Our First European Trip
A first for Aesthetic Laundry (AL), a European business trip (how fancy!). Although a trip for the brand, sadly I was unable to attend, due to ongoing recuperation from surgery, so instead my partner* went on my behalf.... Also my brother tagged along!
But before we get to the trip itself, a little back-story.
During the time we paused on operating AL, Joss & I worked in the background to address all the areas that we would look to improve when we returned and high on the list was fabric. Previously we have worked with UK fabric suppliers only, personal connections we have built up over the years that have enabled us to order small amounts of fabric as and when required. We are forever grateful that these companies took on our small business as a client, but as with all small businesses our small orders meant we were restricted in terms of what fabric we could order.
It is through our recent collaboration with LIAR Brands, that this is now set to change. LIAR Brands has opened up doors to a network of contacts which we would have previously never been able to make ourselves (Joss & I do not have experience in the fabric sourcing specifically) and it was from here that we came to be in Barcelona…via Morocco. During a LIAR Brands site visit in Morocco at the beginning of this year, we were introduced to a fabric agent, Bouchra, who operated in Morocco with suppliers in Barcelona and Turkey.
A key point to make here is that a lot of this area of the fashion business is done through trust and personal contacts. If you do not have the contacts, then you are often going in blind and can have very little oversight of the suppliers you end up working with. This was obviously not an option for Joss & I, who wanted full access to anyone we were looking to work with.
Another non-negotiable for Joss & I, was that we still needed to place small fabric orders. A lot of the factories and suppliers in the business will only sell to people who have large minimum order quantities (MOQs).
Both of these reasons above were the reasons Joss & I had never been able to put time into sourcing suppliers outside the UK (instead focusing on nurturing relationships we had managed to forge).
The introduction to Bouchra changed all this. Not only was she incredibly friendly and understanding of what we wanted to do with our business, but she felt she had a fabric supplier who would be willing to work with us.
Fast forward to last Saturday evening and my partner flies into Barcelona to meet Bouchra and the fabric supplier face to face. The meeting was scheduled for Monday, but as part of our new ways of working, it is all about the work / life balance, so it seemed only fair there was a little bit of time to soak up the sites and have a coffee / beer or two, over the weekend! That said, for anyone who has traveled for work, you will relate to constantly having your head in the ‘work game’, with your laptop accompanying you to hotel pools / bars as you keep your head down, preparing for those upcoming meetings!
It was an early start on Monday morning, as my partner met with Bouchra and was introduced to Santiago (the fabric supplier manager). The day started with a tour of the supplier’s warehouse and meeting of the team to ensure the legitimacy of the business…and to say we were impressed was an understatement!
The warehouse is absolutely HUGE and immaculately kept. Rolls and rolls of fabric, readily available. And the best bit? It is readily available for little old us! The supplier had agreed that we are able to purchase from their existing fabrics, without any minimum order quantities.
My partner had taken swatches of fabric with him to give the supplier an idea of what I was looking for for the next collection and at this point I joined the meeting via zoom. When sourcing fabrics in the UK, I have an idea in my head and can spend hours trawling fabric shops to find something that is similar to my initial idea…. this meeting was the complete opposite… I was immediately shown fabric after fabric, that was a take on the swatches I had provided. The sheer amount of choice was quite overwhelming and it wasn’t long before my partner had a stack of fabric swatches that he needed to bring back for us to look at / touch, before making our final decision.
As well as new fabrics, the supplier also showed us versions of t-shirt and sweatshirt fabrics that they can provide. The quality of the fabrics that they showed us were on a new level, which I knew immediately was really going to enable us to elevate the classic designs that you know and love so much.
As if I wasn’t jealous enough to be viewing the fabrics in person, my partner ended the day with dinner with Bouchra and Santiago, before jumping on a 4am flight the next day, to walk through the studio door at 9am with the finds of his trip! Joss & I were in the studio, ready to go through all the swatches and just like that the designs could finally come to life.
*incase you missed it in a previous blog, my partner also works in the fashion industry and is working within LIAR Brands, so able to act on behalf of myself & AL in this situation.
