TheIndustry.fashion & TheIndustry.beauty Podcast

Shaun Russell is the Founder of Skandinavisk, a home and bodycare brand inspired by the beauty of Skandinavia. Founded in 2012, Shaun wanted to promote the benefits of a more Scandinavian approach to life to the rest of the world, combining fragrance and design with storytelling to spread the word. 

As the brand grew, so did Shaun’s desire to ensure Skandinavisk was environmentally responsible. Today, the brand is B Corp certified and has an active part in the creation of the B Corp Beauty Coalition. 

Shaun speaks to Sophie Smith, News & Features Writer at the TheIndustry.fashion to reflect on the brand’s journey since launch and how it works to limit its environmental footprint to be a more responsible brand in the beauty industry.

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Jasper Conran is quite simply fashion royalty and a prominent member of a design dynasty that had brought good taste and understated chic to British wardrobes and lifestyles during the latter half of the 20th century to the present day. 

Jasper’s extraordinary career in fashion began when he landed a place at the prestigious Parson’s School of Design at the age of just 15.

He then went on to work for a number of legendary designers before going to become one in his own right, producing a collection under his own name for the first time at the age of just 19.

In the early 1980s, he was among the first group of designers to form what was to become London Fashion Week and in the 90s he became part of what was then a pioneering project to bring designer fashion and lifestyle products to the high street, Designers at Debenhams.

Jasper created a hugely successful line but when the department store changed hands to becoming an online only entity during the pandemic, he seized the opportunity to take control of his brand and last year launched a range of affordable luxury handbags under his own name. 

This week, he has unveiled his first dress line with a range of timeless styles with considered details and quality fabrics, which have been designed to act as the “best friends” in a woman’s wardrobes. Next, Jasper intends to tackle other key categories including coats.

We recorded this episode of the In Conversation podcast while Lauretta Roberts, Editor in chief of TheIndustry.fashion was lucky enough to be invited for a sneak peek of the new collection at Jasper’s South West London studio. Jasper talks Lauretta through his extraordinary fashion career and why he has no intention of slowing down.

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As a design student in the 90’s, Graeme Fidler cut his teeth at Nigel Cabourn no less, before landing a role soon after graduating at Ralph Lauren in New York. 

London was then calling and he was snapped up to become the Design Director at Aquascutum – being instrumental in taking the heritage luxury British brand to a more style savvy consumer with some outstanding outerwear pieces, attention to detail being all, as well introducing made in Italy footwear and accessories. 

Jump forward to spring 2021 and he was then appointed Consulting Creative Director of Harrys of London, with a vision to build upon the brand’s founding manifesto; to create British designed footwear engineered for comfort. His first collection is for AW22 and, as well as a fresh design focus, he’s also implementing a rebrand to Harrys London. Simple but effective. 

In this episode of the In Conversation podcast, Fidler tells Tom Bottomley, Contributing Editor at TheIndustry.fashion about his design journey so far and the new masterplan for Harrys London footwear, and now accessories too.

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Fashion Week is about to get underway in London once again and all the focus will of course be on the designers and the looks they send down the runway. But who actually produces those clothes? In many cases the answer will be MAES London, a fashion manufacturing business established by entrepreneur Diana Kakkar in 2018. 

Diana trained as a fashion designer and has worked across Australia, the US and the UK gaining extensive experience in garment construction and design development. 

She headed up the production development at London-based luxury label Erdem where she recognised the opportunity to establish a local manufacturer, that designers could trust and with whom they could develop a long-standing relationship. 

MAES London has grown from a 500 sq foot space to a 4,000 sq foot studio in the short space of three years is now working with some of fashion’s biggest names including Erdem, Christopher Kane, Molly Goddard, Emilia Wickstead, Acne Studios and JW Anderson to name just a few. It also works with newly established sustainably focused labels, Berjoan and LR.D. 

Diana talks to Lauretta Roberts, Editor in Chief of TheIndustry.fashion, about what it was that encouraged her to take the plunge and set up the business, what the response has been like, how it fared during the pandemic when fashion shows were cancelled, and what her vision is for the business moving forward.

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Brendan Murdock is the Founder of modern apothecary brand Anatome.  Anatome is a holistic wellness brand dedicated to supporting modern life and helping consumers find the right balance. Through personalised advice and a product selection that enters multiple categories including skincare and supplements, Anatome is quickly becoming a household name for everything body health.

Murdock talks Tom Shearsmith, News Editor & Senior Writer at TheIndustry.fashion, through the product selection at Anatome, what led him to founding the business - including an initial venture into the world of food, how he reaches his customers and how the super personalised service of Anatome is converting potential customers into brand addicts.

