It might be hard to imagine life without the internet and the ease that technology has brought to our lives. In this episode of My Heels are Killing Me, Sonia Sly talks to three fashion designers about a changing world where business have to be agile in a volatile market.

It might be hard to imagine life without the internet and the ease that technology has brought to our lives. But being connected has its pros and cons and New Zealand businesses are not immune to the pressures of being part of a global market - especially in the fashion industry where digital technology and social media now plays a major role in success or failure.

In this episode of My Heels are Killing Me, Sonia Sly talks to three fashion designers about a changing world where businesses need to be agile in a volatile marketplace.

Before the Rise of Digital

“It was really easy [when] I started in the 90s and it was the heyday of Made in New Zealand. There were very little international imports unless it was something that was coming in from a European designer, and you didn’t have fast fashion. There was a wealth of incredible machinists that were still around with the women that had done tailoring apprenticeships...rent was cheap. And there were very strong wholesale accounts where people paid on time.

"[Today] we are completely exposed to [the volatility of the global market]. We live in the bottom of the world. We’ve experienced huge changes in terms of bricks and mortars and our tariffs coming off with Made in China clothing coming into this country, which obliterated our shoe manufacturing and most of our clothing manufacturing. So there were massive adjustments that had to be made with the change in wholesale versus buying online."

"The key for us is to keep it very lean and to to be more specialised...to offer more of a service to our customers. [In the past] we stocked David Jones with, thirteen stores, 33 wholesale accounts, but ten years ago we downsized the business and now it’s just me."

Branding through Social Media

Kelly Coe is the founder of womenswear brand Augustine, which operates four stores in New Zealand and runs seven labels under its umbrella. Kelly came from a marketing background and since launching in 2007 she has successfully used social media to sell and promote her brand.

"Social media for us has been huge... we grew our brand on Facebook and our customers grew with us."…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details