As the founder of two hugely successful jewellery chains, business brain Colette Hayman knows a thing or two about forging retail gems. Daniela Aroche reports.
Master entrepreneur Colette Hayman admits she is a bit of a contradiction.
Famous for founding successful accessories chain Diva in 2002, Hayman decided to sell the business to BB Retail Capital in November 2007. Not long after, she felt she needed something to “sink teeth into” – and so, Colette Accessories was born.
This label, and its legacy, has been the focus of her attention ever since – but looking back, she concedes that launching an eponymous brand goes against her true nature; nor could she have imagined that it would ever have landed her in a legal war with one of Australia's elite designers.
“My weakness is that I am actually quite a shy person and I don’t like being in the public eye, so having my name on the door is a bit of a contradiction of who I am,” she says.
“But at the same time, it does give me a great sense of pride of what we are building and allows me a unique connection with my customers.”
Now, as reported earlier by Ragtrader [April 2012], Hayman's label will hold even more of a connection with its owner, with the label in the midst of a rebrand to change title from Colette Accessories to Colette by Colette Hayman.
The relaunch follows a legal dispute filed in 2010 by iconic Australian designer Collette Dinningan, in which Dinningan – who also runs eponymous labels Collette Dinnigan mainline, Collette by Collette Dinnigan lingerie and Collette by Collette Dinnigan diffusion – disputed the use of the name 'Colette Accessories' claiming it would be wrongly associated with her long-standing brands.
While the case has now been settled by mutual agreement following mediation, Hayman has never let the legal scuffle phase her and, as reported by Ragtrader in September last year, she went ahead with a national retail roll out for Colette Accessories while the case was still ongoing in 2011, simultaneously filing a cross-claim against Dinningan.
However, now that the bullets have been fired and the smoke has cleared, Hayman admits that the rebranding of her latest accessories venture, will actually benefit the business going forward.
“At no stage did the proceedings slow the development of the business, however, we’re excited by the new name as we feel the brand has been elevated,” she says.
“The action taken by Collette Dinnigan turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it highlighted the fact, that in order to build a global business we needed to adapt our branding to deter similar proceedings across the globe, hence the new name Colette by Colette Hayman.”
If Hayman's track record is anything to go by, the future of Colette by Colette Hayman – now legally viable – is bright. In fact, world domination would be a good way of describing it, explains Hayman.
“I have 26 years of fashion experience across South Africa, the UK and Australia – from starting on the retail floor to manufacturing, wholesaling and owning a retail company – I've pretty much done it all in the fashion business,” she says.
“So I've been in the industry a long time and have used all my learnings from previous roles to develop the Colette business. Each year I grow in different areas and I'm never complacent, [and] with Colette by Colette Hayman we hope to develop a global retail business of both company and franchised stores that can stand tall amongst all the international fashion operators. We understand each new market will take time to develop and get right but the opportunities are enormous.”
To be precise, Hayman articulates that the plan, loosely, is to reach 100 stores over the next 12 months – approximately five stores a month from June to October with a break to take advantage of the Christmas trading period before pushing on – plus, launch stores across New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa.
While it may seem Hayman has a lot on her plate, she is confident it's achievable – and she has a few tricks up her sleeve, or rather, a good team at her side.
This team, which she makes a point of hand-picking herself, is led by her husband Mark, who has been her business partner since they met on a modelling shoot years ago.
“I was working as a part time model and sales assistant in fashion retail when I met my husband Mark and started modelling for his clothing brand,” she recalls.
“I eventually joined Mark in his clothing manufacturing business where I soon realised I had a talent for design. I later took charge of all design and buying which lead to our first fashion chain of 55 stores across South Africa.
“Now, as CEO, Mark handles most of the stress which allows me to look after the design, buying, marketing, brand and creative direction of the company, [but] I’m a fairly good judge of character and I believe this goes a long way in employing the right people in my business so I have a policy of only hiring the best people, whether it’s in our stores or head office.”
However, while Hayman remains quite steadfast on policies such as her hiring process, she reveals that the company ethos for Colette by Colette Hayman is actually quite relaxed – another paradox.
“Although our company vision and business model is very much planned the 'rolling with the punches' philosophy comes from our buying and design departments. This is where we are ever evolving. Being flexible is the key as it’s the customer who ultimately decides what they like,” she admits.
In essence, it's perhaps this understanding of her core customer which has made Hayman and her ventures – past and present – such a success.
“I love fashion, travelling, being in business, having a purpose and achieving,” Hayman muses.
“When I arrived from the UK in 2000, I was looking for a gap in the market to start a fashion business and discovered no-one except Sportsgirl was doing fashion accessories well… and Diva was born. When I sold Diva, I realised money wasn’t my main motivator, success was. I'd wake up each day wishing I was still in business.
“I’m proud of Diva, it was my concept and I don’t have anything negative to say about it. It's a great business but its customer is younger than ours which wasn’t always the case. The Colette customer is my old Diva customer grown up. She's fashion savvy, self-assured and sexier than when I first knew her [and] the business is going well in these troubled times,” she says.
However, above all, Hayman says it's experience, trial and error, and the advantage of a well-seasoned player that makes the difference between a hit, and a miss.
“In a retail business you need to identify a gap, recruit an incredible team, build a great culture, deploy world class information systems, create a brand, develop a solid supply chain, develop great product sold at the right price in an aspirational store that differentiates from its competitors and find great locations. It sounds simple... but it takes many years of mistakes, luck and experience to make it a success.”
And that, is one thing – perhaps only – that Hayman shares in likeness with former sparring partner Dinningan – albeit now, under a slightly different name