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Joe Kudla is the Founder of apparel brand Vuori. Based in California, Vuori has taken the activewear market by storm, growing a loyal customer base and a retail portfolio that spans 13 locations across California, Colorado and Arizona. Today the brand is known for its super soft fabrics and versatile product range that can be worn by consumers wherever their day takes them.

Joe launched Vuori in an attempt to heal his body after years of playing football and lacrosse in college. Following the advice of a friend he started attending Yoga classes, where he soon began to notice the kind of clothing people were wearing. Taking cues from Lululemon and Patagonia, he saw a gap in the marketplace for a brand catering specifically to men and so Vuori was born.

On this episode of the In Conversation podcast, Camilla Rydzek, News and Features Writer at TheIndustry.fashion, speaks to Joe about his first entry in the fashion world, working as a model in Italy, how listening to customers feedback led him to pivot the business and why Vuori has embroidered thought-provoking quotes into the inside of its t-shirts.

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Danny Gray founded War Paint for Men with the hopes of tackling the stigma attached to the average male wearing makeup. When the brand launched in November 2018 it was just himself and one other hand packing the products in his flat - he says that he was expecting to have no more than £2,000 of sales in the first month, but they did over £11,000.

War Paint’s advertisements generally focus on men that often would not be expected to wear or consider wearing make-up as part of their mission to break the stereotype. Recently the brand has launched a partnership with Norwich City Football Club, further elevating the strategy of normalising the concept.

The brand has been criticised over its approach to portraying masculinity and its attempts to gender beauty products. Gray speaks to Tom Shearsmith, News Editor & Senior Writer, about how his strategy is in fact motivated by how we live in a society where people still make a big deal out of gender.

He also talks about growing the business, how opportunities like Dragon’s Den and a partnership with John Lewis raised the businesses profile, the product selection and considerations he took during product development, the success seen so far and the plans for the future – such as entering the skincare market in 2022.

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Anne-Christine Polet, who often goes by the abbreviation A-C, leads the startup behind Hatch and Stitch, two SaaS products that are changing the way fashion works - digitising the fashion value chain with 3D at the core. Having initially grown the business under the PVH brand, A-C has now stepped up to launch the products externally.
 
 Hatch aims to help brands sell better to their wholesale customers. Whilst Stitch allows brands and manufacturers to scale 3D. Both products aim to create a better, digital, more sustainable future for fashion.
 
 A-C tells Tom Shearsmith, Senior News & Features Writer at TheIndustry.fashion about her passion for the fashion industry, her experience at brands including Puma, Tommy Hilfiger and Google, what it’s like being a leading woman in tech, her role on the Forbes Technology Council and what the two products, Hatch and Stitch, can do for sustainability in the fashion industry.


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In today’s episode of The Beauty Edit podcast from TheIndustry.fashion we are joined by a beauty industry maven who has played a huge part in the success of some of beauty’s best known brands such as Shu Uemura, Tweezerman and Aveda and is one half of the iconic 90s beauty brand Ruby and Millie. 

To say Millie Kendall is busy is an understatement. She’s one of the founders of Brand Stand Communications which sees her do what she does best – create the strategy for beaty brands and catapult them forward to go on have major success in all aspects of the retail journey. 

In 2018 she launched The British Beauty Council a not-for profit organisation with the  mission to raise the reputation of the beauty industry, enhance education and invest in innovation.

If that isn’t enough, she’s also the powerhouse behind British Beauty Week, the 5 day long celebration of the beauty industry that happens in London each year. 

Millie speaks to Antony Hawman, Co-founder of TheIndustry.fashion  about the incredible work that The British Beauty Council did to support business during the pandemic, her valuable advice on accelerating a brand into retail and her view on the ‘clean beauty’ movement. 

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The story of British knitwear brand Peregrine dates back to 1796 and, eight generations down the line, these days it's run by Tom Glover, who joined the business after graduating in design back in 2003. He set about re-establishing the Peregrine brand with clean, contemporary designs - adding shirts, outerwear and accessories, impressively all made in England as the company always has.

Today Peregrine is stocked in over 80 different retailers across the UK, as well as in shops in Germany, Iceland, Canada and the USA. 

In April this year, the brand opened its first ever store at 78 Regent Street, and added a pop-up shop-in-shop in Selfridges at the end of October, provisionally set to run for nine months, forming part of the iconic retailer’s Project Earth strategy. 

Based in Bristol and with their own factory in Manchester, Peregrine controls every element of garment production from start to finish ensuring both full traceability and quality assurance.

Alongside its retail growth and developments, the brand is marking its considerable 225-year anniversary milestone with new products and collaborations, including with fellow British manufacturers Goral Shoes and Yarmouth Oilskins. Tom Glover tells us all about it. 

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