Ethical clothing company founder

Name:

Tamsin Davis

Location:

London

Company/College:

Nancy Dee

• Tell us about your job – where do you work and what do you do?

  My sister and I work together on our own ethical womenswear label, Nancy Dee.  I manage the business side of things and she designs the collections.  I currently work from home, and my role itself is quite diverse.  I handle all the day-to-day tasks – answering press and shop enquiries, sales and invoicing, and scheduling – as well as projects such as photo shoots, look book design and fabric research.
  

• What inspired you to do what you do?  How did you get into it, did you have a plan?

  I‘ve spent a lot of time travelling in developing countries, which has given me direct insight into other cultures and the way that our purchasing decisions back home can affect other people’s lives.  When I returned from Asia, having fulfilled my desire to see that part of the world, I was looking for a project to take on.  My sister, meanwhile, had always been involved in fashion design – she’d done a degree and had sold her designs at market stalls in London.  We decided to set up a new womenswear label together - but we wanted to ensure that its social and environmental impact was minimal.  At that time, there were no exciting ethical labels that combined great design with wearable pieces at affordable prices.  So, having spotted this gap in the market, we went for it!

• Why is your job meaningful?  Both to you personally, and in how it benefits the wider world in terms of climate change and other environmental challenges

  I love the variety of my work, and the fact that I am personally responsible for its success.  I’m my own boss and, although that can be scary, I find it gives me the drive to work harder at what I do.
  When we set up Nancy Dee, we were adamant that the world probably didn’t need yet another clothing label, so our pieces had to have minimal impact upon society and the environment, and we had to find a niche in the market.  All our clothes use natural, organic or sustainable fabrics – such as organic cotton, soy bean, modal or bamboo.  New sustainable fabrics are being developed all the time, and it’s really exciting to be able to use them in our designs.
  Added to the above is a strong desire to run our business with as little damage to the environment as possible – for example, all office paper waste is recycled, ink cartridges are reused, we promote the use of our website as an online resource to save on printing, and we use online video conferencing to save on travel for meetings.  It’s an ongoing process, and we’re constantly trying to improve.
  

• Many jobs in this sector are very new, how long has your job existed?

  We set up Nancy Dee, in May 2008.
  

• What personal qualities do you think have got you where you are today?

  •  Discipline and a strong work ethic.
  •  An eye for graphic design and photography.
  •  Good organisational skills.
  •  An entrepreneurial spirit, and the belief that the business can work.
  •  The understanding that mistakes are going to be made; it’s what you learn from them that counts.

• What are the essential skills for your job?

  •  On a practical level, good computer skills are essential; I use programs like Excel and Word on a
      daily basis.  Photoshop is what I generally use for designing look books and adverts – although
      something like Illustrator would probably be better.
  •  I create fairly complex spreadsheets to deal with the costing of garments, so a basic handling of
      maths is very useful to work out different cost scenarios.
  •  It’s important to have a good understanding of the written English language, as I often have to write
      press releases and sales blurb, web content, and documents with detailed information about
      Nancy Dee.
  

• What qualifications do you have? Are these typical for people in your role?

  I have 10 GCSEs and 4 A-levels (Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Art).  I gained my first degree in Film & Video.  Then, after a few years in employment, I went back to university to study a degree in Social Policy and Economics, because the subject really interested me.
  Neither of my degrees have direct relevance to my job, but I do feel that that they taught me vital skills - such as writing essays, presentation of reports, working to deadlines and organising my own workload.  By the way, any degree will teach you these skills, so it’s important to choose a subject that you’re genuinely interested in!
  Personally, I loved the fact that my Film & Video course allowed my creative side a free rein.  It also taught me the basics of taking good photographs and using Photoshop.  The Economics element of my second degree has been useful in understanding the basics of business strategy, whilst the Social Policy element has encouraged my interest in enabling disadvantaged communities to work their way out of poverty, whether that’s here in the UK or in the developing world.

• What do you think most helped you get where you are now?

  Good support and advice from family and friends, an initial investment to start up the company, and the financial stability to work unpaid until the business took off.
  

• Please describe a typical working day

  My work is so varied that it’s hard to describe a typical day!
  Unless I’m away visiting factories in India, or attending trade shows, a day generally starts with emails - anything from sending images of a new collection to the press, answering a stockist’s question about a particular style, organising a fashion show or making contact with a new shop.
  I tend to spend part of the day writing text - either for the website or our Facebook pages, press releases, or email templates to send out to stockists.  Much of my time is spent creating adverts and pictures in Photoshop - I’m still not very fast at this, so it can take a while!  I also use this program to help create the fabric prints that we produce each season.
  Then there’s the work on the pricing of our garments - checking that I have up-to-date costs for manufacture, fabrics, delivery, import tax, etc - and budgeting for projects like photo shoots, trade shows or advertising.
  Once a month I do all the invoicing, and check to see who's paid and who hasn’t.  Then I have to chase the people who owe money; not the most fun part of the job!
  Finally, I might go out in the afternoon – sometimes I have to post samples to a magazine or fashion show, or visit the bank to organise an international payment to suppliers abroad.
  Every 6 months we do a major trade show in London, which requires a huge amount of organisation.  Our stand is built from scratch and has to be decorated, plus there’s the logistics and advertising to consider, and more web content to be uploaded.  Also every 6 months we have a photo shoot and a fashion show in collaboration with other eco-labels, and this means that I often have to organise things like models and locations.

• What do you enjoy most and least about what you do?

  Photography has been a hobby of mine for years, so what I love most is taking photos for our collections.  I like designing and producing the look books and promotional material too - it allows me a creative outlet amongst all the administration work!
  My worst job is chasing customers for payment when their invoices are overdue.
  

• What kind of people do you meet through your work or do you work alone?

  Although I mainly work from home, I do get to meet lots of interesting people - from other ethical designers trying to improve the face of fashion, to those that work in our factories in India, who come from very different cultures and backgrounds.
  

• Do you feel well paid for what you do, or is it not about the money?

  Well, I had to work unpaid for 2 years to get the company up and running.  I was fortunate to be self-employed in other work at the time, which enabled me to do the extra hours needed to get Nancy Dee off the ground.  We’re just about to start paying ourselves a wage, but it will be very low until the company takes off in a bigger way.  I don’t mind though, because I love what I do!
  

• Finally, what do you know now about jobs, careers and the future that you wish you’d known when you were at school?

  I wish I’d realised that a good understanding of English (spoken and written) accompanied by computer literacy are the most important skills for any job, since they're used in just about every type of employment.
  I wish I’d worried less about which subjects to choose for GCSE, and to a lesser extent A-levels, as the jobs I’ve done have borne no relation to the subjects I chose at school.  The grades are definitely important for getting into university but, once you have a degree, many employers don’t check what grades you achieved previously.  Unless you’re planning a specialist career that has certain required subjects, don’t get too hung up on what the careers advisor suggests!
  University learning is so different to learning at school.  You no longer have a teacher explaining what you need to do to pass an exam; instead you have to go off and research a subject by yourself - so good self-discipline is needed.  This came as quite a shock to me, but it gave me really useful skills like working to my own deadlines, researching information and always questioning the validity of what people tell you.
  Lastly, always choose subjects that you are interested in or that you are good at.  None of my school teachers wanted me to study Film & Video at university because I could have done something like Architecture, but I was fascinated by film-making and, consequently, loved my 3 years of study.  Working and studying are so much easier if you love what you’re doing.