JBDC Business Dialogue Fashion Edition - July - September 2018

FASHION EDITION // JULY-SEPTEMBER 2018

CONTENTS 05

LEADING BY EXAMPLE: WHY JBDC’S CEO SUPPORTS LOCAL DESIGNERS

07

HIGHLIGHTS: JBDC IRIE MAGIC

08

THE EVOLUTION OF JAMAICAN FASHION

11

GET YOUR FASHION BRAND THE RECOGNITION IT DESERVES: START A PODCAST

12

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IN THE DIGITAL SPACE

STAFF ADVISORS

IN FAVOUR: 14 FASHIONED NATEISHA WILLIAMS - FHL DESIGNS

Ms. Valerie Veira, J.P. Chief Executive Officer

Design & Layout Dhaima Garrell – JBDC Visual Communications Unit

Mr. Harold Davis Dept. Chief Executive Officer

Editor-In-Chief & Content Coordinator Suzette Campbell – JBDC Corporate Communications Unit

Photography Colin Porter – Technical Services Unit

Assistant Content Coordinator Sancia Campbell – JBDC Corporate Communications Unit

Freelance Photographer Terry-Ann Miller - Time by TAEM

CEO’s

CONTRIBUTORS

Message

Sancia Campbell

Suzette Campbell is a multi-

I’m often complimented about my personal afrocentric style and it is with a great sense of pride that I can declare that a substantive portion of my wardrobe is produced by talented local designers.

This personal relationship with a designer gives me control over maintaining a distinguished look and quality assurance. At the same time, I’m helping to build a local business through my patronage, essentially putting my money where my mouth is, as head of government’s premier business development organization.

There was a time when some departed from the idea of a community dressmaker or tailor, but I am heartened to see a gradual shift back to our old norms where they have regained confidence in their ability to style us. Design schools such as HEART Trust NTA and Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts have been unleashing some amazing talent in the fashion industry who are now creating waves.

At JBDC, we have a fashion incubator which is available not just for training and development but also rental for established designers who need more space to operate. Our team is well primed to serve as we do our part to ensure the local fashion industry thrives one stitch at a time.

award winning communications practitioner with 13 years’ experience spanning Public Relations, Journalism and Marketing in both public and private sector organizations. With a highly competitive spirit and creativity, she enjoys a good challenge and prides herself on leaving an indelible mark of success in her endeavours. Using her gift of writing, she hopes to win hearts and positively impact the lives of those on whose behalf she tells stories. Suzette is currently the Corporate Communications Manager at the Jamaica Business Development Corporation.

Andre Heslop is the Public

Robert Hall is the Fashion

Designer at the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) and Design Lecturer at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. His experience in the Fashion Industry spans some 20 years.

entrepreneur, cultural ambassador, sociologist, author, speaker, fashion designer and podcaster. She wakes up every day with a grateful heart as she lives her purpose of “life transformation through inspiration”. She is the leading lady behind Patwa Culcha International, the company that owns the authentic Jamaica clothing brand, Patwa Apparel. Heneka is also the creator of the Caribbean’s first Virtual Conference and Expo - The Entrepreneurial You Virtual SME Conference & Expo. Find her at henekawatkisporter.com and on social media; email: henekawatkisporter@gmail.com.

Valerie Veira, J.P.

Chief Executive Officer Jamaica Business Development Corporation

THE FASHION EDITION

Relations Assistant at the Jamaica Business Development Corporation.

He is a graduate of the University Of Technology, Jamaica and holds a BBA in Business Administration with a major in Marketing. He has worked in a range of capacities within the marketing field from Marketing Officer to Customer Care Representative and has extensive experience with customer relations. Mr. Heslop is also a managing partner of the emerging Social U Consultants company, a social media marketing firm.

Heneka Watkis-Porter is a serial-

One Love!

4

is a PR Practitioner in the business and hospitality sectors with over 13 years experience in marketing, publicity and communications.

