enforce this for us. All our products are currently manufactured in the UK and we plan for it to stay that way. Our aim is to become a recognised brand within the industry in the UK and abroad, but at this stage it is very difficult to double guess what will happen post Brexit. What are your future plans for the business? We aim to become a recognised brand in boutiques across the UK. We have some exciting plans for the future including developing the range to include other accessories. Watch this space! Is there anything else you would like to add? We are very excited about HOPEFUL and the products we are offering. We are delighted to have the opportunity to share our brand and look forward to seeing what the future holds! We are also so excited that online site emmaandlouise.com will be stocking our bags, which will probably be around the same time as our ecommerce site goes live. A Contact Something Hopeful +44 (0)7979 694 771 somethinghopeful.com