WHO ARE WEMEET THE TEAMOUR MANIFESTOOUR CUSTOMER

SURVEY RESULTSPARTY

CASUALFESTIVAL

DESIGN DEVELOPMENTFINAL PRODUCT

INTERVIEWSPACKAGING

SOCIAL MEDIASHOP LAYOUT

WEBSITEBRANDING

SHOP REPORTSPRICING

CONTACTS

WHOAREWE

We are Basic Stitches! We have identified a gap in the market, producing on trend paper patterns for teenage girls interested in fashion. If you want to have fun being creative and show off your own individual passion for fashion, this is for you! This product is bringing an age-old skill to the modern day girl. We offer three different easy-to-make paper patterns with clear instructions per-fect for

MEETTHE TEAM

Hey, my name’s Lottie, I am the art director for Basic Stitches. Outside co-creating this brand along with these beautiful people, I like painting and drawing even though I’m not that good.. Anyway, I hope you love the brand as much as we loved creating it.

My name is Ingrid, I’m the brand man-ager of Basic Stitches. I love creating anything, from food to fashion, there is nothing more satisfying than making something from scratch. Hopefully you can have fun creating with Basic Stitches!

I’m Vickie and I’m one of the Design/Product developers for Basic Stitches. Whenever I can, I love to travel to different parts of the world, where I get loads of new inspiration for designing (and have a fab time).

My name’s Fran and I am the Market-ing Manager. I love pick n mix and piec-ing the perfect outfit together for the perfect occasion and thats why I love our brand. I hope you enjoy our zine!

Hi, I’m Emma and I’m a designer at Basic Stitches! My life revolves around fashion and i love making garments and the patterns for Basic Stitches, and re-searching all the latest trends. If I’m not working then I love to spend the rest of my time dancing or with my friends!

My name is Ellie and I am the Social Media Manager for Basic Stitches, I offer promotions and share behind the scene sneak previews for our follow-ers. Away from this role I spend time up-cycling charity shop finds and my old clothes to fit with fashion now in a unique way.

WHO AREWETARGETINGOur consumer is a teenage girl who enjoys being creative with fashion and shops at brands like Topshop and Urban Oufitters. They are someone that appreciates the tradition of making a garment with a contemporary twist for every occasion! She isn’t afraid to stand out from the crowd and feels comfortable express-ing herself through what she wears. They pride themselves on being part of the Basic Stiches community!

SURVEY]RESULTS

PARTY

CASUAL

FESTIVAL

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

Design inspiration was found by researching into trend forecasts and already established brands with a similar aesthetic to our own. Simple shaped garments were developed which keep with Basic Stitches unique selling point of being easy to make. As designers, we decided on three individual looks; festival, casual and party, and we developed three simple outfit patterns using traditional pattern cutting methods, and the contemporary pattern cutting program Lectra. We chose colour ways that were inline with the preferred survey results (black, pinks, purples and greens) and sourced stretch fabrics to increase the ease of making the garment for the customer.

FINAL PRODUCT

WHATDIDTHEYTHINKRosie is a fun loving enthusiastic fashion lover. She likes mixing co-lours and materials to create her own unique style. As a fashion stu-dent she knows the importance of being different and she definitely considers that when planning her outfits. As we were styling the outfits on the morning of the shoot Rosie got very excited about the clothes and commented on how much she loved the festival two-piece.

Which piece do you like the most? ‘Definitely the blue aztec two-piece! Without a doubt! I think the tie at the back is really cool, so it can be adjusted for different shapes.’

Would you buy Basic Stitches for a friend? ‘Yes, I know for sure my cousin who is 16 would love the party look! She’s also thinking of going into Fashion Design and this would be an amazing present for her to get started and learn to make her own clothes. Also if my friend gave this to me I would be very happy! I think It’s a great present!’

What do you think of the brand aesthetic? ‘I LOVE IT! It’s so cool and chilled out, I think the fact that people can get so involved with their clothing is awesome and it clearly shows. I also love the cute playful side to the brand and I think it could reach such a wide audience!’

Roxanne is a 19 year old self-con-fessed Fashion Addict from Lon-don. Bought up in a non fashion world she discovered a love of clothing styles and colours when she was about 14 and started looking at fashion magazines. Roxanne adores simplistic clothing and she likes to find outfits that have their own style without having to layer. She loves going to gigs and festivals as live music is her passion.We asked Roxanne a few questions as she was getting ready for the shoot.

