In talks with yourbrandspace.com founders

Fashion duo, Louisa Valvano and Samantha Bleasby, have put their previous experiences as Global Marketing Director at WGSN and Event Director at Pure respectively together to come up with an innovative new idea, a niche online platform

to suit retailers and buyers alike.

Yourbrandspace.com, which will launch end of November, is a subscription service, enabling buyers to source products 365 days a year. The site will showcase a cross range of Womenswear, Menswear, Accessories and Footwear brands, who will be able to present their forward order and short order/in season and stock products. Retailers in turn will be able to search the product by type, price range, season and even country and build up a wish list which they can then enquire directly with the brands about stocking. FashionUnited caught up with the enterprising duo to find out more.

FU: How did the idea for this online platform come about?
Louisa: Sam and I have both worked in the fashion industry for some time and have seen how the internet has transformed the consumer world. With this in mind we felt the trade side of things needed to be brought up to speed. Retailers are increasingly time-poor and are using the net to source product for their shops but there’s not one place to be able to do this.

Sam: We thought if we can save the retailer time and money by providing a free online service where they can find all the brands they want, whenever they want and at the same time save the brand money in investing in a wholesale platform, we would fulfill a huge gap in the market. yourbrandspace.com was born out of the growing needs of the industry. Times have changed and brands and retailers are increasingly time-poor- they are no longer buying and selling twice a year at shows. It's a year round activity for most brands and retailers. We want to help them.

FU: How do you think both of your backgrounds (Pure/WGSN) have directed you on this?
Louisa - Greatly. It is through our experience working with retailers and brands that we have seen a shift in the way product is sourced. As we have been immersed in the markets we understand the concerns and constraints that independent retailers are facing and the pressures on their time. During my time at WGSN we also worked on a redevelopment of the online offering at WGSN. This informed us immensely from a technical standpoint including understanding matters such as deliverables and timescales. I learnt a lot of very valuable lessons from the WGSN development project.

Sam - A great deal! My 5 years working on Pure London have allowed me to understand the needs of the industry and how these have changed throughout the years. Long gone are the times that retailers source and buy products twice a year at trade shows. Over the last few years, but now more than ever, brands are producing short order collections to help retailers buy more inseason and especially for the UK retailers, to allow them to compete with the high street and the quick turn around of trends. Our previous roles have helped us understand that yourbrandspace.com is a really valuable tool for the brands to reach out to a wider auidence around the globe to generate new interest in their products, but also to servcie their existing customers. Most are without a wholesale website and find it hard to show their short order collections or even stock items and this is one side we feel we can really help with. They simply give us their product images and we do the rest.

FU:In a time of numerous online start ups, how do you aim to keep it niche?
L/S: The key is being able to offer something of use to both retailer and brand. We feel there is a huge gap in the market for this service and the timing is right. Retailers and brands understand consumer online and this has proven itself in the market. It's now time for the wholesale side of things to develop, which will save time and money for both parties. We will constantly offer something that is of use.

FU: How are you looking to keep developing the platform over the next few seasons?
L/S: We have a number ideas we will be researching - one of the key lessons we have both learnt from our past roles is that research is key. We will aim to research with the users of yourbrandspace.com and use this to inform our development strategy rather than the other way round.

FU: With a focus on independents, what do you hope Mary Portas’ expected review will do for them?
L/S: We hope she will be able to make life easier for indies in town centres. Times a tough for everyone but especially the indies. With expensive rent in prime areas like the high streets, it can often be a fight just to meet your overheads. Any form of tax breaks she can bring about or incentives to fill vacant premises in the high streets at lower rates for indies will definitely have our backing.

FU: Beyond Independent retailers, which other retailers are you hoping to attract?
L/S: The site also has a use for department stores and online retailers all of whom face the same types of issues when sourcing products.

FU: With such a cross section of brands, both here and globally, how are you aiming to keep it streamlined?
L/S: This is all down to tagging. The more criteria we provide for search the easier it will be and we want the site to be as easier to navigate as possible in the quickest possible time.