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Her Inspiration
Trelise Cooper
Self-expression and personal development is the motivation behind this booming designer fashion brand
Her Insight
Vicki Wilson
Founder of Netpress, an online business designed to help other businesses promote themselves through the media
Her Inform
Insolvency and Liquidation
Steps to ensure you get paid in the face of insolvency
Her Inspiration
The Intuitive Principle 
Trelise Cooper
An appealing blend of contradictions, Trelise Cooper is ‘vulnerable at heart, but strong when she needs to be’. Mapihi Opai found out that self-expression and personal development provide far greater motivation than the bottom line for the woman behind this booming designer fashion brand.
Since 1997, Trelise Cooper Ltd has achieved 100 percent annual growth, catapulting it from a kitchen table outfit to a multi-million-dollar concern. Today, the company employs 75 staff across its wholesale and retail operations, which jointly comprise three flagship stores, a newly launched concept store for kids and stockists across the US, UK, France, Italy, Singapore and Australasia.
“My whole aim in setting up this business was to have self-expression as a woman and to do what I absolutely, passionately love, which is creating clothing,” says Cooper.
She’s never referred to a business plan as such, but a “journal of dreams” - where her greatest aspirations are rendered in technicolour detail. Like the prescribed alternative, it’s served the purpose of transforming the subjective into the objective. But, the self-taught designer is something of an exception in describing the ensuing grind as a juncture for “magic and mystery”.
“Things just began to happen, seemingly with little help. I’ve never had a strategy in a formal sense, but I have had some amazing opportunities. I really do believe that you need to be open to opportunity because it’s not always apparent. It whispers.”
Providence aside, the workload inherent in being the designer, director and face of the company is fantastic. With an interview in progress and a courier en route to whisk her Autumn/Winter kidswear line to an offshore trade show, Cooper intermittently instructs staff on the finishing touches for the collection. Apologetic throughout, she orders a final pin-tuck here and there, as the calls back up and staff hover near the door.
In an industry, indeed nation, predominantly comprised of small enterprises, Cooper is shooting well above the archetypal Kiwi dream and shows no signs of stopping. “Why do it to yourself? Because the opportunity presents itself. It’s exciting and stimulating. Why do some people climb mountains?”
More than half the company’s earnings stem from exports, and its sales to the US now outstrip New Zealand’s total apparel trade to the territory. A luminary feature of Fashion Week schedules on both sides of the Tasman, Cooper’s designs have consistently attracted appreciation from American buyers and media alike. What's more, she holds the distinction of being the country’s first designer to really penetrate this notoriously difficult market.
Wholesaled via a US fashion agent, Trelise Cooper sits next to pre-eminent designer brands like Dries Van Norton and Marni in equally esteemed stores - including Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus – commanding comparative, if not superior, price-tags. The label has graced the cover of American fashion bible, Woman’s Wear Daily (WWD) and high profile devotees read like a whose who of A-list celebrities. Reese Witherspoon bought 40 pieces in one shopping trip, while Julia Roberts famously snapped-up an entire collection from the Fred Segal Flair store in Santa Monica.
Surprisingly, New Zealand’s relative isolation has taken the edge off such achievements for Cooper, who simply “can’t believe it all sometimes”. Participating in a WWD symposium attended by global fashion giants, however, has made her consider the greater potential of America’s massive consumption of luxury goods.
“There’s no set plan of attack as yet, but I’ve been musing on the whole thing. It’s not something that you jump into. It’s a big move that requires a lot of time and resources.”
Facts, figures and market share are constant but peripheral concerns. Cooper, you see, is creative and a perfectionist in this domain. For her, it’s all in the design details - selecting just the right button and slip of ribbon - rather than the bean-counting. “It’s not my main focus. I’ve run the business on an instinctual basis and pulled in experts along the way. It’s now at the point where there’s a lot more formal structure required, but I don’t see that coming from me.”
The company produces over 100,000 units annually, putting immense pressure on production staff to ensure that its detailed designs are well turned out. With local manufacturers groaning under the weight, she is having to seriously consider increased capacity offshore. “It’s a constant challenge to meet delivery deadlines, and we really have to push it through production. But, when you’re pushing that hard, things can sometimes come out less than beautiful.” It’s a critical concern, when a significant proportion of growth comes from existing customers - a feat only achieved by delivering on time and generating exciting, high quality product with good sell-through season after season.
In recent years, the company’s product portfolio has expanded to include lingerie, eyewear and, of late, kidswear. Diversification beyond designer fashion clothing has almost entirely been initiated by external parties and the results, says Cooper, have been mixed. “I’ve learnt a lot about dealing with other companies and the brand’s integrity in the process. My brand is fashion and not everyone understands the discerning nature of a fashion consumer. When a company invests in stockholdings, they want to play it safe. But fashion isn’t safe and it’s not just in a name.”
