TRAID

ALL SAINTS

ALL SAINTS – BRAND PROFILE

October 24th, 2011

The British Brand That Claims To Blend Music And Fashion Into A Potent Mix Of Desirable Clothing Expressing Both Individuality And Attitude

All Saints is considered to be one of the hippest retailers on the British high street. Selling men’s, women’s and children’s clothing as well as home furnishings, their name has become synonymous with cutting edge fashion for those in the know.

Aiming towards a trendy, style aware niche with a target demographic of 18- 35, All Saints have adopted a unique approach to their marketing, retail and online strategies. Their vision as conveyed through their mission statement, “to create a brand that blends music and fashion into a potent formula of desirable clothing that expresses individuality and attitude” penetrates through their design decisions, social media strategy, store design and e-commerce.

Their success is a result of their unique approach. Over the last decade they have made a name for itself amongst style conscious shoppers as the first stop for design led fashion that never follows trends. This is a key idea that sets them apart form their competitors.

Their retail design has become one of the most recognized on the British High Street. Evoking a mood of decadent decay and distressed glamour with religious iconography and vintage details added to layer upon layer of carefully aged materials, their stores provide a mélange of inspiration, displayed with that ‘thrown together’ look emanating the idea that these are pieces one might find in an old junk shop. This iconic style is prevalent in every store, however each location has a very different overall look. Each store closely adheres to All Saints’ brand concept, which has enabled them to retain that crucial independent, non-corporate image so important to the tastemakers of today.

Adding to their contemporary business approach, All Saints have developed an equally successful e-commerce business. Their social media campaigns combined with their web friendly stores and online music service have continued to attract and engage their target demographic of fashion savvy, trend setting men and women.

By adopting gender segmentation in their approach to social media and posting separately about women’s wear and menswear, All Saints have successfully driven engagement from both men and women, equally. By targeting men with posts about music and women with information about fashion collections, they have grown a loyal fan base. The crux of their social media campaign has been to introduce followers to product launches and items of special interest ultimately driving potential online consumers back to the ecommerce website, for both additional brand building and increased conversion to sales.

All Saints clearly provide an interesting example of how companies can better understand what is the most effective way is to engage their consumers. Their retail concepts, e-commerce site, social media campaigns, music service and an emphasis on independent, design led fashion that does not follow trends have secured All Saints’ place as one of the few truly original but financially viable brands of today.

However, despite their great successes in getting so many things just right, something is a little wrong. I’m always left feeling rather empty when I leave one of their shops. The clothes are vastly overpriced and getting more so. Their mammoth retail destinations seem to loom on our street corners and overshadow our high streets and that’s not forgetting there can be three or four in any retail area. In my eyes, All Saints have diluted the essence of their brand by flooding the high street with too much of what was once a good thing. In 2010 Sushma Sagar wrote a piece for Drapers’ Record likening the brand to Tesco.

Mistakes have been made as is evident in their buyout by Lion Capital and Goode Partners in May 2011. They bought a minority stake in All Saints for £105m after a long battle to prevent the company going into liquidation due to the huge debt owed to Icelandic bank, Kaupthing by Kevin Stanford. Then in September 2011, Stephen Craig, All Saints’ chief executive, resigned due to an ‘untenable’ situation.

Perhaps a fresh approach of re-segmenting and marketing their product to a more mature age range, the same age range that includes their once loyal fans who have also grown up. Their price points reflect designer diffusion price tags, not high street ones. It’s not likely that a twenty year old would spend £350 on a coat. A forty year old would be far more likely to do so (if the ratio of cashmere were increased- this particular coat is made up of 72% Wool 23% Nylon and 5% Cashmere). Over the years I have taken many customers into All Saints and they have purchased everything from jewellery and footwear to leather jackets and knitwear. These customers have mostly been over forty and have all been aghast at the idea of shopping in such a trendy environment. However once they’re in, they’re in, so to speak.

If I had the money and time to devote to rebranding All Saints, the results could be amazing. With intuitive and clever adaptation of social media for a more grown up age group; retail design in keeping with their customer and brand ethos combined with an e-commerce site to rival no other, All Saints mark two could be the label to be reckoned with.

Tim Walker for Mulberry Summer 2012

The religious aspects of the Dolce and Gabbana collection 2013

The golden mosaics of Sicily's cathedral of morale and the religious iconography were the main themes were the main sources of inspiration of the Dolce and Gabbana FW 2013-14.