What do you think of this brand? ‘I love the idea! I think it’s such a good business model for young girls who want some independence and can learn a new skill at the same time!’

Would you buy it for yourself and others?‘Yes I think my younger sister would love the everyday dress pattern and I love the going out one. The fact there are going to be lots of different styles means its more diverse for a wide range of ages.’

What do you think of the patterns?‘Like I said I love the going out one! I would buy that straight away, having a little experience in sewing I feel I could change the pattern if I wanted to which is cool because I could make it even more unique’

“If my friend gave this to me I would be very happy! I think Its a great present!”

WHATDIDTHEYTHINK

I had a quick chat with Beth who is my 14 year old cousin. She has always been interested in my fashion course and always asks me about my clothes. When I asked her if she wanted to answer some questions about fashion and this business idea she got so excited! I told her about the brand and showed her some images from the shoot and the clothing items we have. At first Beth was very excited then she was worried about not being able to sow, I explained how simple the patterns were and if she needed help she could ask her mum. This idea got a good response as the parents can get involved too.

Which pattern is your favourite?‘I love the everyday dress because i love flowers and the colours on it.’

When and where would you wear this dress?‘On a sunny day when I go to the park or to the beach. It’s a really pretty dress and I will go well with my pink tights. Or I could wear it to my school disco!’

How would you describe your style?I would describe my style as being very casual and relaxed, but still on trend. Sum-mer fashion is my favourite as I think its much more fun than winter, with more brighter colours and prints in garments. I normally shop in places like Topshop, H&M and Urban Outfitters so they are where the majority of my wardrobe comes from every season.

Out of the garments we have produced which is your favourite?I love going to festivals every summer with my friends, so my summer festival wardrobe is very essential. Therefore I would have to say the festival looks. Last year I went to 4 different festivals and they were the best weekends of the year! I like a simple but fashionable festival look, I love matching two pieces as I think they are easy to wear and really stand out, and you can get some amazing styles and prints in two pieces which look really on trend. I also love that they are really ver-satile, I always mix and match my two pieces for example I loved one that I wore last year to Wireless festival, so I paired the crop top from the two piece again at Bestival with a pair of denim shorts, which completely changed the look. As long as its warm on a festival weekend my key pieces to take with me are crop tops, shorts and skirts, which are all easy to wear but in my opinion can be styled and accesso-rised to look amazing.

Charlotte is an 18 year old fashionis-ta from just outside London, she has an older sister who influenced her style immensely. As a young girl her mother always dressed her and her sister in the same clothes, as they grew up she found her own style away from her sisters. As a teenage girl interested in styling we asked her a few questions;

PACKAGING

For the packaging, we have opted for and eye-catching silver, fastening plastic bag that could potentially be re-used however are not too bulky to store the paper patterns in. The paper insert shows the specific look which is being sold in the pack along with a list of the bags contents. The bag will include the paper pattern for the specified look, simple pho-to-card instructions and three embroidered patches to allow for customization of the outfit. The packaging choice is different to the traditional paper patterns and is much more fun and modern to fit with our youthful demographic.

SOCIALMEDIA

www.instagram.com/basicstitchesxwww.twitter.com/basicstitches

www.facebook.com/Basicstitches1

We believe that Social Media plays a vital role with in a business. It is where you can directly engage with your customers, through replying to their comments and re-posting their posts. Social Media is the brands prime opportunity for announcing competitions and promotional codes. We know that social media is a great resource to companies and is extremely popular amongst our target market. We have a web-site that customers can buy directly from, a instagram proving inspiration and also a facebook and twitter.

www.instagram.com/basicstitchesxwww.twitter.com/basicstitches

www.facebook.com/Basicstitches1

TOPSHOP CONCESSIONLAYOUT

BRANDING

We aim to advertise our business through the use of billboards. We strategically chose the location of where to promote our brand. The actual advertisement is going to be kept simple, dis-playing a photo and our brand name. We believe that this will intrigue the customer.

