Name
Claire Lawrence
Old Position
Creative Director
New Career
Business Owner
What is your current role?
I am the owner of West Chelsea Market, a sustainable fashion brand based on the Kings Road in the heart of Chelsea. The neighbourhood has a rich fashion history and spirit from Mary Quant to Vivienne Westwood. We embrace that artisanal, natural mood. Our fleece fabrics are partly made from recycled landfill plastic bottles.
What was your previous career path?
I’ve always worked in fashion design. I started off at Saint Martin’s School of Art and then did an MA in fashion at the Royal College.
After graduating, I worked in Munich for several years at a company called Escada. I then went to Italy to a company called Ittierra working on brands like D&G and Versace. After the novelty of that wore off, I moved back to London and became head of design at a Fenn Wright Manson.
It was a fantastic company, almost like a family run business. We were one of the best-selling brands at John Lewis. We were in House of Fraser, Selfridges and big retailers in places like Canada.
What made you decide to change your career direction?
The owner, Colin, decided he wanted to sell the company. I was creative director and part-owner of the company by that stage. The other four directors took over, but a private equity house had most of the shares.
Within a year it went into administration because they had spent so much money and brought in people who didn’t know what they were doing. I lost a lot of money that I had invested.
Fenn Wright was like my baby to me – I had put so much into it and that year under private equity management had taken a lot out of me.
After that I didn’t want to do anything for several years, apart from a little consultancy work. I had the children to look after – school runs and meetings with teachers.
Whatever you do, you have to just take little steps, otherwise it can seem overwhelming
How did you go about making the change?
I felt like being creative again. The children had grown up – one is now 17 the other is now 15 – so they are able to look after themselves.
I had itchy fingers and felt the need to do something. I found this course with Brave Starts. They put me in contact with Phoenix.
By coincidence, at that time, I discovered I had a small pension with Standard Life (a Phoenix Group company) that I didn’t know about. I’m using a small lump sum from that to fund the new business.
People want artisan, natural, hand-crafted goods. I live on the Kings Road in Chelsea. I thought it would be great to have a modern take on the 60s vibe, that Mary Quant feel, using UK factories to do a small amount of product. That allows me to test the waters before going into things like tee-shirts, dresses, knitwear.
What help or advice did you get?
Lots of people have done me lots of favours. The models in our photoshoot were friends of my son’s. I found a great photographer/videographer and a fantastic web developer helped me create my website. Hopefully I can repay them in a good way.
Another great support is Portobello Business Centre (a government initiative) where I’ve got a business mentor, Greig Thomas, who is fantastic at helping me with SEO (search engine optimisation) and things like that.
How hard was it to start your own company?
It hasn’t been hard to return. I felt like I should have done it years ago but sometimes the time just isn’t right.
When you’re working for a large company as a director, you have a lot of other people involved. Everybody in the team has their speciality so I do miss being able to ask the IT department, for example, to sort the computer.
It’s a completely different way of thinking and a massive learning curve. I don’t think you’re ever too old to learn something and I’m certainly learning a lot of things. Marketing is probably my weakest area so I’m getting to grips with that.
What would you say to other people who are thinking of making a change?
Don’t be nervous about returning or changing career. It can feel very daunting and I had a block, initially, but I then started doing something. Even if it was just looking online that led to Brave Starts and that led to Phoenix. I think it’s about trusting your natural gut instincts.
Whatever you do, you have to just take little steps, otherwise it can seem overwhelming. The little things become bigger things, and you feel that you are achieving something.
