TCF consultant Serena Beirne chairs Fashion Exposed's advisory panel, working on new ways to make the trade fair successful for all involved. Erin O'Loughlin uncovers how and why she ended up in the hot seat.
Serena Beirne pulls no punches when asked what lured her into the slick world of marketing. “Messing with people's heads for a living! I'm all about making people make different decisions than they wanted to when they woke up this morning.”
Co-owner and director of TCF consulting firm Australian Fashion Partners (AFP), Beirne has spent the past seven years devising strategies to steer fashion companies through the mire of samples and showrooms, fibres and fabrics. Before she began to dabble in shoes and frocks, however, Beirne got her start working on marketing some of life's other fine pleasures.
“I did a lot of work with Tourism Australia, lots of work with wine companies, hotels, all operating in the space of emotionally-based purchases,” she says.
Things began to veer in a different direction when she met and married one Dominic Beirne, a TCF consultant and part of a family that has operated everything from department stores in Queensland, to agencies, to large apparel firms.
After months of coming home from Tourism Australia to help Dominic write strategic marketing advice for his clients, it became evident there was a gap in the TCF consulting market the couple could fill.
“We identified there wasn't much strategic intent in the way people in the TCF industries operated," Beirne recalls. "Trying to be entrepreneurial-minded ourselves, we identified that hole so both went and got MBAs.”
Thus what used to be Dominic Beirne's solo TCF consulting business transformed into AFP. Established in 2003 and now Beirne's full-time world, AFP offers strategic advice to TCF businesses on how they can enjoy a successful and sustainable life, consulting on everything from market launches to exporting to landing government grants.
Despite not originally setting out to forge a career in the TCF industry, Beirne says there have been a number of upsides to running with the fashion crowd. Top of the list are the “amazing” creatives and the information they share.
“Their honesty and candour in how they work with us and when something goes wrong means we've got learning that other people in the industry can take advantage of,” she says.
“It's nice to have that depth of knowledge within an industry that often doesn't talk to each other.”
Memorable clients have included organic t-shirt producers Certton – “they're young men who know what they want out of it and they're working tirelessly to get it”; streetwear label Vanguard – “really on the way to doing some special stuff”; and independent womenswear designer Gary Bigeni – “he is a great example of people who make friends, not enemies, in this industry”.
Yet running a TCF business has not been all bright smiles and shared achievements, and Beirne isn't backward about coming forward when asked about the challenges of consulting to the fashion sector. Top of her list is the industry's fixation on public relations.
“Designers that win things like the Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards, they're still working 20 hours a week in a coffee shop because they can't pay their bills,” she says.
“They're concentrating all the time on making noise as opposed to making good product and building relationships.”
Other uphill battles include governmental support that is “confusing, frustrating [and] doesn't speak directly to the market” and an industry that is “notorious for people not paying their bills”.
Her desire to change things for the better motivated Beirne to look to Fashion Exposed and its organiser Marie Kinsella. Beirne first began working with Kinsella in 2003.
“We saw her as a fantastic industry ally that had a lot of potential to do more for the industry and she felt the same way,” Beirne says. “We would always chat and then at one point I suggested there be an increased involvement from industry. It's a great way to get real time feedback.”
The result was the formation of the Fashion Exposed advisory panel in early 2010. Beirne chairs the panel, which includes members such as Jenny's Shoppe owner Ellen Kop and Sass Clothing managing director Talitha Becker. The panel's research and discussions have resulted in new initiatives such as a Melbourne retail tour that will be introduced at the August 29-31 fair.
Looking ahead, Beirne is also expanding AFP's own areas of business, recently launching a new fashion agency. Among her passions remains the desire to continue encouraging the scattered fashion industry to start working more collaboratively, something she is trying to achieve in her current voluntary role as regional director of Fashion Group International.
“I have never encountered – and I've worked across so many industries – such a fragmented industry that works against itself so often,” she says. “If people want to see this industry survive they really need to get involved and join an association and actually speak up.”