An excellent writer and avid lifestyle blogger, Sancia enjoys reading, project management and events planning. She is currently the PR & Events Coordinator at the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC).

JULY - SEPTEMBER 2018

BUSINESS & INNOVATION

THE FASHION EDITION

Leading by Example:

WHY JBDC’s CEO SUPPORTS LOCAL DESIGNERS by: Sancia Campbell

O

ne of the most striking characteristics about Valerie Veira, Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) is her sense of style. Often seen donning her signature African-inspired outfits, she also admits to having incorporated other design inspirations in her closet including the Indian Sari and the Japanese Yukata.

Says Miss Veira, “… my style is who I am. It is a presentation which speaks to me, and I celebrate and recognize my ‘Jamaican-ness’ by using particularly the Africa-centric clothing to interpret my place here. Different people have different ways of expressing themselves. My affinity to unique fashion expresses who I am perfectly.”

While her sense of style is definitely striking, what is even more noteworthy is her decision to buy from and support local designers. According to Miss Veira, approximately 90% of her closet is locally made. “As the ‘mother of all MSMEs’, it is important to walk the walk and not just talk,” she states.

But her industry position is hardly the influencer of her fashion choices.

Describing her fashion sense as adventurous, playful and out-of-the-box, this confident Jamaican woman believes that her 70’s University experience helped to define her ‘Jamaican-ness’ hence the fashion choices. “Back in the 70s, people were revolutionary in acknowledging our own culture and being African was a dominant part of who we were, so at that time even though my closet was quite diverse, my exposure to Africa and all its facets opened my eyes to that side of me.”

Since that time, she has showcased some of the most fabulous pieces both locally and across the world. Not only does she wear the dresses and suits but will also be seen in some of the most extravagant headdresses with accessories to match.

Hailing her current designers, Robyn Sweeney and Sandra Thompson of Kamit Revisited, Miss Veira noted that her designers understand her tastes completely and as such she is never worried about what they bring to her to wear. “Whenever I am going somewhere, I just tell them exactly where I am going and leave the rest to them,” this she says has allowed her to maintain a more than twenty-year relationship with both ladies.

“They understand my sense of style as well as age-appropriate fashion without making me look dowdy or unattractive. I get a little mystery and I am certainly left completely satisfied.”

Her advice to up and coming designers in the fashion and apparel industry is to establish an area of interest. “It’s not sufficient to just specialise in clothing; identify a niche, a price point and most importantly seek to fulfil your clients’ needs. Also, fashion is not only about women, there are very stylish men and children, they too need the services of a good designer,” she concluded.

JULY - SEPTEMBER 2018

5

THE FASHION EDITION

HIGHLIGHTS:

JBDC IRIE MAGIC

FASHION FUSION+ JBDC recently hosted our inaugural Irie Magic Fashion Fusion+ event which helped to launch the careers of some of Jamaica’s up and coming designers. Here are a few of the designs which were on show.

JULY - SEPTEMBER 2018

7

BUSINESS & INNOVATION The Evolution of

Jamaican Fashion

by Suzette Campbell

M

any Jamaicans can recall trips to the community dressmaker and tailor from an early age, a highly anticipated experience particularly around periods like Backto-School, Christmas and other special occasions. That unique outfit made just for us was part of the shaping of our identity and image. Flash forward to today and many of us have lost that personalization of uniqueness of style, as we flock the stores for imported ‘ready-made’ garments.

According to Robert Hall, Fashion Designer at the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) and Design Lecturer at the Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing

Arts, fashion in Jamaica has evolved with the development of the nation and has been largely influenced by societal and political factors. Around the Independence era, a fashion competition was held in Jamaica and while there was no official winner, the bandana emerged as a trend. Still, postIndependence, the influence of British fashion was evident, as Jamaicans grappled with developing their own identity.

