A THRIFT shop in Witham that sells bespoke items has gained national interest after featuring in an article about Kate Middleton's wardrobe.
Avril Beattie, 64, owns The Dressing Room in Maldon Road.
Having worked there for eight years, she bought the shop in 2009 and set it up as a dress agency.
Recently the fashionable grandmother-of-four received a call from The Sun, who wanted to feature her in a story to do with Kate Middleton's trendy outfits bought from similar shops.
Since appearing in the paper, Mrs Beattie has received calls from Look magazine, as well as various other publications.
She has also been approached by buyers from London who are looking to take a trip to Witham just to take a look at her designer goods.
Mrs Beattie said: "They phoned me recently and said they were going to do this article on Kate and had chosen a number of shops to feature. Mine was one of them. I expected a one-liner but they used a picture and put in all the details."
The concept behind a dress agency is that all the products are new or nearly new but can be found at a percentage of the original price due to them being out of season or secondhand.
But Mrs Beattie, who has always worked in the fashion industry, is keen to emphasise the quality of her products.
She said: "I don't do anything less than high street or designer.
"Everything has to come in on the hanger, pressed, and nothing is over three years old."
Some of her favourite pieces include Anoushka G dresses and a range of designer handbags.
"Our biggest seller is bags – we do Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Mulberry and quite a bit of LK Bennett," she said.
2012年4月26日星期四
2012年4月25日星期三
Coach pinning hopes on rosy China growth
U.S. luxury handbag maker Coach Inc. continues to pin its hopes on booming luxury goods consumption in China, where its sales grew almost 60 percent year-on-year in its fiscal third-quarter earnings.
China has been a big strategic initiative for Coach, and sales have been rising healthily, according to Lew Frankfort, chief executive officer of the company.
Frankfort said he expects the Chinese market to gradually turn in annual revenue of at least $300 million, and that Coach would aim to tap into the men's luxury goods market in the coming years.
"We expect to broadly expand the presence of our men's products in the North American market, starting from the current 42 stores by end of Q3 to around 100," the Beijing Business News quoted Frankfort as saying.
For the quarter ended March 31, Coach reported a profit of $225 million, or 77 cents a share, up from $186 million, or 62 cents, a year earlier. Sales jumped 17 percent to $1.11 billion.
Sales were up 10 percent in Japan, on a constant-currency basis.
China, which the company calls its largest geographic growth opportunity, saw sales bolstered by distribution growth and double-digit same-store sales. Indirect sales rose 10 percent to $125 million.
Chinese consumer spending on luxury items remains relatively unscathed by a projected slowdown in economic growth and overlapping uncertainties in the global market, drawing in luxury brands including Coach, Prada and LV to cash in on the growing number of college-educated, well-dressed Chinese individuals with large enough disposable incomes.
French luxury goods giant LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA is looking for new ways to reach luxury consumers in Asia, having launched a Chinese-language version of its editorial-only platform nowness.com.
China has been a big strategic initiative for Coach, and sales have been rising healthily, according to Lew Frankfort, chief executive officer of the company.
Frankfort said he expects the Chinese market to gradually turn in annual revenue of at least $300 million, and that Coach would aim to tap into the men's luxury goods market in the coming years.
"We expect to broadly expand the presence of our men's products in the North American market, starting from the current 42 stores by end of Q3 to around 100," the Beijing Business News quoted Frankfort as saying.
For the quarter ended March 31, Coach reported a profit of $225 million, or 77 cents a share, up from $186 million, or 62 cents, a year earlier. Sales jumped 17 percent to $1.11 billion.
Sales were up 10 percent in Japan, on a constant-currency basis.
China, which the company calls its largest geographic growth opportunity, saw sales bolstered by distribution growth and double-digit same-store sales. Indirect sales rose 10 percent to $125 million.
Chinese consumer spending on luxury items remains relatively unscathed by a projected slowdown in economic growth and overlapping uncertainties in the global market, drawing in luxury brands including Coach, Prada and LV to cash in on the growing number of college-educated, well-dressed Chinese individuals with large enough disposable incomes.
French luxury goods giant LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA is looking for new ways to reach luxury consumers in Asia, having launched a Chinese-language version of its editorial-only platform nowness.com.
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