Launching a Luxury Fashion label

Striking and sophisticated with a slightly gothic edge, Hannah Marshall is a great advertisement for 'going it alone' in the fashion industry. Since setting up her luxury womenswear label her ascent has been a steady rise-and-rise. In her own words Hannah describes the trajectory that brought her from Colchester School of Art and Design to the catwalks of Paris, London and Milan.

I graduated from Colchester School of Art & Design in 2003 and soon after graduating I was head-hunted by NESTA (The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) to participate in the first ever Creative Pioneer Programme (http://www.nesta.org.uk/programmes/creative_pioneers/). It was one of the most intense experiences of my career so far, but it gave me excellent grounding and a real understanding of the importance of innovation. I was also amongst other creative entrepreneurs within science, technology and creative industries so it acted as the perfect sounding board for my ideas – this was particularly valuable becuase at 21 years old I was the youngest on the programme.

I then secured funding from NESTA to carry out some Research & Development prior to starting my luxury womenswear label. The journey involved over 12 months of research – including market research and developing my skills through working with various designers and attending further specialist business courses such as those at the Portobello Business Centre (http://www.pbc.co.uk/). Here I learnt the specifics about the industry – and things that a general business course won’t teach you.

After carefully planning and preparing myself for the fashion world, I officially launched my luxury womenswear label with a capsule collection of just 12 black dresses for Autumn/Winter 2007-08 ‘Quiet Noise’ during London Fashion Week in February 2007. I exhibited at On|Off at the Royal Academy of Arts which was the perfect place to show. On|Off is a fantastic initiative that supports both established and new emerging designers all under one roof. It was a very daunting experience as I had no idea how my collection would be perceived. But – on the first morning of the exhibition I actually took my first order from TAD in Italy. They ordered the collection for both their stores in Milan and Rome. So – this inevitably gave me the confidence for the week.

Shortly after this I was taken on by renowned sales agent Rainbowwave who now represent my label for sales and hold my collection in their London and Paris showroom over fashion week, they also represent labels such as Marios Schwab, Erdem and Cacharel. I also took on Iroquois Public Relations to handle my PR, as a new designer it’s difficult to do everything yourself and as I’m based outside of London it is vital to have a central PR such as Iroquois as they are able to deal with the UK and International press on a day to day basis, as well as bike out those last minute press requests!

I was recently awarded with New Generation sponsorship from TOPSHOP and the British Fashion Council. In order to be awarded with NewGen, the Spring/Summer 2008 collection ‘VoID’ underwent the renowned scrutiny of a panel including industry members such as Yasmin Sewell (former head womenswear buyer at Browns), Melanie Rickey (Grazia magazine) and Sarah Mower (contributor to American Vogue).

To be part of New Gen is a fantastic mark of distinction, and proves that I am been taken seriously as a designer. It has also given me a huge stepping stone to a wide network of fashion and business contacts such as UK and International buyers and press. I am now selling to stores such as TAD in Milan and Rome, Scoop in NYC, Soho Soho in Greece, ninaandlola.com and my-wardrobe.com and have been featured in magazines such as British Vogue, Grazia and American ELLE.

Useful Links:

ON | OFF - http://www.thedoll.org/onoff/

New Generation - http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/application.asp