From Hong Kong to Hokitika and all in one day

Our flight lands in Auckland… sleep has been intermittent. I have been watching a revamp of the Footloose movie. “Disney” sniffed Tony but I loved it. I was alert given the lack of alcohol… that is one disadvantage to this dutifully executed dry spell I don't sleep as well. I’m aware of the huge day I have pending and get into a mild panic… you have to sleep, you have people relying on you, answers that need to be given and locations to get to… sleep, sleep, sleep. But to no avail. We land and I decide to man up and get on with it. First stop: head office in Morrinsville to sort and pick up. Next: Hamilton airport then onto my next destination Hokitika (via Christchurch).

Fresh work bundled in my laptop bag, I board the plane and three hours later I'm in Hokitika where I’m picked up and whisked to a fabulous Homestay by Rose my senior manager who is joining me for the adventure. I am introduced to my fellow house guests who are none other than Grahame Thorne and his wife. Yep Thorney the ex-All Black.

“Ask him about the perm” said my amused partner when I called to let him know I'd arrived safely and shared my roomy’s names.

“Hmmm. I don't even know who he is,” I said.

“He's got the cooking show, ex All Black, the sport’s commentator,” Tony replied.

“Great,” I thought, another interesting connection pending. A robust conversation at dinner but an early escape was not to be as I patiently looked at Thorneys photos on his iPhone… a wonderful snap shot of someone’s life that we can all now carry and share so easily.

Up early the next day, we head to the Agfest in the Hokitika township. It’s pouring with rain. No problem to the coasters was the general consensus. They are so used to this; in fact, we should see the numbers up as it will encourage the men to leave the farms for a day. The rain continued and a quiet day all round… not so convinced that the rain wasn't guilty. Home we go to change and ready ourselves for an event that evening where I am speaking at a local café. We arrive and it’s still raining. The cafe is packed and the evening goes well. I talk, Rose demonstrates the frocks, we encourage the women to visit us on stand the next day and still the rain pours down! 

Here are some snaps from my trip to China...

The morning arrives and the site is flooded. They kindly relocate us and we are ensconced in between the cranberries and a fellow rag trader. Great! We now have changing rooms. The stand is frantic and a great day of sales transpires. I consider the opportunities as I survey the demographic. I meet lots of local girls. I like what this town is… not the broken and busted environment I was expecting instead quite a tidy tourist town only thing is it’s lacking in frocks. Let’s hope that’s not for a reason. I trawl the town with a local companion, consider a pop up store, like what I find and start the wheels in motion.

I have always been about opportunities. It’s important to never become risk adverse even in these tougher trading environments. Simply minimize the risks and take the relevant opportunities even when the rain pours down.

Another presentation at the same cafe that night, a smaller audience but just as engaged. The rain has shifted gear… it is now like being in a shower on full tit. We finish and head out, hungry for dinner and wanting of sleep. It has been a big day… OMG the lights of our loaned vehicle are on. Yep, it’s deader than the doe doe. Our host comes to the rescue, makes a quick phone call and a mechanically minded bloke in an airtex shirt arrives, surveys the damage as a hapless Rose tries to explain (yep I’m dry, sitting in our rescuer’s car… for once this is not my problem).

The rain is pelting down sideways like nothing I have ever seen before. Rose is soaked through but there’s some consolation, our mechanic is cute. He solves the problem, we abandon the car and another takes us home. A bad hair day does not begin to describe Rose's appearance. We reflect on how it happened but move on quickly. It just has, we have dealt with it and are in the next phase after all… isn't that what a man would do!

The next day arrives and it is time to depart. I have loved my time here. So much has transpired and it is still raining.

And then we find out… our flight has been cancelled. Rose and I are dropped at the airport regardless and a bus sees us traversing the Haast Past to catch the next leg of our scheduled flight from Christchurch… another bucket list item ticked off for me. A brief stop at the top of the pass saw me try a great date scone (very unexpected) and three hours later we arrive and catch our flights home considering all that has happened in the last few days in a tiny town that so many never get to visit and we did!