“The off the rack offerings were not very popular at the time as there was that base culture of taking fabric to a designer or dressmaker to have something crafted for us. With the rise of politicians like Michael Manley and cultural icons like Louise Bennett and

JBDC Fashion Designer, Robert Hall provides assistance to local designer, Moses Fennel participant in the Fashion Development Programme

8

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JULY - SEPTEMBER 2018

Bob Marley in the 70s, we saw what we like to call the “smaddy-ization” of Jamaicans. There was the ‘bush jacket’ made popular by Manley, the influence of Rastafarianism with Bob Marley’s rise to stardom, as well as Pan-Africanism like the wearing of an afro by Manley’s wife Beverly. At the same time, the local fashion industry was booming as designers were making a global mark and exporting to Fifth Avenue in the United States.” he explained.

H

all points out that the 80s saw an opening up of the ports and increased travel, items like jeans from overseas were a valued item. “It almost stood in opposition to buying a pants length and a tailor.

The Free Zones operating at the time also left us a new way of producing with machinery like the serger as a finishing tool, increased sewing speed and realization that we were sewing the same designs we were admiring in the stores. A lot of these Free Zone workers were from communities where a new genre of music was emerging and would also influence their style,” he added.

Enter the 90s and dancehall music. Hall points out instances and personalities which gave a clear indication that Jamaica fashion was changing again.

“There was a pictorial in the newspaper of the funeral of a popular personality and all across Jamaica jaws dropped because the styles depicted were a departure from somber to celebratory with sequins, short shorts, see through,

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etc. Around this time, Shabba Ranks was making waves internationally, also creating shock and awe with his music and fashion, made by someone in Jamaica. Dancehall Queen Carlene was making her mark, shows like Sting and Reggae Sun Splash were peaking and so there was this demand for outfits that they couldn’t get elsewhere because they had to be made here to match the music,” he said.

Hall maintains that while the opening of the ports, caused a negative impact on the fashion industry, it has maintained itself in other ways.

“Some store bought clothing still need alteration because they were made elsewhere for a different body type, so they still had to see a dressmaker or tailor. The emergence of the corporate woman wanting to purvey that sort of Anne Klein off the rack image also created opportunities as a strong client base. It has also maintained itself in the special occasion space where bespoke is significant to identity and it is difficult for you to find exactly what you need in a store and you’re likely to turn up and see someone else wearing it, as well as it may not fit you. If you check most designers, the need for custom wear is what has been maintaining them.

They’ve been working more in haute couture format,” he said.

He argues that the digital age has created opportunities for a proliferation of fashion enthusiasts without formal training to learn online via sites like YouTube and Pinterest. Direct messaging on platforms like Instagram has made communication between designers and customers more seamless and effective. “Nowadays, designers can choose to present on a runway like Style Week or they can opt to do a shoot and go straight to market through social media. Direct Message has now become their door,” he said.

Designer Moses Fennel with two of his signature designs

For Hall, the fashion industry has never died in Jamaica; it has undergone changes that some members have had difficulty keeping up with. The tailors and dressmakers have been hardest hit, but some have realized this and have returned to institutions like Garmex for upgrading because HEART has changed its format from a producer to a designer. Organizations like JBDC are also helping them to re-imagine themselves as designers/entrepreneurs. “We must also acknowledge individuals like Keneea Linton-George for Mission Catwalk, Novia McDonaldWhyte, a lifestyle icon who has pushed fashion and clients like Lisa Hanna who continue to publicly entrust their image to a local designer,” he said.

Do you have a tailor, dressmaker, designer or are you just a store shopper?

JULY - SEPTEMBER 2018

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TECHNOLOGY Get Your Fashion Brand the Recognition It Deserves

START A PODCAST

by: Heneka Watkis-Porter

Rather than pump scarce resources into directly marketing the clothing line, I decided to start a podcast. The Entrepreneurial You is geared towards passionate and dedicated Caribbean entrepreneurs seeking inspiration. Each week a global high impact entrepreneur is featured to motivate and inspire a community of Peak Performers. On each episode, I promote Patwa Apparel to the podcast audience, which is global.