The idea from the Byzantine Mosaics plus the religious paintings outlined there brand  new collection.
Many of their unique bags as shown below highlight the same motifs of the Sicily's Cathedral this gave the handbags their character.

The visual interpretation of the mosaics appear in the form of prints and embroiders.

Dolce and Gabbana Accessories Autumn/ Winter 2013

The Dolce and Gabbana collection was combined of lots of Luxury accessories making the run way models look as though they were part of the Royals. The accessories were very monumental referring to the real queens gold crowns, oversized earrings, rosaries and cat eye sunglasses with gold features and the matching earrings.

Don't even get me started on the gold footwear sculpted  to match the models outfits.

C I R C L E C L O T H I N G

T O P S H O P S U M M E R B U Y S

Industrial Estate Marketing

This is a basic template of my first design for a marketing project I am working on involving industrial estates. 

- I have used blocks to indicate the industrialised buildings. The Scorpion will be a series of different sign images gradually becoming larger to create bigger images. 

- The idea of the advertisement is to create question in the viewers mind, the advertisement has to tell a story. 

- The colour theme will be green as the company logo is green and customers relate the colour green to this business. 

Stud Love/Stud Looks

The Rider Look...

Apple Adverts

Here I have selected a few of my favourite Apple advertisements, I needed inspiration for a current marketing project I am working on. The use of colour and imagery is similar to the outcome I want to get after completing my final designs. 

Millie Mac- Army Love!

Zara Style Page!

Experimenting with new fashion hair styles!

Looking through the latest fashion shows, fashion blogs and trend mags! Me and my good friend Niamh (studied make-up and hair) experimented with the new hair styles we were seeing on the catwalks and in the magazines! 

Here's a few pictures of what we tried out... 

Tie knot bun... simple but a classic office style! 

-Side view. 

Bow Bun! I love this it's in all the magazines... 

One of Niamh's hair and make- ups on Lauren. Simple curls look fab and the smokey eyes (MAC) are really in this Winter particularly on the Top-shop website! 

Twenty top attributes a manager should have!

With studying fashion management next year it's useful to know some basic retail skills that all managers should have. In order to run a company smoothly and manager must be efficient! 

*Good people skills so can engage with the customers wants and needs. 

* Must be able to up-sell a product making sure all sales targets are met! 

*Must be able to engage well with staff and make sure they are happy in the working environment. 

*Should always try and create a positive work environment this gives the employee motivation to come to work. 

*Must have good organisational skills. 

*Time-management skills. Turning up late never looks good to a potential client. 

*Must be able to easily problem solve as employees will come to the manager with queries.

*Should reward staff after good work this provides motivation and will-power to want to come to work and better yourself. 

*Be aware of the competitors and influence employees to be as well. 

*Should always be trying to increase sales new marketing techniques. 

*Good at speaking out and conducting motivational talks to employees. As all employees should have a  clear understanding of the day to day tasks that are asked of them. 

*Make sure staff are happy in the workplace and any problems can be resolved.

*Should always be thinking of new ideas that could benefit the business i.e. Social Media. 

*Should always be polite to staff this helps to build good working relationships. 

*Good money management skills. 

*Should encourage employees to get involved with big projects. 

*Should have a good phone manner as technology is moving forward and this is a key source of communication. 

*Should encourage all employees to get along this provides a better working environment. 

*Should be good at handling paper-work so this business can run smoothly. 

*Look smart- Having a good dress sense makes a massive impact when visiting a client.

Fashion show pictures...

Here are my four final garments on the catwalk. I was really pleased with all four final outcomes and all my designs looked great on the models!

End of year evaluation

Olivia Mullin Evaluation for unit 122 and unit 128




Unit 122…



Title: Pattern Development for Fashion and Clothing.



1 Be able to prepare blocks for pattern construction

2 Be able to make full-scale patterns

3 Be able to prepare a lay plan for production

4 Understand own pattern development.



Unit 128…



Title: Garment production.



1. To be able to operate equipment and machinery correctly for the development of garment production.

2. Be able to evaluate work during the production process.

3. Be able to produce and assemble garments.











I used basic dress blocks to create my dress bodices and used whole dress block for one garment. I did not create any of my own blocks. I patterned on the stand to create pleats going across the bodice and used the stand to create the strap to support the flower detailing. I used the basic dress block to adapt the pattern pieces for my bodice (adapted by removing darts and forming panels) and used a slash and spread technique for garment 1 skirt.



