Kelly Shaw | Let’s get her to Paris Fashion Week
Crowfunding. It’s the latest way to get a project off the ground. The cool way to seek out investors for your ideas. Earlier in the month I happened to stumble across fashion designer Kelly Shaw on Twitter; promoting her latest venture on crowdfunding platform Sponsume.com.
Kelly has used the platform previously to fun her “I predict a riot” Autumn/Winter 14 collection. Now she wants to get to Paris Fashion Week and is looking for sponsorship for her Spring/Summer 15 collection with Paris Here We Come. The crowdfunding project finishes on Sunday 20th December; so make sure you sign up if you like what you see, by then. I have and I am super excited to be involved in a designers quest to reach the heady heights of Paris Fashion Week.
About Kelly Shaw
LadyM Presents originated with a passion for providing a platform for up and coming designers, so I am extremely keen to help Kelly Shaw reach her dreams. Having studied fashion design at her local college, Kelly moved on to a Fashion Design course at the University of East London. Finally her doodling of dresses from a young age, became a reality. In her final year she took part in Graduate Fashion Week and won the runner up prize for The Woman’s Wear Gold Award. One of the judges happened to be none other than Victoria Beckham and she bought three pieces from Kelly’s collection. This generated a lot of press and as Kelly describes it “it was a weird and wonderful start to start to my career”.
Kelly has a great documentary approach to fashion design. She likes to live by her thoughts and her rules. The brand is philosophical in content and mischievous by nature and its ethos is to rebel and to revolutionise. Kelly says, “Don’t be dictated to by others, Come as you are!”.
I asked Kelly about where she lives and if it is a source of inspiration to her. Here she tells me all about it:
“I have lived in East London for the best part of 12 years. In that time the East End has changed a lot but what hasn’t changed is the vibe. We all love to moan about London but it’s such a great city. London has introduced me to some of the best people, idea’s, art, design, music, food, parks, gallery’s, markets, pubs and clubs that I know. Travel humbles you. And it introduces you to new cultures and art which is important for stirring up your own creativity and for peace of mind in general”.
So why use Sponsume? Maybe not the way you imagine a fashion designer starting off, but these days it is has become a great way to seek out new investments. Crowd funding is really important for new designers because new businesses, particularly in fashion need constant investment because the initial development costs are so high. Plus because of the way the season’s work, designers only have money coming in a couple of times a year. So many fashion businesses experience cash flow issues, even though the sales are coming in. So Kelly has explained to me that crowd funding is ideal because you can raise the funds you need via an online sample sale and you can also give your customers a chance to pre-order from the next season’s collection.
What is exciting is that it gives Kelly’s customers the opportunity to become a life long patron of the brand and potentially become part of something very exciting. Imagine walking past the first Kelly Shaw store on Bond Street in 5 years time thinking, “I made this happen”, I know I will be proud of that day, as I am a patron myself!
Why Paris?
To take the brand to the next level Kelly was advised by fellow designers and mentors alike that Paris is where it’s at in terms of sales. During Paris Fashion Week buyers from all over the world visit each trade show to place their orders for the next season. So why Paris and not London Fashion Week? The answer is that the UK Fashion and Textile Association provide part of the funding needed for British brands to show in Paris to help increase the UK’s export industry. If it wasn’t for this funding plus the money (hopefully!) raised via the Sponsume crowd funding project, Kelly simply wouldn’t have the funds to exhibit the collection anywhere.
So if you like what you see in Kelly’s designs; make sure you become a patron of the brand via Sponsume.com and you can keep up to date with what Kelly is doing via Twitter.
P.S Check out our coverage of London Fashion Week; where we focus on up and coming designers.
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caroline December 9, 2014 at 9:26 am
Her pieces look great! I think it’s a fantastic ideas for aspiring designers to use crowdfunding after all the “crowd” will be buying the clothes.
xo
styleontheside.com
LadyM December 9, 2014 at 8:32 pm
Thanks for the comment Caroline.
I love crowdfunding, it’s nice to be able to invest into new design, without having to be a high earner to do it!