Transforming the fashion supply chain
In the Times newspaper this week, Andrew Ellison writes about how luxury brands including Burberry, are choosing to burn stock rather than see them go unsold and tarnish their brand, this really sickens me.
According to This article, they have destroyed more than £28 million of unwanted goods over the last year - unbelievable figures, and they are not alone, with other labels like Nike and Victoria Beckham also guilty.
In today’s luxury brand arena, it seems labels will stop at nothing to protect their highly valued name, loaded with marketing expenses - but why would they do that a consumer may ask? rather than still sell the item at a reduced price.
The answer is that they don’t want their premium priced products sold at a 50/60/70% discount as they perceive it devalues their name and runs the risk of the product being sold to the ‘wrong’ customer. They would rather burn that leather rucksack that retails at £950, than sell it for half price and this begs the question of how much did it cost to actually make? what were the minimums they had to make to get their desired cost prices and how many will actually remain unsold because the price is prohibitive?
The issues are complex and certainly a visit to any British high street shows that its not just the luxury market that is facing economic problems, so is retail generally with sales starting earlier and lasting longer. We can buy so much more cheaply, it’s incredibly tempting for the consumer to just keep on adding to their stock of pretty tea dresses. Last year alone Britons binned £12.5 billion of clothes sending 300,000 tonnes to landfill - a frightening statistic and what a waste.
At Homebody, we believe in transparency and as a luxury sleepwear collection, we want our customers to understand that we choose to produce our clothes to order and in far less quantity than the demand for our product. We don’t hold much stock and we never have. We do not store our fabric, but we choose to recycle it wherever possible. Every bit of what we produce is sold and we hold very few pieces of stock - currently just what you see on line.
The downside of this is we might not have what you want immediately , but if you have a bit of patience our lovely factory, based in the UK are very reactive and we are usually able to fulfil even small requests very quickly. This is an important choice Susie and I made many years ago, that our ethical values dear to our hearts are maintained in our business.
With this in mind, we would love you to help us, help you, by your answering a 9 short questions
Have you bought our clothes before?
Do you buy men’s,women’s or kids?
Would you like to see a more fashion collection on line as is available in Harrods?
What products would you like to see more of on line?
Would you like to see more colour and if so any colour specifically?
If we did a pop up experience store in London would you visit
How did you hear about us?
Are you interested in a new / larger women’s collection on line?
Would you like to see more lifestyle or sleepwear on line?
At Homebody we really do listen...it’s the way we have worked with Harrods for over twenty years and it’s how we would love to work with you.
So do let us know as your opinion counts and let’s make clothes that work for the environment as well as our lives!
Shop the collection - Homebody.co.uk
According to This article, they have destroyed more than £28 million of unwanted goods over the last year - unbelievable figures, and they are not alone, with other labels like Nike and Victoria Beckham also guilty.
In today’s luxury brand arena, it seems labels will stop at nothing to protect their highly valued name, loaded with marketing expenses - but why would they do that a consumer may ask? rather than still sell the item at a reduced price.
The answer is that they don’t want their premium priced products sold at a 50/60/70% discount as they perceive it devalues their name and runs the risk of the product being sold to the ‘wrong’ customer. They would rather burn that leather rucksack that retails at £950, than sell it for half price and this begs the question of how much did it cost to actually make? what were the minimums they had to make to get their desired cost prices and how many will actually remain unsold because the price is prohibitive?
The issues are complex and certainly a visit to any British high street shows that its not just the luxury market that is facing economic problems, so is retail generally with sales starting earlier and lasting longer. We can buy so much more cheaply, it’s incredibly tempting for the consumer to just keep on adding to their stock of pretty tea dresses. Last year alone Britons binned £12.5 billion of clothes sending 300,000 tonnes to landfill - a frightening statistic and what a waste.
At Homebody, we believe in transparency and as a luxury sleepwear collection, we want our customers to understand that we choose to produce our clothes to order and in far less quantity than the demand for our product. We don’t hold much stock and we never have. We do not store our fabric, but we choose to recycle it wherever possible. Every bit of what we produce is sold and we hold very few pieces of stock - currently just what you see on line.
The downside of this is we might not have what you want immediately , but if you have a bit of patience our lovely factory, based in the UK are very reactive and we are usually able to fulfil even small requests very quickly. This is an important choice Susie and I made many years ago, that our ethical values dear to our hearts are maintained in our business.
With this in mind, we would love you to help us, help you, by your answering a 9 short questions
Have you bought our clothes before?
Do you buy men’s,women’s or kids?
Would you like to see a more fashion collection on line as is available in Harrods?
What products would you like to see more of on line?
Would you like to see more colour and if so any colour specifically?
If we did a pop up experience store in London would you visit
How did you hear about us?
Are you interested in a new / larger women’s collection on line?
Would you like to see more lifestyle or sleepwear on line?
At Homebody we really do listen...it’s the way we have worked with Harrods for over twenty years and it’s how we would love to work with you.
So do let us know as your opinion counts and let’s make clothes that work for the environment as well as our lives!
Shop the collection - Homebody.co.uk