In talks with Fashion Angel founder

Fashion Angel, a new business devoted to mentoring, networking and business funding for both new and established fashion industry launched during this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week. Fashion Angel seeks to challenge the

high failure rate of designer and SME businesses in part due to the lack of business skills, entrepreneurial training and under investment by providing specialist mentoring and support from a collective of industry professionals. FashionUnited caught up with founder Alison Lewy on her progression from Commercial Director at the Fashion and Textile Museum to setting up a niche business.

How

did the idea for Fashion Angel come about?
Whilst I was the Commercial Director of the Fashion and Textile Museum I noticed there was a constant demand from graduates, new and more established fashion designers and entrepreneurs looking for help in three main areas. They needed access to industry specific expertise to help start or grow their businesses, they often felt isolated as were working alone, and they found it extremely difficult to attract external investment. With the reduction in public funded support programmes including the closure of most Business Link activity, I felt this was the perfect time to set up an organisation that offered solutions to these issues.

Can you talk me through some of the areas you are tackling?
There is traditionally a lack of business and entrepreneurial skills present within design businesses so we offer a few different levels of support. The most intense is our one to one mentoring which initially runs over six months, where we develop a bespoke programme tailored to the needs of the individual business. During the six months they will have access to the fashion angel team of industry professionals who collectively have a vast range of expertise in strategic and business planning, product development, production, branding, PR, finance etc. The fashion angel team all run their own businesses in the fashion sector so understand the needs of the designers/businesses.

We also run practical group workshops which designers/businesses can book on to in areas such as Sampling and Production Management, Building a Brand, Developing Accessories Range. The Fashion Angel Business Club is a networking group that gives the designers/businesses the opportunity to learn from key figures in the fashion and textile industry and share knowledge with other like minded designers and entrepreneurs, in a relaxed and sociable environment.

Historically investors regard lending to the fashion sector as high risk, often due to the lack of entrepreneurial and business skills present within the business and unconvincing pitches from the designers. We seek to build a business angel network of investors that have a passion and understand the complexities of the industry. The announcement in the Autumn statement from the Chancellor setting up a new Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) offering a 50% income tax rebate to private investors and expanding the (EIS) Enterprise Investment Schemes should be helpful in encouraging more investors to get involved with our sector.

How do you go about linking investors with businesses?
Firstly by building a business angel network of private and corporate investors that understand the complexities of the industry and that are strongly committed to investing into the sector. Business angels are not only valuable for their financial contributions, but also for offering their expertise and in many cases, contacts to their invested company. Secondly we assess the businesses looking for external funding and if we feel they are a viable proposition we mentor and guide the entrepreneurs and their businesses to make them "ready for investment". When we feel they are ready, we will broker introductions to the business angel investors, all of whom have a strong interest in the industry.

What do you want Fashion Angel to have accomplished within the next 2 years?
I would hope that we manage to help graduates starting up their own labels to have a better understanding of the business side of the industry and the skills they will need to make their businesses successful which helps them to avoid costly mistakes. This should lead to a steady stream of viable businesses in the sector that are an attractive investment for a network of investors that have a passion and want to support the fashion industry.