For some, it’s a ‘soulless’ way to buy clothes. For others, it’s a fast and convenient alternative to hitting the high street. As online fashion sales continue to soar, two successful fashion entrepreneurs explain why they’re on different sides of the fence.
Claudia Sebire launched her self-named boutique on the Fulham Road in London 25 years ago. She has been reluctant to sell online until now because it lacks the personal touch and tailored advice her clients crave.
"When I first came to London, I found shopping really depressing. I couldn’t understand why there weren’t any boutiques offering nice clothes and good customer service. I had the money and I was young but, invariably, I could never find what I was after. And I thought ‘Surely someone could do this better?’ So I decided to try.
In Germany, there are boutiques like mine virtually everywhere. They know their clients. And that’s how things are at my boutique now. My clients are mainly professionals – doctors, lawyers, bankers, management consultants – and many of them have been with me since the beginning.
These women are driven and successful in their chosen field, but they’re also strapped for time, so tend to buy things at airports or weird cities around the world when a sudden need arises. Like, they’ve been asked to a cocktail party and don’t have a cocktail dress, so they have to find one fast. It adds up to a lot of expensive mistakes.
I always say to clients recommended to me, come in for a chat and a look around. It’s about chemistry and gelling - until I meet someone, how can I know their exact style? Once we do get to know each other though, they only have to give me 2.5 hours and we’ve sorted out their entire wardrobe for the season or the year. If you’re trawling around the shops by yourself, that amount of time is not going to get you far!
“I suppose I care that there’s nobody there to guide and accessorise these women online! I also used to think of it as a lonely way of shopping” – Claudia Sebire
This is what worried me about selling online initially. My clients come to me, I dress them and they get lots of compliments. That’s because we make sure they get it right, by keeping them on trend in a classic, contemporary way.
With online shopping, I have no control over what happens when these women buy something, unpack it and think it’s right when it’s not. Also, about 75 per cent of what I sell needs alterations, like sleeves being slightly too long on jackets or coats or trousers needing taking in on the centre back. With online, that’s a lot of coats and trousers going out unaltered.
I suppose I care that there’s nobody there to guide and accessorise these women online! I also used to think of it as a lonely way of shopping. When clients come here, they have a coffee or a drink and it’s a social thing. By the time they leave, I’ve done my best for them and they know that.
But my father always taught me that if you don’t go forward in business, you go backwards. So I’ve jumped over my shadow on this one and start selling a small, edited collection of jersey dresses, accessories, knitwear and shirts online from next month. I’ll just style them in a way that makes it easy for women to buy.
It’s time to introduce our clothes to new people. And if everyone else is sending clothes all around the countryside then, as the largest supplier of brands like Strenesse Gabriele Strehle and MarcCain, I owe it to my business and theirs to join in."
In December, Roberta Benteler launched Avenue 32, the online e-tailer set to rival Net A Porter, Browns and Matches. She says it offers consumers something different and makes fashion more flexible for everyone.
"I always wanted to go into fashion. But we have a family business and my father said to me ‘Do whatever you like but please study business and finance so that you have a basic skill set to either go into the family business or start your own one day’.
I did a degree and Masters in finance, then went into Asset Management. But, while I learnt a lot, I knew it wasn’t for me. The finance industry is incredibly specialised. Everyone does their bit but you rarely oversee a whole project.
Working long hours in finance did mean I became a fan of online shopping though. I loved the fact that you could do it from the comfort of your own home at any time of the day or night, that you could navigate collections quickly and streamline what you were looking for. It’s such a convenient way to browse.
I was living in New York in 2009 when the investment market went quiet and thought ‘Maybe this is the time to change’. So I took a step back from finance and, because I wasn’t really sure what route to take with fashion, worked with a designer friend for six months to learn more about the industry.
In my view, the fashion world is very rigid. You have these six-month cycles where everyone does their buying well in advance and then the market is closed and nothing can change. It made me realise I wanted to start a fashion business offering people something different.
What I felt was missing online was somewhere you could discover new things. So I set up Avenue 32 - a high end fashion website selling designer clothes and accessories, featuring fashion editorial and giving people access to cutting edge international labels.
“Even my mother’s generation shop online now and enjoy that” - Roberta Benteler
The ‘soulless’ tag some people attach to online shopping comes from it having been purely ‘transactional’ until now. With Avenue 32, we offer editorial that engages our consumer, including lots of information on the designers we stock which people spend time delving into.
We also wanted to make the experience better for the designers. Here, they can divert stock to us mid-season and add or take away items as they see fit. They also earn better margins because we take a commission on sales rather than buying the clothes at wholesale prices.
Online shopping is becoming bigger today because people are more trusting of it and used to the idea. People may start off by buying something small from our site but once they trust us, they’ll often buy brands they haven’t bought or perhaps come across before.
The key is excellent customer service. If delivery is prompt, returns are easy and people know they’ll get their money refunded, they’ll buy and enjoy trying on their purchases in the comfort of your own home. Even my mother’s generation shop online now and enjoy that.
It offers everyone more freedom, and I think a lot of people haven’t fully realised how beneficial that is yet. As a business, the minute you go offline, your style is set in stone. We want to remain flexible."
By Barbara Walshe
