Aron Sharpe has been in the fashion distribution business since the early 1980\u2019s and has seen many ups, many downs and plenty of uncertain times throughout that period, though none quite as uncertain as the current coronavirus threat poses. Having adapted his company\u2019s business model in the past year, he\u2019s remaining positive and better prepared for the times ahead, though he knows full well that right now we can only take one day at a time.<\/p>\n
What brands are you working with now and what distribution deals do you have? What\u2019s your take on how independents are generally doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n Everybody is suffering, but I think the retailers who repositioned themselves over the last few years \u2013 so they are not competing with the high street and retailers selling the same brands \u2013 are faring a lot better than the ones who are still trying to compete. A lot of independents have moaned about distribution policies, but they are the ones that haven\u2019t moved their product offer on to make them stand out and be different to what\u2019s on the high street. They are the ones that we see are now having the real problems. Some are even being dictated to by companies regarding their brand adjacencies, and told that if they don\u2019t comply with them then they will pull their supply of products.<\/p>\n What\u2019s your take on how coronavirus is hitting the business? Are you currently having trouble getting paid for what\u2019s already been delivered for SS20?<\/strong><\/p>\n There are a few clients who\u00a0immediately\u00a0used\u00a0coronavirus as an excuse\u00a0before the real issues started\u00a0regarding payments due, but it\u2019s the\u00a0your usual slow\u00a0payers who are straight on the phone to you. Then there\u2019s the other genuine guys that you talk to\u00a0who work with you.\u00a0We are going to have to look at helping\u00a0out as much as we can,\u00a0giving payment extensions\u00a0if we are able\u00a0because of the way things are.<\/p>\n Have your deliveries been affected? What do you think the future holds?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s an unquantifiable position right at this point, and things are changing so quickly. No-one knows how long this is going to go on for. In terms of everything we\u2019re importing, I just don\u2019t know, it\u2019s too early to tell. Never the less, business has been really poor here in general, so it\u2019s just another layer of problems for the retailers to overcome. They\u2019ve been paying very high rents and rates, so this is another real smack in the mouth for them. And it\u2019s going to be hard for everyone all round. What we\u2019re saying now is, if it\u2019s a new client that we\u2019re dealing with, then we\u2019ll expect a deposit from them\u00a0until the lockdown lifts, as it\u2019s easy for them to say they\u2019ll take the goods in, but they\u2019ve got no commitment to financial exposure, where as we have. So, we\u2019re being very careful from this point on. Quite simply, if they\u2019re not prepared to pay a deposit, then we\u2019re not prepared to bring the goods in during these unquantifiable times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":137885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16042,5,9762,6],"tags":[17132,17133],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nWhat\u2019s different at Options?
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\nWe changed the whole business about six months ago, so we\u2019ve been a bit fortunate in a way. I dropped importing all the brands we had from Italy last season, such as Colmar, Antony Morato and a made in Italy denim collection from French swimwear brand Vilebrequin. I moved away from that area of the market because I felt there was going to be a significant drop in business. The historical market of independents who we grew up with have gradually faded away \u2013 or become part of JD Sports or Sports Direct. That\u2019s not where\u00a0we\u00a0felt\u00a0our\u00a0market was\u00a0moving forward. We work on small margins as it is, and they want\u00a0unworkable\u00a0discounts. The reality is, that\u2019s not a business for me, because it\u2019s all for\u00a0the\u00a0benefit\u00a0of the retailer. So, we re-focused our business in a different way - going further afield to the US and Japan for more niche brands but, as well as distributing them, we run the ecommerce sites for them as well. It\u2019s interesting because it\u2019s a totally different business. We\u2019re therefore not as exposed as much as\u00a0we\u00a0would have expected to be previously.<\/p>\n
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\nThe brands we\u2019re concentrating on working with now as European distributors are Pendleton, Tanner Goods, Quoddy, Reyn Spooner,\u00a0Peck and Snyder, Ebbets Field Flannels, Poten,\u00a0and Dubbleware. We\u2019ve also have licenses \u2013 with US Rubber Company and Colchester Rubber Co. vulcanised sneakers, and we\u2019ve just taken on a great Korean brand called Uniform Bridge. We will only work as full European distributors because our business is geared to selective distribution and positioning. We\u2019re not here just to write numbers, it\u2019s a long-term game plan. We\u2019re trying to only work with the best independent businesses, not with chain store groups and PLC\u2019s. In terms of the UK, we\u2019re supplying brands for the top tier retailers that are left, such as Mr Porter, End, Matchesfashion, The Bureau and Kafka, as well as other\u00a0quality\u00a0independents that are still dotted around the UK.<\/p>\n
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\nAt this point in time we really don\u2019t know how it\u2019s going to play out. It\u2019s changing on a daily basis. I would hope that by the end of April this will have subsided and we will be some way back to normality. If that\u2019s the case, then I don\u2019t see it over impinging the season. But, theoretically it could go on for months, and we could end up seeing a bloodbath in the retail sector, which would be scary. In terms of the Chancellor\u2019s announcement last week about Government help for struggling businesses, I think at the moment he\u2019s focused on particular industries that are going to be really heavily hit. I\u2019m not sure how you tap in to it, because I\u2019ve searched the internet to see what exactly it means to our sector, and it\u2019s not clear for me that it will actually help any clothing businesses.<\/p>\n
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\nNo, because we\u2019re fortunately not working out of China or Italy. America had threatened to put the duty up at one point, but thankfully they didn\u2019t do anything with it. There was a lot of bluster about it. We\u2019ve delivered everything from the US, Japan and Canada. In fact, we delivered the lot before the coronavirus crisis started, which was more fortune than strategy, if I\u2019m honest. Dealing with a lot of smaller companies meant we were able to deliver early. Going forward, I don\u2019t think the deliveries are generally going to be a problem, the problem will be whether the client can accept them all, which we understand, but it\u2019s a problem for everybody because the goods are contracted and somebody gets hurt. So, it\u2019s going to be about finding a resolution with everybody somehow.<\/p>\n