Ok, so I’m no Alan Sugar, and I’m not even going to pretend like I know what those mythical ‘city folk’ do day in day out, but for some reason this week I have been absolutely craving to know all about the business of fashion. And by this I mean the down right nitty-gritty. Not the models, not the clothes so to speak. But how these companies handle their cold, hard cash.
I think this fascination has stemmed from finally picking up a copy of Drapers Record that is usually tossed around my office still in its packaging. And this appears to have led to me not being frightened to look a the ‘grown-ups’ section in the back of the evening standard a.k.a the finance pages…shudder. But lo and behold, it looks like there is a valid reason why they put those extra pages in.
This week has seen Mulberry, for one, hit a 358% profit rise. 358%!!! And it’s apparently all down to two names; ‘Alexa’ and ‘Bayswater’, and the fact that even though we are still technically in a recession, it looks like we still want to spend, but just on established and well crafted goods. And apparently Chung’s name isn’t putting anyone off…who’d have thought it. Not only this, but Prada are tipped to float on the Hong Kong market (ok here is where my knowledge of technical terms gets hazy…but hey its only my third day swotting up) as well as expanding in Asia with up to 80 new outlets!!! And if that isn’t enough, Ted Baker apparently scored points worldwide, with a 15% increase in sales in the past few months.
So, turns out I may yet get the knack for this biz, and maybe I will become the Alanah Sugar of the fashion world. ..maybe.