I

t’s almost unthinkable that many persons are still unaware of what a Podcast is when so many are building brands using this free, on-demand medium to communicate their messaging. It is one that has nowhere going anytime soon. It has come to stay; we may as well get used to it.

If you somehow fall into the category of one who is oblivious to its existence, a podcast is simply an audio file fed from your website through a rich site summary (RSS). Using standard web feed format, it publishes frequently updated information with the file you’ve uploaded.

To get a little perspective on its history, the term podcast has been coined from the words ‘iPod’ and ‘broadcast’. At the very beginning, podcast creators used their iPods to listen to their RSS broadcasts.

The genesis of this ground-breaking content creation is credited to Adam Curry and Dave Winer from a mere meeting between the two technology practitioners 17 years ago. However, kinks and know-how weren’t quite ironed out until in 2005 when podcasting started finding its footing, gaining support from iTunes (Source: blubrry.com).

In an era, where reading has become increasingly less favoured by many, podcasting provides a viable option to consume content in audio form and in some instances, video. Your audience is waiting on you!

Let me give you a perfect example of what I’m talking about. I wanted to get access to a wider audience for my clothing line, Patwa Apparel.

Since its launch in March 2017, already The Entrepreneurial You has been ranked as a top podcast in the category of Marketing and Management in iTunes right next to Pat Flynn and Gary Vaynerchuk (iTunes account for 70% of the podcasts that are available). The TEY podcast is listened to in several countries globally, with Japan, Jamaica and USA being the top three.

Here’s Why You Should Do It Now! It’s free – your listeners will flock you for the value you provide to them and you can build genuine community of loyal supporters from that.

It’s accessible from Smart phones – Your listeners never have to worry that they will miss an episode.

It is available by the tap of a button – as long as there is WiFi available, your podcast is accessible to just about anyone with access.

Connect with your audience – Your audience has an opportunity to connect with you as the host.

You also connect with the guests and increase your network and hence your net-worth.

Broad reach – You may be local but you can go global reaching guests and an audience from The TEY podcast has secured guests like anywhere in the world.

Business Magnate and Investor, Sir Richard Branson; Entrepreneur On Fire’s Founder, John Make Money – monetize your podcast through Lee Dumas; International Marketing Sensation, a variety of ways while making a global impact.

Amy Porterfield; Tech Beach’s Kirk Anthony- Podcasting is really fashionable right now. Be Hamilton; Trello’s Founder, Michael Pryor and careful not to delay considering starting your a hosts of other giant players in their respective podcast any longer. fields. Many of these are Oprah, CNN, CBS, Fox, If you are just thinking of launching your fashion ABC, Forbes, Huffington Post, etc. featured, brand, I have a FREE eBook I’d like to give you. It sharing their entrepreneurial journey with those is the Complete Quick Start Guide to Launching who are hungry for growth.

Your Own Fashion Brand.

Not only do I have access to a wider audience, I If you are interested in starting a podcast please have been able to directly monetize by securing send me an email at henekawatkisporter@gmail. sponsorships on the podcast. com.

It’s not just Patwa Apparel that is leveraging podcasting as a growth strategy. There are several other fashion brands that are using podcasts to grow their businesses and their network along with it. As a fashion designer, you can opt to: Interview other fashion designers and industry insiders; Learn from others that you admire by bringing them on your show; Directly promote your brand to your audience; Become an authority on fashion related subjects and speak locally and globally

JULY - SEPTEMBER 2018

11

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IN THE DIGITAL SPACE

by Robert Hall

A

s we are now squarely seated in the digital age, our living appears to be a work in progress as opposed to a definite continuum. Daily we are discovering and integrating more of that reality into our routine.

Convenience often drives this decision as digital is presenting better solutions for our everyday processes. With smart-phones and internet access becoming common place, a necessity of life even, changes are registered in product development that augurs well for the entrepreneur. Generally, the internet and the products mounted on this platform have facilitated a kind of democratization allowing many who formerly would have been excluded, to enter. The internet has created new routes, proverbial shortcuts to how things are done.