SHOPREPORT

Product: Key Pieces: – Mannequins displaying key products, trends and styles– Store layout is organised clearly into different trends such as ‘The Modern Uniform’ which is one of Topshops key trends that they are currently promoting, and ‘New Year Style’ which is heavily promoted in store due to it being the new adver-tising campaign for SS16.– Key pieces are very seasonal based such as a lot of focus on knitwear and outerwearColour Ranges: – Due to the season a lot of the colours are darker tones such as black/mono-chrome, navy, grey, khaki green to fit with the typical winter season colour palette– Also a pastel based colour palette particularly to promote the new season collection and also for knitwearFabrics: – Major variety in fabrics depending on the type of garment and also the market level that the garments are being sold at. For example the Boutique range at Topshop is their premium range so the fabric used for different garments reflects this compared to the standard Topshop range e.g., we noticed that a jumper from the Boutique range was made from cashmere whilst the jumpers we looked at in the Topshop range were fabrics such as Acrylic, Polyester, Cotton and Nylon.

Sizing: – For the standard Topshop range the siz-ing ranges from size 6 to 16 UK women size– For the petite range the sizing begins at size 4 to 14 UK women size, and is a range targeted for women 5’3 and under who may struggle with the fit of clothing from the normal Topshop range– For the tall range the sizing begins at size 8 to 16 UK womens size, and is a range designed for wom-en 5’9 and above who struggle with the length of garments from the standard Topshop range– The sizing of garments from different brands stocked by Topshop is very varied but is often sized according to S/M/L rather than standard UK womens sizingQuality: – We felt that the majority of garments were of a good quality due to the stitching, fin-ishing and fabric selections and being overall well manufactured, with the prices reflecting the general quality. We took note that a lot of the gar-ments, particularly jackets and skirts were lined, which is an important quality feature to a garmentCountry of origin/manufacture: – Similarly to the fabrics, the garments were manufactured in a range of countries including the UK, China, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and a selection of othersPricing Architecture:– The pricing of garments, shoes and accesso-ries is also very varied in Topshop and across the branded products. As Topshop sell such a wide range of styles of garments, the pricing is very much based on the type of garment, the crafts-manship taken to produce the garment and the materials and finishings used. Place; Instore:Shop Layout: – Neat, clear layout according to types of products and/or trends, for example the jeans and denim have their own specific section of the store which is then further organised accord-ing to the fit of different styles and the leg length.– Use of both wall and floor space– Use of floor to ceiling mirrors on walls to give the effect of a larger space

Visual Merchandising:– Use of mannequins on elevated platforms which promote the key pieces and trends– The majority of garments were displayed at eye level and below to enable access easily to them, however some garments are displayed from a height to give an effect from further away in the store– Posters/wall prints to promote the new season collection, particularly in the entrance to the store and at the till sectionsWindow Displays: – The window displays are also key in promoting the new season collection with large posters displaying the campaign shoot, promoted and modelled by Karlie Kloss, which is a key feature of Topshop’s marketing– Garments that are available instore are also displayed on mannequins in the shop window dis-play, again promoting the key styles and trend– Colourful visual window displays to stand outAmbience: – Very Visual, a lot of things to look at displayed at different levels– Fun and lively– Colourful– Youthful

– Busy– Fashion forwardMusic: – A key part of the store ambience: all of the mu-sic is upbeat and lively to reflect the stores style– Playing loudly throughout the store– Artist played are very current and on trend to reflect the topshop philosophyPromotion:Advertising:– Advertising of sales and offers which is particularly key at this time of the year

due to January sale. ‘Up to 75% off’ advertised in the window display and sale area within store is clearly displayed and advertised.– Smaller forms of advertising such as all year round offers, which is only advertised in the spe-

cific area of products e.g. underwear offers ‘3 for £10’, displayed but only within the underwear display– Advertising of new campaign in different loca-tions around the store– Students 10% discount advertised but only sub-tly above some clothing displaysPackaging: – All Topshop own brand clothing purchases are packaged simply in a paper/plastic white carrier bag displaying the black Topshop logo– Accessories are packaged in a variety of differ-ent ways and more innovatively, particularly other brands accessories or more premium accessoriesLookbooks/Magazines: – Some lookbook style magazines available at the checkouts– Magazine available to view online and promoted by staffEvents:– Seasonal sale instoreSocial Media: – Very strong social media presence with a large following from target customers– Regularly updated social media with current trends, key pieces, new in styles and offers– Social media presence on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Googleplus, Pinterest, tumblr, LinkedIn, Youtube and their own blog

BUSINESS PLAN

Basic Stiches is a brand that introduces teenage girls to the idea of making your own clothes for a certain occasion. We feel as though today’s gener-ation would benefit from making their own clothes as it will add a person-al touch to their wardrobe and gain a new skillset by learning the basic sewing techniques and in time become more proficient. For many young creative people this is a product that is missing in today’s current market, as most DIY fashion products are targeted at an older consumer.