Thank you Hokitika… you where wonderful hosts. I will return soon with frocks in tow and the beautiful Angie in my employ. See you on the 17th of August but in the meantime don't forget there is everything you could ever want at www.annahstretton.com

In the words of my Grandmother you can never be too rich or too skinny?

What is it with this ongoing quest to use skinny models for our photo shoots and fashion shows?

And with Fashion Week looming the debate is bound to rare its ugly head again. The sad irony for all of us in the fashion industry is that our clothes just look better on the smaller girls.

Selling frocks is all about creating inspirational looks that women aspire to rather than normal looks i.e women simply don't want to see themselves or what they can achieve themselves on the catwalks and in the magazines.

Alongside this runs the unkindness of the 10kg that the camera is thought to add to a woman's frame.

I guess the same debate runs through the publishing world with the cover photos of our magazines and the level of touch up that is applied to them.

God knows that some of my photos have to have some serious work now that I have joined the 50s brigade but why not… why would I want to put myself out to the world not looking the very best that I can.

Not so sure that the naked (no touch up) Lorraine Downs cover shot for the Australian Women's Weekly was such a ground breaking thing. Sure there is a truism around this but all in the name of what?

 So let’s get back to the model debate and how skinny is too skinny as I certainly have had a strong level of feedback on some of the recent photos that I posted to showcase one of our collections. The collection in question was a collaboration, so the choice of model was out of my control in regards to who was chosen for the shoot. I did however have choice around placement when it came time to load the images to our website and I effected the upload without too much thought to the visual.

I have, however now been forced to reconsider and rightly so given the many emails that I have received. Thank you to these women that have ensured that the messages I send around health and what is acceptable around body size remain consistent.
I am forever faced with the most perfect of figure shapes as I attend the many fashion shows that we do and will always have a preference for the healthy size figure as is shown in our latest Chameleon shots.

Jessica looks gorgeous and simply came to us via a Facebook model call.

(contact me if you think you'd be a great fit for my brand. I'd love to find a few more of this type of girl) She is simply stunning and I was proud to show her shots off in my recent UK trip. She is living proof that a great shot does not equate to a skinny girl!

Healthy girls simply look better in our gear and are a more relevant fit to our customer but unfortunately a healthy size 10-12 is about as big as we can go. It’s absolutely the best way to showcase those inspirational looks each season but that’s a long way from some of the unhealthy size 6-8s I have encountered in the industry. I'm even considering using dancers for my next show as I love the muscle tone that their occupation builds up.

So my request to you is to make sure you continue to have an opinion where the girl is too skinny. Just as you were able to contact me you can also contact others. Make a stand and help our industry move on from believing this is the look that sells our clothes. Remember you, in the end, are our customers and it’s all about you!

Email us an image of yourself if you think you have what it takes to be one of our healthy girls! admin@strettonclothing.co.nz

I'm in Ireland and got the teeshirt

Part two of our working break is about to begin.

We arrive in Ireland, Shannon to be exact, as Galway has no international airport. A car is hired and we set off north in search of our next destination.

We arrive and see a city of 70,000 wrapped up in festivity, proudly celebrating the Volvo Ocean Yacht race. Our hotel is cordoned off but we do find a park and check in to what resembles a Scenic Circle property at home. The win however is that it is right on top of all the action. We can see Camper and the other boats from our window… yep we are staying right on the docks. I love it and can definitely cope with a 4 star rating for this!

The first night, we braved the rain, scoped out the surrounding festivities (not a lot different to the food tents at any of our fairground shows) and made it to the designated restaurant, Cava where we ordered the mandatory tapas, passed on the wine and tried the local lemonade hmmm.

Day two we explored. Off we headed in our pint sized rental to Barna and O'Gradys restaurant to try the award winning fish and chips (when you don't have booze in your life you certainly focus on food).