Market information is foundational to the process of innovating new product.

With many of us desirous of penetrating markets outside of our home countries, intimate knowledge of those spaces is key. Awareness of what is happening on the ground, the retail points, the supply outlets, skilled technicians, the consumers and their needs are seminal drivers to product development process. Without expensive exploratory trips or on the ground agents, blind market penetration exercises may have had to be used in the past, often with uneven results. One is now able to fill 12

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in so many of the blanks and unknowns as much of the research and orientation can be facilitated through the internet.

Social media greatly assists this process as well. The standard social media builds out a multiple angled real time perspective as the apps are built around regular updates, usually multiple times in a day. This constant stream of information can create an overall comprehensive market understanding when all the resources from institutional perspectives like company websites to real time social media popular views are connected.

From this base, we can also widen the scope from which raw material is sourced in the production process as new options are now open to us through online shopping. Shopping through the internet is now standard and has created a whole new layer of business. As a producer, one no longer has to be limited to sourcing only from the physical stores in my local market.

New possibilities can be facilitated, pricing and quality issues explored as a wider berth of options can be explored.

With the new layer of business facilitated by online sales, standard brick and mortar entities and companies now have to pivot and evolve new approaches to retail. These have the consumer as core, as their interaction with the digital world has them treating with sales and products in new ways. Whereas locally JULY - SEPTEMBER 2018

we are used to purchasing items online mainly from first world and overseas firms, very few Jamaican companies are doing online sales from their local bases. This is however a real area of growth. What local entrepreneurs have been doing however is using the social media and its immediacy, especially Facebook, Instagram - heavy image based social media apps, to advertise their products and procure orders. The internet driven social media is driving exposure of the product to market, initiating the conversation with the transaction completed offline. This is running parallel to what has been happening internationally. Along with standard online shopping processes, consumers have been integrating the internet into their shopping trips using it to research the product presented and doing price comparisons whilst in-store to ensure they are getting the best deal.

Companies with this new awareness are having to conflate their hard wall stores and their virtual presence as the consumers are receiving these as a single landscape.

With the fairly deep penetration of internet locally, this space needs to be seen as part of and incorporated into our productive workspace. It is then that we will truly begin to create relevant hybrids, innovating and allowing us to achieve the desired success we want for our entrepreneurial ventures.

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FINANCE

A Stitch In Time Saves 9:

Lean Manufacturing in the Fashion Industry

by Andre Heslop

M

aking the wrong cut, having excess material in storage and equipment downtime are all woes that Fashion Designers can encounter during the operation of their business. According to the principle of Lean Manufacturing, these are considered waste.

The concept of Lean is actually a business model and philosophy (adapted and improved upon by the Japanese) of approaching work in such a way that waste is eliminated or reduced, thereby reducing total cost and improving the quality of outputs. Waste in the world of Lean is any activity in the production system that does not add value to the product and below are some examples:

Overproduction • Waiting, including time in queues, storage, etc.

• Transportation (between workstations, or between supplier and customer) • Over processing (Non-value-adding activities) • Excess inventory • Waste motion (Movement of equipment or people) • Cost of poor quality: scrap, rework, and inspection • Incorrect use of, or unused skills.

• The concept LEAN can take various forms and below are just three of the more popular techniques that you can implement as a part of your process, ensuring the success of your business.

5-S

Benefits of Going Lean

Some of the benefits derived from implementing Originally named after the Japanese words for one or more of the lean principles are: Originally named after the Japanese words for • Quality performance, fewer defects and each technique each beginning with S. The five rework (in house and at customer) words have been translated into English as • Fewer Machine and Process Breakdowns Sort • Lower levels of Inventory Set in Order • Greater levels of Stock Turnover Shine • Less Space Required Standardize • Higher efficiencies, more output per man Sustain hour

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)

• Improved delivery performance • Faster Development • Greater Customer Satisfaction

The lean principle emphasizes proactive and • Improved employee morale and preventative maintenance to maximize the involvement operational efficiency of equipment. No longer • Improved Supplier Relations is the task left up to the maintenance team but minor upkeep is required by the operators of the machines. Therefore oiling, greasing, dusting, With the assistance from engineers trained tightening of machinery is a shared task between in using these techniques, manufacturers can operator and maintenance personnel. implement them in very affordable ways. No company is too small or large to use Lean and the JBDC can help you to start on the road to a Poke – Yoke (Error Proofing) more efficient business.

