On Thursday, British womenswear fashion brand Hope surpassed its initial £500,000 funding target on equity crowdfunding platform, Crowdcube. This news comes just a few day after the company announced the initiative’s extension. Founded in 2015, Hope aims to attract women of all shapes, sizes, and ages to its clothing line, even though it is particularly geared towards women who are 40 years of age and older. Its description reads:
“[Hope was] founded by Nayna McIntosh who has over 30 years’ experience with some of the biggest and best known brands in UK retail including launching the George and Per Una concepts. Following her own intuition and experience as a shopper and industry expert together with 3rd party research, Nayna understood that the older woman is an increasingly important yet often neglected part of the market. Nayna and her team have 200 years’ combined experience, an average age of 52 and five out of six of them are women. This a team that knows this woman because they are this woman.”
Just before the campaign hit its funding goal, founder and CEO of Hope, Nayna McIntosh, announced the first $100,000 order from a U.S. department store.
“One of the questions I am frequently asked is ‘how far do I think the brand can go?’ If only I had that crystal ball! However, more seriously, my vision is shaped by what we have learned in the first 18 months of trading. Customers resonate with the brand in terms of its garments, its imagery and in the social media face of the brand. We have connected!
“There is massive potential to accelerate its presence and volumes through wholesale not just in terms of customer numbers but also an extended range. Our current collection is an edited version of what we believe could be offered and through wholesale we can increase the size of the collection without upfront risk on our part.
“Unexploited international interest which gives it scale and reach way beyond what we have tested so far. Our web traffic tells us that – with 20% of traffic coming unprompted from overseas – backed up by our launch into the US market through a major department store chain with an initial $100,000 order.”
McInosh went on to add:
“We will tailor our international strategy to fit with individual markets through a combination of direct (digital) and indirect (wholesale) channels, possibly even franchising the brand if that is the right thing to do and fits with our brand values.”
Hope’s funding round is set to close at the end of May.
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