Unfortunately the fresh cod did not get much above a 2 rating from us both so back to town to investigate the retail. Hmmmm… Definitely not a place that needs to be visited if one is looking for fashion direction but if it’s Gypsies and watering holes loaded with Guinness you want then you have a perfect match.

A formal dinner hosted by Rolex finished the day. Here we met the balance of the international designers along with some other great Irish personalities. Another dry night but then I possibly didn't miss too much as I've never seen the Irish as wine maker extraordinaires.

Day three and the models fit test looms. We find the Global Village and begin the long wait that attaches to days like these. The fittings over (I still don't know how the hell I will wrap 6 girls in Chameleons as I am positioned in the middle of a show but I’m about to give it a go) we head out for another food experience.

Calling up the expertise of our newly made Rolex friends we seek advice on location and end up dining in a cool little cafe right on the water ARD BIA… I loved it! Some great ideas gleaned for my own eating establishments and we headed off to wander; filling in time until the show at 8pm.

We arrive back at the Global Village around 7.30pm. It was great to get a couple of interviews with Irish media. I’m surprised they like us so much with the 60-0 thrashing that the All Blacks subjected them to in my home town of Hamilton. This also got a mention as they called my name in the show introduction.

The show begins. I watch the first few designers, ever aware of the time frames for me. We get close, out the back I go, models dressed tieing frantically with help from a local stylist Dehlila and out they go. They look fantastic! I know the senior styling team would have been proud (ever doubtful of my wrapping skills).

The show is over. At 10.30pm and still light outside we pack up and head back through a crowed port where hundreds of fans are ecstatic as they listen to their homegrown heroes, The Stun. There’s alcohol everywhere and getting very messy so we head back to the hotel. The music is pouring into our room as we are right in the middle of the action. Love love love it! As another city draws to a close for us we munch on a bag of crisps and drink the very flat Gaultier diet coke that we have discovered in our goodie bags. If that’s Galway I will be back!

London Calling

We’re in London and it hasn't stopped raining since we arrived. It seems my life is measured by the events that populate my year and once again the annual sojourn to the UK has arrived… not that I don't relish this time out of the business being exposed and introduced to all sorts of different environments, people, ideas and trends throughout fashion food and retail in general. This time I have chosen to fly through Hong Kong as I'm simply over the debacle that is the US transit process. I have also heard it’s 3 hours closer this way… I’m not so sure… regardless the trip went without hiccup… well nearly.

While transiting through security in Hong Kong on our way to the lounge for a two hour wait, Tony had not quite worked out his total bag count and left one at the security machine.

We arrived at the top of a very lengthy escalator and the missing bag was discovered. In a panic we looked around for a staircase to take us back down but there was none.

Solution: In a very James Bond moment he proceeded to descend the up escalator; much to the amusement of our fellow passengers. The bag was retrieved and we headed for the lounge.

Note to self: He's nearly 50 years old… things are just going to get worse.

Yes I’m still dry (Dry July) and managed to avoid the inflight alcohol, although it was not so difficult this time with Air New Zealand being the airline of cuts. You'd think that if they removed the smellys from the loos that they would take the holders as well!

The wine also has definitely been a target. Long gone are the days of the Gibbston Valley pinot noir that I once coveted. Maybe it is time to try another airline?

London has geared up for the Olympics big time. The visual is definitely here, especially along the main routes. I don't know how the traffic will cope during the games in that it’s so manic now. The cabbies are grizzling as usual, given the huge amount of pending road closures and no one seems ecstatic about the prospect of hosting such a major event, although I'm sure that there will be many business winners.

The London hotel was a nice surprise, although we had done our internet homework before departure. After a small moan re. the size of the room we were upgraded the following day.

Day one and we hit the streets. It’s always about establishing the trends, scoping the store windows and getting a total picture of the retail scene.

