Business in Shoreditch: Interview with Amanda Hancox Founder of Wears London

G: Tell us about your business.

I moved to London just over 3 years ago and fell in love with London’s markets and fashion events, with each area having its own unique style. I started shopping there rather than in high street shops and quickly noticed the difficulties faced by buyers trying to find the same seller and for the new designers to be found when often there wasn’t the budget or time for a website or for promotion.

Wears London is a new online marketplace based very specifically on London and fashion. It will give customers instant access to London’s leading fashion markets and emerging design talent We aim to help young London designers competing against high street giants expand their customer base. All of the products featured on the site are designed or made locally and many use recycled, up cycled or sustainable materials – it’s fantastic to be part of the development of a more sustainable fashion industry.

The site features dedicated pages for all of London’s best-known markets such Spitalfields and Brick lane as well as an online boutique for young designers not affiliated with a particular market location.

G: What is innovative / unique about what you do?

We focus purely on London and on fashion (Clothing, jewellery and accessories). We believe that there is a real prestige to being a designer based in London and often to have studied at one of the cities world renowned fashion colleges, we wanted to promote that London talent in one place.

We have 50 menswear, womenswear and jewellery designers registered and aim to build on that number. Each of those designers have a dedicated profile on the site, through which customers will be able to view and buy their products. Shoppers flock to London throughout the year, drawn to its unique shopping experience and we wanted to allow those shoppers to discover and rediscover that when they return home.

It also brings all the conveniences of online shopping to address the common practical problems inherent in shopping in a London market. Sometimes you do not have time to get there, sometimes you do not have the money on you or they do not have your size and then the stall moves and you can never find it again. All this is solved thanks to Wears London’s online platform, which also has the added benefit of opening up a uniquely London fashion scene to non-Londoners.

G: What would you say has been your most memorable experience while developing your business? What were the most successful or unique projects?

The most memorable and interesting experiences have been in meeting many of the designers face to face and hearing their stories. Often, the difficulties of starting up on your own can make you feel quite isolated yet we discovered that those same issues were common amongst everyone we’ve spoken to. It’s exciting to think that we could be well placed to try to help with some of those difficulties.

Something a little unique – we been lucky to work with London Video Stores who have met with a few of our designers and to put together video stories which showcase their work and tell you a little more about them. They’ll be available on our blog very soon.

G: Why do you choose Shoreditch to run your business?

Including Shoreditch as one of the area’s to work within was a real no brainer. It is full of really talented people that take a lot of their inspiration from the style here. Places like Brick lane are a microcosm of that and again its one of the parts of London that people head here to see.

G: Who/what are your favorite CEOs/Businesses in Shoreditch?

There are so many talented people that I’ve met so far which include Liberty Kelly, designs georgous womans jackets and ponchos and previously worked in the film industry making costumes for the likes of Johnny Depp, Cate Blanchett and Russell Crowe

Sophie of reclaim bags makes the most beautiful, individual handmade bags from recycled rubber inner tubes. The concept being change people’s perceptions of recycled products and test the limits of re-use. Thomas Codd London, designer of a whole range of mens and womanswear which is influenced by subcultures from punk to mod and skinhead. There are so many I feel bad picking any one person out!

G: What are your favorite places in Shoreditch?

Such a hard question – not so much favorites, again as there are so many but I always seem to end up in Queen of Hoxton and end up in Electricity Showrooms but my favorite bar to grab a cocktail is the unbeatable Callooh Callay

G: What does the future have in store for your business?

The website goes live 1st August and we are looking at various event options as we speak and a Wears London boutique. We’ve also just confirmed that we’ll be at The Clothes Show in December, which is such a great event; it’ll be a fantastic opportunity for our sellers.

The aim is increase the reach of those designers coming on board and to build upon the interest in Wears London so far.

Social links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WearsLondon

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WearsLondoncouk

Website: http://www.wears-london.co.uk/