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Exquisitely British - The British Entrepreneur Club for Luxury Brands
An Interview with...
Lorraine & Paul White
Co-founders of Hashtag Collective
By Clare Heighway - 28th November 2014
Lorraine and Paul White are the husband and wife co-founders of luxury menswear brand Hashtag Collective. They talk to us about business, inspiration and the highlight of numerous features in GQ Magazine.
Tell us about yourselves.
We're Lorraine and Paul White, a husband and wife team from North London. Hashtag Collective are a new online luxury menswear brand who cater to the fashion conscious male who takes pride in his appearance. We are a London based brand, but we ship worldwide.
Where did the idea for Hashtag Collective come from?
Both of us were working in the corporate world; Lorraine as a qualified accountant and Paul in the IT industry. We had seen a flurry of new business start-ups arising and decided it was our time to shine. Fashion and quality was something that we inherently loved and it seemed like a natural step for us to take. Our inspiration to start in the menswear arena, and with t-shirts more specifically, was initially born out of the great t-shirt designs by Alexander McQueen, ACNE and LANVIN. We were keen for our first collection to incorporate something that inspired and influenced us and we felt the best way to portray this was via a debut t-shirt collection called “Essence of London”.
Who's your ideal customer?
Our ideal customer is a fashion forward male who places value on quality and enjoys the full shopping experience. We take pride in our brand and ensure that each of our garments are of a quality standard.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Visibility! People not knowing our brand or what we were about has been a challenge, but an enjoyable one and one we have relished. It forces us to be creative, engaging and interactive and that itself brings so much vitality to the brand and our working days.
What has been your biggest highlight?
Our features in GQ! We have been featured in the GQ Style file pages of the print magazine for the last 3 editions, and we were also offered the opportunity to run our own competition online with GQ throughout the month of June. We teamed up with Red Letter Days to offer a great prize; a super car raving experience (Aston Martin and a Lamborghini experience) as well as our full debut collection, "Essence of London". It's a real accomplishment for us to be recognised by such a prestigious brand in the industry and has led to many more opportunities for Hashtag Collective since.
What are you inspired by?
We are inspired by those who have built a business from the ground up, with little previous experience in a particular sector e.g. Steve Jobs, Richard Branson and those who have excelled in sport through hard work and dedication e.g. Lewis Hamilton and Anthony Joshua.
Do you have any advice for other entrepreneurs?
Know your customer and create a product that your consumer will love. Work on something you’re passionate about; success is linked to the effort you are willing to invest. Most importantly keep going!
Do you have any favourite British brands?
We love Reiss, Ted Baker and Pringle of Scotland.
What does your “typical” work day look like?
7am: Cup of tea and toast while checking and responding to emails.
9am: Review to do list for the day, browse social media and write and reply to posts
10am: Midday calls and emails with manufacturers and suppliers on designs for the new ranges
12.00 – 12.30: A quick lunch at Pret
13:00 – 14:00: Review and update of website content.
14:00 – 16:00: Process/pack and dispatch orders for the day and the previous night
16:00 – 17:00: Contact stockists, follow up on PR opportunities
17:00 – 18:00: More social media posts and replies
18:00 – 19:00: Review of the day’s events and preparation of to-do-list for tomorrow.
19:00 – 22:00: Attend any industry related events that are occurring that week.
What do you think is important in developing a successful British brand?
Staying authentic is crucial. We are British born and we embrace everything about being British inherently by just being ourselves. When choosing to collaborate with other brands we always scour the British arena first.
How do you manage the work/life balance?
It can be tricky and often work can spill into personal time, but we adopt little tips and tricks into our lives to ensure we find a way to separate business from pleasure. We try to earmark at least one evening a week to spend having time to ourselves; we like to go out to eat.
What are your plans for the future?
We are proud to have entered into the Cashmere market with our new, luxuriously soft Milo Cashmere range and are looking forward to expanding the range further in 2015 and to stock our products internationally. We hope this will increase our customer base globally.
For more information on Hashtag Collective visit the website at www.hashtagcollective.co.uk
Hashtag Collective are a Best of British member.
Read more about them here.
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