The city was in full sale so retail was a mess. The High Street as always was throbbing. What I would give to have turnover at these levels but the back streets where quiet and, given the prices in some of the labelled stores the sale of one of their garments should pay most of their pending overhead.

It was great to see some of the new trends starting to populate fashion retail… purple, metallic gold and lime dominate the color palette on the High Street and the style once again has a retro feel with lots of recycling. Wrapping and twisting of fabric to form an interesting dress shape still appears strong. Cowl necks are big as with one shoulder styling and peplum shapes continue. Huge placement prints of flowers on shift frocks look fantastic and big bows still adorn a lot of the garments. Patriotism runs high and the stripes of the British flag adorn so many of the dress styles, the hosiery/ accessory collections and there’s an equestrian feel creeping into some of the winter collections; a welcome break from the over thrashed flower child that has been such a big trend in summer.

Day two was more of the same punctuated by a presentation in the evening to a New Zealand women's business group, one I have spoken to before and enjoy the resultant networking.

Day three enabled a visit to the Seven Dials area just outside of Covent Garden. A pie for breakfast… I figure now that I'm not drinking I must have a calorie credit going on and who can resist the traditional english pie and gravy, especially when it’s had this level of make over (feta and butternut was my choice). Tony had the free range chicken and mushroom with the full monty peas and mash punctuated with the well of gravy… yum.

The Seven Dials visit was about a possible retail site given the collaboration we have with a retailer over here who has been selling the Chameleon dress well. A few empty sites and definitely food for thought… so if I can work in a partnership I wonder if I can convince one of my NZ girls to relocate??

The evening saw another presentation from myself to a great group of expats organized via Kea located in a newly opened cafe and bar in Leonard Street, Ozone. This is well worth a visit - take the Old Street Station on the Northern Line.

Day four and a quick recap of retail to consider the accessorizing of our NZ Fashion Week show and then we were off to the airport. One bag too many for Aer Lingus so a quick stop at the Left Luggage Depot in Terminal 1 and then we catch our flight. Destination: Galway and the Volvo Ocean Yacht Race celebrations.

10 days later and I'm still dry. Loving the great feeling in the mornings and here’s the proof...

 Don’t forget to support my Dry July crusade. You can donate here https://nz.dryjuly.com/profile/annahstretton

So many requests… how the hell do I decide who to give my time and money to!

Pay it forward in spades and get the balance into your life and business. Yep I know… I can here you all saying it… there are so many needy people and organizations out there and so many requests that are placed on us to help daily so how the hell do we decipher where we want to invest our time and energy, let alone our hard earned cash.

Well I have some advice…

Firstly given that some of my best experiences, opportunities and ideas have come out of the ‘paying it forward’ environment I intend to do more, not less. The great thing about this is that you get to choose what you do and when you do it and I truly believe that paying it forward provides the much needed balance in my business and my life.

Remember, it is not always about giving money. You have something that is a lot more valuable with your knowledge and skill. There are also so many ways of looking at a request rather than becoming exhausted by it.

Consider this… we had a girl in Reefton, of all places this past weekend who presented to a group of local women around our signature style series. Sure Reefton must appear miles from anywhere and hardly worth the investment or the time and money that this presentation will take but maybe not. I mean, the Reefton women are just 3 hours from our Nelson or Christchurch stores and I can't imagine that there’s too much in the fashion stakes in their town. So maybe we can entice them to become advocates of my brand and all this started with a request from them to donate a frock to their silent auction.

In fact, given that I get approximately 3 to 4 requests a day for product and services that attach to the numerous women's events that are held throughout this country there are so many ways that I can turn these requests into opportunities to drive my brand i.e. a request for Her Magazines for event goodie bags or a frock to auction can become a return suggestion from us that we get a senior stylist to them to do a signature style series as part of their event. This in turn will enable us to collect interested attendee’s details that can be used for a myriad of uses in regards to driving our database and sales. I am always looking at how I can introduce new demographics to the brand. I will never see myself as having reached complete saturation so all of these ongoing requests simply become opportunities and interestingly enough our attendance will also add value to the event.