Waste can occur because of someone doing a particular operation incorrectly. Error-proofing makes it difficult or impossible to do the job the wrong way. Tagging patterns for example, with instructions or clearly marking the sizes on them will reduce the possibility of cutting the wrong size garment.

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IN THE

SPOTLIGHT Fashioned in Favour:

Nateisha Williams FHL Designs

by Andre Heslop

I

t is not often you hear of a Christian Designer; however Nateisha Williams of FHL Designs refers to herself as just that. With no shame or fear she credits God for everything that she has been through to this point in her life and for endowing her with the talent for creating simple but intricate fashion pieces.

Nateisha’s story is not your typical tale of the clichéd arts lover, enlisting in a local college or an overseas design institution to be trained and certified or even interning at a fashion house, but rather one of very humble beginnings.

Raised in Old Harbour, St. Catherine she completed her education at the Old Harbour High School. Upon completion of her secondary education she was not sure which route her life would take, but knew that her current challenging circumstances which included hunger, sleeping on the floors and moving from house to house was not the life she wanted. Her desire for success and stability became paramount.

A Taste of Success “I went to cosmetology school at the Extra Touch Institute of Beauty and learned the art of make-up application, hair styling, etc. However, I was drawn to nail technology and pursued a career in the field,” she said.

Having experienced a taste of success in those early years, Nateisha admits that she was still uncertain of her true purpose. The opening of Nateisha’s boutique and nail care, though successful at the time, did not fill the void. There was also the jerk centre which kept her busy and helped to finance her party lifestyle, but there was a missing element. Short-lived was her taste of success because the Lord was about to intervene in her life.

interest in learning that skill and it so happened that the Lord favoured me once more and she taught me the techniques for free and I started to make my own fashion pieces,” she said.

The brand FHL Designs marketed itself; “as the Lord would have it, a proposal from a friend to supply her store with a few pieces quickly escalated to receiving orders from friends of that “Everything was starting to go down and I friend to where FHL Designs is now. I design for could not understand why at the time,” Nateisha the woman that is Bold, Expressive, Chic, Happy shared. Firstly, the nail care and boutique and and Different because I try to see myself in the pieces first before I see anyone else wearing them then the jerk centre followed suit. and at times it’s hard to let get go,” Nateisha said with a hearty laugh.

Inspiration for a new direction and finding a purpose Things were going well once more but a sense “I’m not someone who learns easily so doing of incompletion lingered. Nateisha began to something new would be very difficult for me,” seek the Lord by reading the Bible starting she said. Being at home with nothing to do was from Genesis. But upon reaching Leviticus, a new territory for the entrepreneur who had been greater sense of indebtedness overcame her and working since the age of 17. However, once again immediately she gave her life to God. her entrepreneurial spirit was set ablaze by God Now the Christian Designer, Nateisha uses the in a vision. “The voice said to me, I will give you fashion designing platform to give praises and a skill you know not of,” she added. credit to God for her journey and spread his With a domestic sewing machine and a message of Faith, Hope and Love the true essence handwritten sign at her gate which read ‘taking of FHL Designs – a fact observed on her social in uniforms,’ she began to alter uniforms for media pages and personal encounters. school children in her community during the “Fear cripples you and God did not give us back-to-school season. “I met a lady who taught a spirit of fear but of love, power and a sound pattern-making to children and expressed my mind. Last but not least…. With God all things are possible”. ~ Nateisha Williams

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JULY - SEPTEMBER 2018