I put my name, garment name, size, grain line, number of pattern piece, cut x, cut on fold information on my pattern pieces. This information is important so that the pieces do not get mixed up and the manufacturer can cut them correctly. This means the correct measurements can be achieved and the patterns can be easily adapted, by using the tracing off method.



When creating my lay plan my choice of fabric meant that I had to consider the width and the best way to fold the fabric. I also had to consider the costing, and to ensure as little fabric waste as possible. This is very important in industry. I learnt from this process: how to do a lay plan (this was my first attempt) also how the process is done in the industry to keep costs as low as possible. I also learnt how industry standard lay plans are done on CAD; this is important for industry as they can be saved for future reference and easily adapted.



After completing my costing sheets I learnt the overall production cost of the garments. In future I could try to keep my costs lower by considering the price of fabrics at the design stage, but still keeping the quality. As I designed for higher end High Street customers I had to balance the costing against quality. Industry professionals would have the same challenge.



Initially, I found CAD very difficult as I didn’t find Adobe Illustrator software very easy to use. I had training from my father, who is a graphic designer and practiced every evening to gain a better understanding of the programme. I also adapted my original spec drawings to a higher technical standard. I found this made my designs look more professional. Spec drawings in industry help manufacturers picture the finished garment. In industry they will feature stich marks, zips, seams and other such details.



I used a domestic over locker for the first time. This gave my garments a more higher end high Street finish, rather than using the industrial over locker. I used the domestic over locker on all my skirts.



The areas of my collection that I sampled were: decorative, layered flowers, to find a method which didn’t fray and which could be mass produced (I needed approximately 70) I also had to sample pleats going across the bodices; I did this by creating a simple stich line and pressing together. The pleating process was particularly difficult. I also sampled a skirt finish (seam area) and created a net sample for the underskirt, by experimenting with gathering and securing the gather. I tried out the domestic over locker to assess the finish.



I was happy with my fabric choice and feel it matched my target customer. I based my whole collection around the Romans and a new and established company called Jones and Jones. My target audience is young women ranging from ages 17-24.

My customer would be fashion forward 'feminine and confident in the way they dress' They would have to be earning a reasonable income ranging from a salary of £1800-£2400 a year as my customer would be buying high end high street. As I wanted all my designs to look very feminine I feel this reflects me as a designer and what I would like my brand name to portray. I feel all my designs have been designed to embrace the female figure particularly the hip area.



High-end high-street uses the best fabrics available for high street trends with perfect finishes. After-all your customer is buying at a higher price tag. In conclusion to this I have used strong and effective Crepes this goes well with my chosen colour pallet. Crepes are a good quality fabric. I feel this worked well for my target market, colours, influences, and designs.



In conclusion, I felt my strengths were the CAD unit, as I am now able to create and adapt garments using adobe and Photoshop. This will help me in the future to translate my ideas into a spec drawing to industry standard. I also felt my flower designs worked out very well and I was pleased with my final colour choice. Pattern cutting is a skill that needs improving, however this is not my chosen career path. I am going on to study a fashion marketing course in Birmingham University in 2013 and will use all the skills gained on this course. I did not enjoy the pattern cutting aspects of the course; nevertheless I really enjoyed the design elements and can improve this area by making my designs more technical in the future. Reflecting on the past academic year I am pleased that I have managed to complete all the coursework, to above my target grade.

Developing my inspirations...

For my fourth final garment for my end of year fashion show I have had to look a series of different looks going across the dresses bodice. Here are a few pictures of how I have developed and changed my research... 

The start of my end of year evaluation

 Customer Profile

I based my whole collection around the Romans and a new and established company called Jones and Jones. My target audience is young women ranging from ages 17-24.
My customer would be fashion forward 'feminine and confident in the way they dress' They would have too be earning a reasonable income ranging from a salary of £1800-£2400 a year as my customer would be buying high end high street.


How did the choice of my design meet my chosen customers needs? 

As I wanted all my designs to look very feminine I feel this reflects me as a designer and what I would like my brand name to portray. I feel all my designs have been designed to embrace the female figure particularly the hip area.

High-end high-street use the best fabrics available for high street trends with perfect finishes. After-all your customer is buying at a higher price tag. In conclusion to this I have used strong and effective Crepes this goes well with my chosen colour pallet. Crepes are a good quality fabric. I feel this worked well for my target market, colours, influences, and designs.