There are other requests as well… ones that perhaps don't have such an obvious return or present me with a pending opportunity. Like Torenzo, the 7-year-old autistic boy from Nelson. What a delight it was to have Torenzo and his Dad at our Head Office in Morrinsville for the day as he endeavoured to for fill his dream of creating an outfit to enter into one of the many wearable art competitions that are held throughout the country, supported by our capable design team.

Torenzo has finished his creation and is about to show at Hukanui… exciting times and it was so rewarding to be involved.

Another wonderful project was the creation of Sailor the Puffer Fish as the mascot for the Waikato Asthma Foundation. Sailor was designed and named by us and is now establishing a wonderful connection with the Waikato school kids and, of course getting lots of information out on how to manage asthma.

The nurturing of Kiri Nathan over the last 6 months (a very capable Auckland designer) within our infrastructure has been another fruitful project. It would be a wonderful industry if we could just see a clear way to help other designers with a hand up rather than hand out. Kiri has designed 10 fabulous evening frocks under a collaborative label that we have now made. These will start to retail within our stores from July 1st and given we have had two extremely successful launches I know these will sell well to the gain of both Kiri and myself. 

An unusual request came in last week in regards to Fiji Fashion Week. They have asked me to become involved with the designers as they prepare to get themselves show ready… to mentor and guide to enable them to show in a way that may enable business to occur outside their country. Interested? Absolutely!

I have a focus this year around working with Maori and Pacific island creatives in business and this fits the bill perfectly… Hmmm so let’s see what happens!

So many requests and they seem to pour in but rather than become exhausted by them I simply see the opportunities they may provide and encapsulate them into my business model.

Well, one more week in NZ and then I am off to the UK where I will speak in London twice before I head to Galway, Ireland to show a small fashion collection as part of the culmination of the Volvo Ocean Yacht race. Exciting times and it will be great to bring a bit of the Irish into the blog as well as uncover a whole host of opportunities… I just hope the white boxer keeps good health while I’m away.

Cecilia Robinson announced as the 2012 Her Businesswoman of the Year

Cecilia started Au Pair Link in 2007 at the age of the 21 and has since then gone from strength to strength. Au Pair Link is now Australasia’s largest Au Pair agency and was the first Au Pair agency in the world to become licensed through the Ministry of Education as a home-based service.Now 26 years-old with her first child on the way (due in August) Cecilia’s business has grown to employee 35 individuals in eight regions throughout New Zealand.

The Auckland based businesswoman also takes the Best SME category with her vision to create the largest Au Pair Agency in the world and New Zealand’s largest home-based early childhood education provider.
"It gives me immense pleasure to recognise these women who are achieving great things in business,” Annah says. “Cecilia is an outstanding example of business leadership. Hers’ is a service for busy women who want not just a nanny but an educator too.”

The winner of the Best New Business is Sachie Nomura of Sachie’s Kitchen. Judges appreciated Sachie’s vision of creating a debt-free business that included television appearances, branded products and tours.
The winner of the Most Sustainable Business Category is Dawn Engelbrecht of Safe Kids In Daily Supervision (sKids). sKids provides quality out of school hours care to approximately 3,500 children each day from Whangarei to Queenstown.

The Her Businesswoman of the Year awards are run in association with Her Magazine; New Zealand’s leading women’s business and lifestyle publication.
The awards celebrate outstanding female business acumen and leadership within the New Zealand SME industry. Past winners have included Cilla Hegarty of NZ Tax Refunds Ltd, Brigit Blair of Linden Leaves, Peri Drysdale of Snowy Peak Ltd and, the event's current organiser, Stretton Group CEO, Annah Stretton.