This innovative product will be sold in Topshop and Urban Outfitters, as we believe these highstreet names uphold a good reputation for our aimed demographic. Topshop and Urban Outfitters seem to demonstrate an effortless, cool aesthetic that we at Basic Stiches feel our product would sit perfectly in.

The product itself will meet our fun, girly, colourful aesthetic, with the intent of three different looks for the consumer to make themselves: fes-tival look, disco look and casual look. In today’s market we feel as though there is nothing quite like ‘Basic Stiches’, it has traditional values but with a contemporary twist. Our customer is a girl who enjoys being creative and setting trends. The personality of our brand is sassy, imaginative and free spirited, we welcome fellow #BasicStiches

Business OpportunityWe have identified a Gap in the market or producing on trend paper patterns for teenage girls interested in fashion. With social media growing teens are becoming ever more image conscious, a new wave of young girls are becoming interested in wanting to look individual and be able to show off their interest in fashion. This product would bring an age-old skill to the modern-day girl.

Company StrategyOur aims and business and brand are for our product to be stocked nation wide in large chain retailers such as Topshop and urban outfitters. We want to have a large social media following and sell directly through our own website .we want to encourage young girls to get creative, learn new skills and share inspiration.

Our company strategy is at first we would design and mock up three separate paper patterns with different themes, packaged with instructions and visuls. We would also create a social media presence on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and sell directly from our own website.We would then pitch this product to Topshop, Urban outfitters and other shops stocking concession lines that we identify as a shop our target marker will visit. We then would take orders from these shops and produce these three base products. If sales are successful we would then begin to offer new paper pattern styles and accessories packs.

Organisational structureVickie Parry and Emma Hance - Design/Product Developer, they take a lead role in designing the actual product and paper pattern being mar-keted. Their role is to design a product that is function, easy to use and appeals to the target market.Lottie Emerson - Creative director, she overseas everyone else’s tasks and has final say over designs, branding and anaesthetics. Ingrid Wright – Brand strategist, a brand strategist often works under the Brand Manager or marketing team to ensure a consistent and effective brand message. A strategist will develop positioning recommendations, guide market research analysis and define brand elements and tone. Fran Hooker - The marketing director hold the ultimate responsibility for the organisations marketing activities and oversees the development and delivery of a fully integrated marketing strategy for the business.Ellie Vickery – Social media manager, she is in charge of all social media strategies and works closely with the brand and marketing team to create and upkeep a brand identity through social media.

Managing risksOne of the main risks that we could encounter is no order from big companies. Our business plan relies on this as one of our main sources of money. If this was to happen I have approximated how many products we would have to sell wholesale through our own website to break even and it isn’t that high of a number.Core operations Our business does not require a large factory or big space; we could run it out of an office or studio space in Bournemouth. Especially on start-up and could be run out a small space with minimal workers. We wouldn’t need to outsource any of the printing or production ideally. All we would need is wholesale suppliers of inks and papers.

Plans for the futureIf our product is well received we plan to expand the range and continue with a strong social media following. We will expand the range as follows• More varied styles of paper pattern.• The option of buying separate accessories packs with trims etc.• Our brand name across a range of totes and accessories to promote

brand awareness.• Our products featured in more stores nationwide.• Our website shipping and trading globally (expanding to .com)• Moving our offices to London• We are considering creating a line for teenage boys that are interest-

ed in fashion. We do not want to exclude what could be an impera-tive market as males are just as fashion interested as females. If the product is designed and marketed properly through current trends we believe this could be a very successful product. Also, we would like to expand our collection with different aesthetics and varied style of silhouette. Even though we see it as very important to have a signa-ture brand style, we also want to move with the times to keep the excitement from our customer base by improving and updating the brand regularly.

Industry EnvironmentWe believe our product falls into the DIY Fashion industry. In the near future we at Basic Stiches believe there is room for expansion, which will take place through the use of communication strategy. Marketing and PR will be highly existent in our aim to keep our consumer focused on our brand, as the demographic of teenage girls we are aiming our prod-uct at use social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. Our presence on these platforms will enhance sales and remind our consumers on a daily basis of our existence. We aim to fully under-stand our target market by posting their interests as well as allowing them to see ours as well as our brands ethos. The imagery within our social media will be varied from: fun quotes, professional branded photography, employees, potential bloggers wearing our product and behind the scenes imagery to give an exclusive insight.

