Cutting The Cloth To Suit The Market
Greta Abrahamson, Chris Levin and Archie Leggatt were entrepreneurs in South Africa. Greta and Chris were leading couturiers, dressing wealthy, sophisticated women and, as such, were keen rivals. Archie owned and ran the premier fashion design school in the country, supplying designers to important fashion houses across the world.
Yet in mid-1988, their lives changed completely when they were asked individually by South African Airways to design company uniforms to match the airlines new corporate identity.
The proposition was deceptively simple the reality was very different. They had to clothe pilots, air hostesses, technicians and ground staff all over the world, a total of 12,500 employees. But that was not all.
In the changing political climate, they were told the corporate identity programme was considered vitally important to the country. They would be paid a minimum fee and given free international travel. In short, they were being asked to work for god and country. How could they refuse?
Suffice to say, they could not and so Corporate Clothing Consultants (CCC) was born as a part-time activity.
By the end of 1996, the company had more than 100 employees, 52 subcontract manufacturers and had clothed many of the large companies in South Africa, including SA Telcom, Nedbank, Fedex and Boland Bank. They had also expanded into the global market in 1996 by winning a competitive tender to clothe the employees of TNT, a large international courier. So what was the secret of this success story?
None of us could afford to refuse and we all knew it. To be left out would have been infinitely worse than whatever had to be done.
The opportunity
Like all successful entrepreneurs, they seized the opportunity. Moreover, they used their first contract to learn about the business, to develop a clear understanding of customer needs and to develop creative ways of capturing customer interest. They believed they should be projecting an image of quality and service while making people feel good about themselves. This was not easy.
Getting the clothes to individuals, each of whom was a different size and shape and had different tastes and needs depending upon the climate and job, was a complex operation and had to be managed with precision.
The partners
CCC was an unlikely combination. Three highly successful, energetic, creative people, all with very different personalities, their own clear view of the fashion business and their own ways of working and yet it worked. The reasons are simple: In fashion terms they found they were on the same wavelength. For example, in preparation for the SAA deal, they had each designed clothes of similar style and quality. As a result, trust was added to professional respect.
They were all perfectionists, believed in attention to detail and were constantly innovating, using every new job as an opportunity to hone and enhance their service.
Having begun, they were hungry for success growth was the only option.
In fact, we designed for each other, not SAA.
The service
Most of the competition had a range of trousers and blazers from which the client chose and to which the suppliers added a corporate logo. CCC was very different. It produced a new design, including the cloth, for each client. Indeed, by 1996, the concept had evolved well beyond the original design service requested by SAA to providing the client with not only design but also buying, manufacturing, warehousing, pest control, delivery and insurance.
This meant looking carefully at the users of the product and adding value for them. They designed styles that gave the staff maximum choice. They gave the client a quality image in the marketplace and employees individual service, offering a telephone hot line and consultants to help them get results out of the clothes in the most effective way.
Managing growth
Clearly, they had a good feel for the market and for customer needs but so do many aspiring entrepreneurs. However, not all manage to deliver their promises, particularly at such a rate. What are the managerial lessons of this case?
Like most entrepreneurial teams, they have evolved a way of making decisions that has no written rules except that they talk all the time. They use their networks and are constantly looking for new leads. They also understand their own limitations. For example, they did not have the level of technical ability to control the details of stock movements and costs. So they hired a professional.
We set about learning what the employees need and want, and then we translate it into clothes which management also like.
They go to great lengths to give customers what they want, even if it means going outside the traditional business. To do this, they constantly talk to their clients, both the senior management and also, perhaps more importantly, they constantly involve employees who have to wear their clothes at all stages of the process.
People often find the three of us quite intimidating. They assume that we are judging them by what they are wearing but then the funny combination amuses them, they relax, get to know us and find we are really quite nice.
Any successful new venture is based upon the skills, passions and credibility of the founders. Employees rarely have these to the same degree and the trick for any entrepreneur in growing a venture is to know which activities to delegate and which to hold close.
Greta, Chris and Archie built the credibility of CCC on their own reputations and abilities as designers. This was the one activity they were not ready to delegate and it paid off. Potential clients were always surprised, and pleased, to see atleast one, and often all three, turning up to do presentations and to talk to employees.
They have built critical mass through careful development of a large network of suppliers and are equally careful about relations with them. They know they are attractive to these suppliers because their orders are not seasonal, as with retailers, but they do not trade on this. Indeed, they are considerate of suppliers cash needs and always pay on time.
Last, but not least, they enjoy themselves.
And their challenge? To maintain all this in the future.
We dont want a quick fix. We know it will take time and investment.