The 2012 winners are:
Best New Business:
Sachie’s Kitchen – Sachie Nomura

Best SME:
Au Pair Link – Cecilia Robinson

Most Sustainable Business:
sKids -   Dawn Engelbrecht

Her Businesswoman of the Year:
Au Pair Link – Cecilia Robinson

For more information, photos and contact with the winners contact:
admin@strettonpublishing.co.nz
(07) 889 4053 ext 204

Check out Cecilia on TVOne’s Breakfast show this Saturday 23 June at 7.45am.

Employees behaving badly... Yep, they do for me as well

The six most absurd and disconcerting employment scenarios

People… they are the life blood of my business. In fact they are all that I have and are the key to my success. People, well… great people.

So let’s look at some of the incredible moments that I have had to endure and all at the hands of my team.

Yep, they all belong to retail and given that they are self-monitoring it is not unexpected…

1. We had a call from an employee that had just recently rejoined the team. She requested a morning off mid-week to get her hair coloured. Given we had no support we suggested that she that she make a more appropriate appointment outside her working hours. Problem solved… or so we thought as we heard no more. That is until we had received a call from a perplexed customer that reported one of our team was serving her with foils in her hair. Yep, ever resourceful she had encouraged the hairdresser to colour her hair in-store in the back sink… and even sold her a wrap dress during the process! Unbelievable? No… it happened!

2. Then there was the employee that had a good friend call in to say ‘hi’. Given it was quiet she decided to lock up the store and enjoy a coffee at a neighbouring café. A perplexed customer placed the call. When we called to address the matter the employee was astounded at our expectation that the shop remain open at all times during the trading day. She informed us that she was able to see the store’s front door at all times during her half hour catch up and couldn't see a problem with the door being closed. Imagine what happened that we never knew about!

3. Then there was the girl in a busy North Island mall that endeavoured to get someone to work for her so she could effect a catering obligation that she had for her own small business. With no one available she hatched a plan… walking down to a neighbouring store on the same side of the mall as us, she asked the departing store manager (who was training a new recruit) to keep an eye on our store for a couple of hours. She had also arranged for her part-timer, at completion of her day at her bank job, to come down and pull the grate down to secure the store for the night. Yep, our store ran on auto-pilot for two whole hours and I would never have known if the part-timer hadn't insisted that she was paid for a ½ hour of unscheduled work to attend to the lock up… amazing!

4. One of the more serious had to be a crime committed by a manager where she took cash layby payments to supplement her weekly income. The initial layby would be created and entered into the POS System as per our policy but subsequent payments, when made in cash, were adjusted for against the customer’s copy of the layby documentation only. They never made it into our system and subsequently when discovered there where hundreds of laybys that the customers had picked up but they remained unpaid in our POS system. Total theft estimated to be around 70k as it took place over a five year period. Yep, serious fraud!

5. The next was an interesting burglary that occurred in one of our stores where the thief was only interested in the hidden cash box that, according to the manager, contained several weeks worth of bankings that she had failed to take to the bank. Hmm one can’t but wonder, when we had a policy of banking each and every day why so much cash was in the box!

6. Then there was the irate customer who rang Head Office to complain about the slow make service that was being offered by one of our store managers. She had taken her money and offered to make one of our obis (wrap belt) for a woman as she didn't have any stock… and apparently nor did head office! Nice little side earner for her. Pity she wasn't able to meet customer expectations re. delivery.

We have had so many lost key and store lock out incidents that it defies logic. Keys thrown out with rubbish at the end of a day, lost in underwear, girls who get to the loo and lock themselves out of stores or in back rooms.

And so the list goes on…

So what do I do when faced with one of these scenarios? Yep, I used to get so challenged but not any more. I simply deal with the issue and ensure the we implement changes and systems so that it can never happen again!

To err is human and it’s possibly a good thing that my team do not clone me. I do however shudder to think of how much I don't know that goes on in my retail and Head Office environment…

But then I guess I just have to believe ‘what you don't know doesn't hurt!’