Leap of Faith

It can be a frightening place for a small fish!

I am just about to embark on a project in the textiles and fashion industry with a brand new name.  It is a near impossible market to break into, it is a very expensive journey and I think the path is littered with failure, I estimate less than 1% of new ventures make it to market and are still there after five years.

So I was very shocked to read yesterday of the failure of the Kinky Knickers project, okay they have gone into administration and then had an employee buy-out so they are hanging on by their fingernails three years after the launch.

But that has to be a project with every possible support, the publicity and opportunity afforded it by the television show The Bottom Line, its manufacturing base, Headen & Quarmby Ltd, have been in business since 1935 and has experienced the height of the textile industry, its demise with everything, including their products, moving to off shore manufacturing places like China, India, Bangladesh, Eastern Europe etc.  They then went full circle with the return to manufacturing in an unused part of their facilities.  On day one they walked into Liberty of London and every other retail location that is normally barred to others… and they could not make it work.  From what I am reading, they have a product that is in such demand they struggle to keep up with their order book however it was cash-flow and company structure that eventually brought their Kinky Knickers down!

They are based about ten miles from where I am setting up my teeny tiny little company which intends to do pretty much what they do but without the 80 years of manufacturing experience, without any publicity except what I can generate myself, without untold money from government, television companies and backers, without the ear of leading trade insiders and as far as I know Liberty of London are not holding any shelf space for me in anticipation of what I might product. I should perhaps run screaming into the Pennines, put my 6 industrial sewing machines on eBay and stop before I start on this venture.

Oh well…the machines are there, the cutting table is ready; I might as well see if a minnow can swim with the sharks… and thrive.  I really do have faith in my model; it is simple, well thought out and very, very personal.

So I know the potential for failure is about 99% but I will give it my best shot anyway.

Wish me Good Fortune.