Simplebook

clara sim. jenny chu. jojo lin.

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about 4Ps competitors target consumers ethical issues swot analysis future implementations

about

the company and core values

simple SIMPLE was established in 2014 by Jojo, Jenny and Clara.

The brand includes a range of women’s apparel, bags and shoes. SIMPLE reflects a sense of relaxed and timeless elegance, focusing on fine fabrics and the perfect fit.

SIMPLE’s mission is to provide customers with elegant and high quality pieces and to be at the forefront of the industry in terms of animal welfare and ethical advertising.

Core Values

transparency

innovation

inspirational

Core Values At Simple, we believe in complete transparency- showing consumers what our products are made of and what our models really look like.

We strive to be innovators – to come up with new techniques and technologies in order to create the best and to protect our goods from the counterfeits.

Simple aims to be an inspiration – bringing awareness to the issue of animal cruelty and ways to prevent against it.

Code of Conduct

bribery

safety

SIMPLE has a zero tolerance of all forms of bribery and corruption.

It is essential to SIMPLE that the environments both our employees and customers are in are safe and healthy. We encourage employees to report any unsafe working conditions or accidents to their manager.

privacy respect A safeguarding company, employee and customer information and data is one of our top priorities. No confidential information in regards to the company should ever be given out to outside sources. This includes everything from contracts to marketing plans as well as financial data. This way, we would ensure that everyone’s privacy is respected.

At SIMPLE, we aim to provide a harmonious work place where everyone is treated with integrity, respect and dignity. We promote diversity and equality in this company and prohibit any form of discrimination and harassment. Employees must take care to treat others the way they would expect to be treated as professional adults, respectful of the diverse workforce SIMPLE enjoys.

MOTTO “keep it

s i m p l e”

the 4Ps

product, price, place, promotion

FLATS

Products & Price s i m p l e offers a range of women’s apparel and accessories. Our product offering includes: tops, bottoms, dresses, outerwear, bags and shoes. The price spans from $1,000 for a simple top to $5,000 for our signature faux fur coat.

$1,400

$2,500

$2,800

$2,800

$3,500

$3,800

$4,000 $5,000

Place s i m p l e plans to first debut at Lane Crawford in Hong Kong. As Lane Crawford is the biggest department store in the country, they already have a large and loyal customer base that our brand could benefit from. Currently, they are located in Harbour City, Times Square and IFC.

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Promotion Promotional initiatives includes: A launch party, gift with purchase, trade shows, magazine interviews, contact bloggers, look books, fashion showcase, social network.

CELEBRITIES MAGGIE Q

Maggie Q is an world reknowned American actress that has starred in critically aclaimed tv shows and movies. Maggie is known for being an animals rights activist and has an active collaboration with animal welfare organization PETA. It has been reported that she has refused to wear garments with real fur both in real life and for her shows.

Maggie Q would be the perfect celebrity to model and campaign for s i m p l e, not only due to her love for animals, but also for her fame in both Hong Kong and America.

Packaging The packaging for our store would have the reflect our brand’s aesthetic of minimalism. As such, we have chosen simple white paper bags and boxes to reflect this. Our brand’s logo would also be prominently displayed as well.

Hangers & Care Tags Each faux fur garment would come with it’s very own ‘How to care for’ tag.

These tags detail how the consumer would go about cleaning or storing the faux fur garment that they purchase from our store.

How to care for your Faux Fur? Our Faux Furs are hand washable in lukewarm (almost cold) water using a gentle, mild, ‘for hand washing’ soap powder. You can machine wash our Faux Fur on ‘delicates’ cycle. However, it is often the backing on the coat that limits machine or hand washing. washing For example, our Faux Suedes are hand or machine washable (lukewarm or ‘delicates’ cycles) but Velvets, Satins, Printed Velvets and Crushed Velvets can shrink slightly and do crease in the p washing process.

Heat must not be applied to Faux Fur so it is impossible to iron and even the smallest amount of shrinkage can cause the product to look misshapen.