We would say there is no one quite like us on the current market. But a close competitor would be ‘WOOL & THE GANG’. A sustainable fashion brand made by hand that want to stop mass production and fast fashion. They source their materials with care and have a very minimal aesthetic. They suggest that knitting has benefits for you, such as:Reduced stress and anxiety levels. Just what the doctor ordered.Improved dexterity as you give your hands and mind a work out at the same time.You’ll unleash your creativity and you’ll soon be glowing with pride once you’ve finished.Your memory will improve. (Some even say it can reduce chances of de-mentia.)You’ll be able to meet new peeps, knitters are everywhere!

Our current customer is a teenage girl that likes to experiment with their style. We like the idea that our customer can try out diverse looks in or-der to see what suits their mood, occasion or what character they feel like personifying. Our product is for someone that doesn’t take fashion too seriously and has fun doing it.

Strengths- • Original business idea • Very current • Sold in well known retailers• Affordable • Trend setting • Gap in the market • Unique • Prominent niche market

Weaknesses- • Unknown response • Don’t have a physical shop • Dependent on niche market

Opportunities- • Expand product• Expand market• Expand retailers • Market on social media platforms

Threats-• Existing competitors • Staying reactive to trends • Other businesses taking our idea

PRICING

Funding requirementsWe would need funding for the original start up in terms of buying a paper pattern plotting machine and printers and inks but once those where bought there would not be any additional costs other than production. We could ensure revenue by getting guaranteed orders from retailers. We would take out an initial loan of 10,000 to cover our sunk costs and 12 months worth of rent and production.

Breaking evenBecause of the minimal start up costs, a few big orders from chain retailers would allow us to break even and, keeping in mind that we will only start production of the products for the order once the order has been placed it is risk free. In this spread sheet it shows the initial amount we would need to borrow in order to set up our business and then how many units of product we would need to sell in the first year at wholesale or retail in order to make that money back and break even.

CostWe would sell our product wholesale for £3 per item, which was calculated by taking into account the cost of production materials plus packaging. We could then sell our product at a retail price of £10 across both our website and as a concession in any store.

This is a detailed excel chart with equations producing the exact price of production and also our overhead and sunk costs for our first year of business. This shows how much money we would need to set up our business and what we would ask for as an injection from the bank. All the prices are estimates based on research done in to current costs and prices of these commodities.

CONTACTDIRECTORYThe Cloth House London47 Berwick Street, Soho, London W1F 8SJ02074375155www.clothhouse.com

Borovick Fabrics London16 Berwick Street, London W1F 0HP02074372180/0520 borovickfabrics@btclick.comwww.borovickfabricsltd.co.uk

Fabric LandFabric Land LTD, Fabric Towers, Kingfisher Park, Headlands, Salis-bury Road, Hants, BH24 3NX01425 461444 maxine.fabricland@gmail.comwww.fabricland.co.uk

Fabric Land Bournemouth: Dominion Road, West Howe, BH11 8LH 01202 580066

Topshop020 7291 2014 corporatepress@arcadiagroup.co.uk 020 7291 2471 topshoppress@topshop.com

Urban Outfitters Oona McCullough (Director of Investor Relations)oona.mccullough@urbanout.com

IDR AssociatesRoss Stuart, 3D Design3 Cumbria Court, Reigate, Surrey, RH20LF01737778981ross@idr-assoc.co.uk

Karen IsaacsAccount Manager, Polybags LtdLyon way, Greenford, Middlesex UB6 0AQkaren.isaacs@polybags.co.uktel: 0845 200 2828www.polybags.co.uk

Harry Cooke Photographer31 Ruby Road Bittern Southamptonwww.harrycooke.co.ukharry.cooke@hotmail.com

Other directoryMagazine Brighton 11-12 Trafalgar St, Brighton BN1 4EQ 02302 463855

Palm PrintsCharminster, 179 Alma Rd, Bournemouth, Dorset BH9 1AQ01202 546880www.palm-print.com

For Customer Interviews:Charlotte Hancecharlottehance97@gmail.com

Beth Reishelt 569 Hardwell common Southampton beth_at_home@hotmail.com

Charlotte Granger 8 Manor Way, Croxley Green, Hertfordshire WD3 3LYCharlotte_fashion@live.co.uk

Roxanne McAdamroxanne.mcadam@hotmail.co.uk

Rosie Daltonrosie.dalton@hotmail.co.uk