Your Business: Fashion focused with Kate Sylvester

Fashion designer Kate Sylvester.

When fashion designer Kate Sylvester opened her doors for business 21 years ago the fashion landscape looked entirely different, she says, with the outlook focused firmly on the local market.

For Sylvester, the turning point came in the late 1990s, when a handful of New Zealand designers were invited to show at Sydney Fashion Week for the first time.

"That transformed our industry. Prior to showing at Sydney Fashion Week I'd gone to Sydney once to try to show our clothes to some stores and I couldn't even get anyone to come along and take a look. As far as the Australians were concerned we were just a bunch of farmers and the concept of fashion coming out of New Zealand was ludicrous," she says.

"But when we were able to put on shows in Sydney, they realised we were actually very creative and were creating beautiful clothes. That changed Australian attitudes to New Zealand brands and that's enabled us to grow."

The Kate Sylvester business is no longer small - now employing around 30 staff. She says building a great team and instituting robust systems are keys to handling growth.

Designer Trish Peng, creative director or her eponymous custom-made evening and bridal gown business, launched her label in 2012 while still a fashion student. She's had global ambitions from the start.

"My ultimate dream is to be like Vera Wang - to build an empire with a full couture range of evening, bridal, ready-to-wear and other product lines," she says.

Peng's first move after graduation was to spend all of last year living in LA and New York and gaining experience through the likes of working in the social media team at New York Fashion Week and in the evening wear department of iconic New York department Store Saks Fifth Avenue.

"It was about trying to open some doors," she says, "as that's where I would like to take my brand as there are more opportunities there, especially with red carpet events."

Laurinda Sutcliffe, the designer and co-founder of fashion brand Loobie's Story, launched the firm's first collection in early 2010 in both the Australian and New Zealand markets.

"We knew we needed both markets to reach the minimums required to manufacture in China and to achieve some economies of scale," she explains.

Sutcliffe has a wealth of experience in the industry; she started Loobie's Story after being made redundant from her role as creative director at fashion label High Society, where she'd held a long tenure.

The biggest change she's seen in the industry has come in recent years, following the global financial crisis, which she says has created the most challenging business environment she's experienced.

But there's still opportunity to be had. In Australia, for example, the company has gone from selling in two states, to all, with Loobie's Story now sold in 130 stores there. She says her biggest challenge - and surely a nice one to have - is keeping up with growth.

"We started the company in a spare room in our house, showing the range to retailers out of our living room, but we moved fairly quickly into the office suite where we are now. But after two years we're having to move again to bigger premises and we've taken on extra staff."

Fashion focused - Kate Sylvester

What were your ambitions when you first started in business 21 years ago?

We didn't really have a clear idea where we were going with the business. I was about 24 years old and all Wayne [Sylvester's husband and business partner Wayne Conway] and I knew was we wanted to make clothes, be creative and have our own business.

It was such a different industry back then. We started with one little store and I sewed all the clothes, and we just opened the door and said 'lets see what happens'.

You now have around 30 staff. What factors have helped your growth?

There was a pivotal thing that changed the New Zealand fashion industry as I see it. Around 1996 or 1997 Sydney Fashion Week started up and invited some New Zealand designers to go over and show there, and we were one of the brands that participated.

That transformed our industry. Prior to showing at Sydney Fashion Week I'd gone to Sydney once to try to show our clothes to some stores and I couldn't even get anyone to come along and take a look. As far as the Australians were concerned we were just a bunch of farmers and the concept of fashion coming out of New Zealand was ludicrous.

But when we were able to put on shows in Sydney, they realised we were actually very creative and were creating beautiful clothes. That changed Australian attitudes to New Zealand brands and that's enabled us to grow - Australia's now our biggest market. Sydney Fashion Week also started to bring down international stores to look at both Australian and New Zealand brands and the whole concept you could be global grew out of that event.

So is that the biggest change you've seen in the industry since you started?

The key difference is when we started out it was totally just a little local market. There was no global reach at all. And that worked both ways because all the manufacturing was done onshore. Now we operate globally at both ends of the spectrum - manufacturing and sales.

What have been your biggest challenges as you've grown your business?

When you do begin to grow the key challenge is to build a really good team around you. What's really important is it's not just about the staff you directly employ; its also about building a great support network around your business.

Neither Wayne or I have any business training so we learnt through trial and error. It's about learning from your mistakes and when you find people who you can trust and rely on, make sure you make the most of those relationships. We've always had really good relationships with the guys at RCM and Zambesi, who we've relied on as peers to help us. We've also had a couple of lawyers and accountants who have been amazingly supportive and mentored us as business people.

Knowing how important it's been to have good people around us, it's a privilege to be in a position now to give that back and help other new businesses starting up.

I'd say another challenge has been ensuring you have really good systems in place so you don't jeopardise your quality. You need systems of control as you grow to ensure you do it at a standard you'd expect.

Kate Sylvester is one of four high profile entrepreneurs offering one-on-one mentoring sessions with a handful of small Kiwi businesses as part of the Building Smarter Business project in conjunction with 2Degrees.

Coming up in Small Business: How do you figure out what to pay yourself as the owner of a business? What are some of the different guidelines you've used and why? If you've got a story to tell on the topic, drop me a note: nzhsmallbusiness@gmail.com.