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How to care for your Faux Fur? Our Faux Furs are hand washable in lukewarm (almost cold) water using a gentle, mild, ‘for hand washing’ soap powder. You can machine wash our Faux Fur on ‘delicates’ cycle. However, it is often the backing on the coat that limits machine or hand washing. washing For example, our Faux Suedes are hand or machine washable (lukewarm or ‘delicates’ cycles) but Velvets, Satins, Printed Velvets and Crushed Velvets can shrink slightly and do crease in the p washing process.

Heat must not be applied to Faux Fur so it is impossible to iron and even the smallest amount of shrinkage can cause the product to look misshapen.

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How to care for your Faux Fur? Our Faux Furs are hand washable in lukewarm (almost cold) water using a gentle, mild, ‘for hand washing’ soap powder. You can machine wash our Faux Fur on ‘delicates’ cycle. However, it is often the backing on the coat that limits machine or hand washing. washing For example, our Faux Suedes are hand or machine washable (lukewarm or ‘delicates’ cycles) but Velvets, Satins, Printed Velvets and Crushed Velvets can shrink slightly and do crease in the p washing process.

Heat must not be applied to Faux Fur so it is impossible to iron and even the smallest amount of shrinkage can cause the product to look misshapen.

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competitors theory, vince, maje

Theory Theory was founded in 1997 on the fundamental principle that sophistication should be carried with comfort and confidence. Adopting a causal, modern business style, its collection consists of simple, ambient pieces in crisp silhouettes. With an onus on technical development, Theory creates high-quality apparel designed for a superlative fit. Their aesthetic is considerably minimal with a similar price point and target customer. Theory is known to use real fur in their garments.

Vince Founded in 2002, Vince presents a complete range of easy-luxe wardrobe staples of crisp lines, rich fabrics and intricate detailing. Now a hit lifestyle brand that evokes confidence, elegance and style, Vince is considered an everyday essential in delectable colours. They feature a variety of minimalistic garments at a higher price point. Due to the higher prices, their target consumers are slightly older. Vince is known to use real fur in their products.

Maje Established in 1998 by designer Judith Milgrom, Parisian label Maje makes its mark by bringing a bohemian craft sensibility to urban daywear. An understated use of embroidery and prints transforms a staple wardrobe item into a unique fashion statement. Some of their items feature a minimalistic style, however, they do have items that have a different aesthetic. Price wise, they are similar to our brand.

However, they are known to use real raccoon and rabbit fur as well as real leather.

target consumers appreciates the minimalistic aesthetic

Target Customers

Our target customer is in her late 20s to 30s, She is one who appreciates a minimalistic style, veering away from bright colours and patterns, and always gravitating towards the neutrals in a store. She is a professional and loves to be fashionable, a business lady who is looking for pieces that is both work appropriate and can be dressed down for a casual look. An animal lover, she swore to never purchase any real fur and leather apparel and accessories.

ethical issues fur, advertising, counterfeits

Fur There is no excuse for fur in this day and age because of the advancements of technology. The properties of faux fur have improved significantly in the past few years. So much so that most people are no longer able to tell the difference between real and faux. They look and feel the same, all without the price of an animal’s life. This is why s i m p l e pledges not to use real fur or leather in any of our products.

Advertising Advertising for s i m p l e will essentially, be kept simple. The idea is to stick with our brand image, thus keeping a red thread running throughout our company. s i m p l e pledges to not alter the bodies of our models in post production and casting is open to models of all sizes. Models will be casted based on whether or not they fit with the brand aesthetic. Discrimination based on race or size will not be tolerated.

Counterfeits In our fight against counterfeits, we have decided to partner with Six Degrees Counterfeit Prevention LLC, a company that distributes and markets the most secure anti- counterfeiting technology in the world. This collaboration would ensure that our brand and customers are protected from fake products. This is done by placing QR codes in our bags. By scanning the codes, anyone would be able to tell whether or not the bag is a s i m p l e original or simply a knock off.

swot analysis

strengths, opportunities, weakness, threats

strengths

weakness - High price for faux fur - No established customer base - No historic background

- Against animal cruelty - Ethical advertising - Fight against counterfeits - High quality products - Opening in Lane Crawford

simple SWOT opportunities - Sustainable fabrics - New technologies against counterfeits - Collaborate with organizations against animal cruelty - Work with i-D

threats - Increased sales in counterfeits - Increased costs for sustainable fabrics

future

Sustainability and collaborations

Future

Future plans for s i m p l e includes the inclusion of eco-friendly fabrics.

Sustainable fashion in our brand is possible and would help us to not only be ethically responsible towards animal welfare, but to the environment as well.

However, sustainable fabrics could be considerably more expensive, thus, increasing both our costs of production and potentially, the prices of our goods as well.

As s i m p l e focuses heavily on animal welfare, a collaboration with other anti animal cruelty organizations, brands and companies would be a good step towards our core value to be an inspiration. _ could potentially work with organizations such as PETA in order to bring awareness to this issue and to encourage other fashion labels to take the pledge against animal cruelty.

Through our collaboration with ‘The Six Degree’, s i m p l e will enter the fight against counterfeit goods. However, this collaboration would incur a higher cost as opposed to if we produced the codes by ourselves. Future plans includes the research into this specific technology.

Specifically, how we could incorporate the QR codes into our bags without this collaboration and if there are better ways to fight against the black market of knock offs.

GLOBAL EXPANSION West Hollywood

One of the nation’s most animal friendly cities. It is the first city in the United States to implement a fur ban. The law prohibits the sale of any garment made in whole or part from the pelt or skin of an animal with its hair, wool, or fur. This goes in line with s i m p l e’ s core values and thus, would be the ideal location to open our first flobal store

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Melrose Av. Melrose Place features a long street encompassing many blocks of eclectic to chic shops, restaurants and establishments. It is one of the most sought after retail spaces in Los Angeles and features many reknown and international designers such as Alexander McQueen, Marc Jacobs, Carolina Herrera and Helmut Lang. Melrose Place is also home to s i m p l e’ s competitors such as Vince and Theory.

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Melrose Place, West Hollywood

A mapped view: A popular shopping destination in West Hollywood, Melrose Place is home to designers such as Isabel Marant, Oscar de la Renta, Theory and Vince.

Melrose Place, West Hollywood

Street view: A look at Melrose Place, located in West Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Launch Party To commemorate the launch of our brand in Hong Kong, we want to have a memorable start. To do this, we decided to organize a launch party that would bring awareness to our new label. People from the media and the fashion industry as well as celebrities would be invited to the launch. We plan to have the party at the Cyberport exhibition venue.

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Items that guests would receive on entering includes a lookbook that features our latest collection. Guests would be able to pre-order and view the garments at the party itself. Pictured are the inspirations for the event. Once again, the party would have to fit our brand image, thus, a monochromatic colour palette would be best suited.

References Google Maps. Google. N.d. Web. 14 Nov 2014.

Google Images. Google. N.d. Web. 14 Nov 2014.

Harnick, Chris. “Seven Things to Know About ‘Nikita’ Star Maggie Q.” Huffpost TV. Huffington Post. 9 Sep 2010.

Web. 16 Nov 2014.

Maje. N.p. N.d. Web. 14 Nov 2014.

Pinterest. N.p. N.d. Web. 14 Nov 2014.

“The Cyberport Podium- your dream venue.” Cyberport. Web. 16 Nov 2014.

Theory. N.p. N.d. Web. 14 Nov 2014.

Vince. N.p. N.d. Web. 14 Nov 2014.

“6DCP Hybrid Barcode.” 6DCP. Six Degrees Counterfeit Prevention LLC. 27 Apr 2013. Web. 14 Nov 2014.

“keep it

s i m p l e”