A designer’s intuition has to be seen in the product as it hits the racks. And, if it doesn't have that “Trelise Cooper interference” it’s not going to make the collection. With the business and the personality so intrinsically linked, is it thinkable that the brand might go on without the woman herself? Cooper’s confident that it could and illustrates the point with a string of designer names. “Versace has had a few hiccups, but it’s back on track now and still has that distinctive Versace flavour.”
The perpetuation of the brand relies on having people “who really get what it is” and Cooper has three or four on staff. Yet, the time for crowning a successor is still a long way off. “We might all be in our rocking chairs by then.”
In a culture increasingly concerned with work-life balance, Cooper unashamedly admits that, for her, the lines between the two are blurred. “My work is my life because it’s how I express myself. I work really hard and have a lot of fun - I love my life. I’m generally very happy and never get bored. Perhaps I have a low threshold for boredom.”
Time spent in the media spotlight, however, has yielded both positive and painful outcomes. These days, she’s reticent when it comes to publicising the company’s turnover. “I used to be really open about it, but I’ve had to pay the price for that in many different ways. I definitely haven’t developed a thicker skin. I’ve been described as a grand dame and steel magnolia, but that’s so not me. I’m as emotional and vulnerable as I’ve ever been and would never want to lose that.”
By Mapihi Opai
Her Insight
Pressing the Point of Promotion
Vicki Wilson
Netpress is a new online business designed to help other businesses promote themselves through the media. Its founder, Vicki Wilson, is becoming an old hat at the new business promo game. Lesley Springall reports.
When Kaikoura-born Vicki Wilson and her husband, Jon, tired of their five-year OE in London, they weren’t ready to return home, so they settled on Melbourne as an alternative. Within a year, Wilson had set up a design and communications company, then launched a new community newspaper distributed to 19,000 homes. “It was a bit frustrating settling in a new area and not being able to find out any information about it, so I decided to do something about it,” she says.
A trained graphic designer, Wilson had dabbled in most areas of communication, including advertising and PR (public relations) when she arrived in Melbourne. She says “it just felt right” to start her own business and put into practice the skills she’d been taught. So when it came to up sticks again a few years later and return to New Zealand to start a family, Wilson knew that a family wouldn’t be the only thing she started. Thus Netpress, an online media resource and business promotional tool, as Wilson describes it, was born.
Netpress is a realisation of her desire to help other businesses promote themselves and grow, she says. Too often she saw smaller businesses struggle in Melbourne - simply because they didn’t understand how to promote themselves effectively.
As an editor, her in-tray was inundated with press releases from larger firms and organisations, although it was often the smaller companies that had the most interesting stories to tell. But they didn’t know how or where to tell them, she explains. “It was a catch22 situation. We couldn’t get the stories we wanted from the businesses that had something new to say, but we were inundated with stuff that we didn’t want or didn’t have time to read.”
Wilson says she thought then, there had to be a better way – some way where businesses could promote themselves easily and cheaply and where journalists could find new contacts and story ideas quickly and, more importantly, when they needed them. The decision to return to New Zealand was the catalyst to making that ‘way’ a reality, she says.
But it didn’t happen instantly.
Wilson now describes her Australian businesses as a learning curve, “my MBA,” to get her to where she is now. But it’s important to have the credibility in business that education gives you, she says. So the first thing she did when she returned was to take a Graduate Diploma in Communications (public relations). This also gave her time for some “daunting cold-calling” to gauge reaction to her new business idea and build up contacts. “I did the diploma so that people couldn’t say I wasn’t qualified, even though I’d been dabbling in communication of one sort or another all my working life. Australia taught me that you should never go into anything without really knowing what you’re talking about.”
In her research for Netpress, Wilson says she contacted numerous small business gurus, business owners, including friends and family, and several journalists. The response was “95% positive, and those that were negative were more concerned about the fear of failure than whether her business idea was solid or not,” she says. “That’s the most important thing about setting up a new business - you have to be brave enough to do it. Yes, research it to death, of course, but understand there will always be knockers - you just have to be sure that they’re not knocking your idea for any sound business reasons.”
Wilson also sought business associates and a business partner that would complement her skills, and she wasn’t afraid to “give up part of her baby” to attract the right talent, she says. “Netpress is designed to plug the gaps between business and the media, but I needed to make sure our business didn’t have any of those gaps first.”
Contrary to some opinions, Netpress is not competing with the traditional media-business gap plugger, the PR industry, she stresses. “Netpress is another communication channel for the PR industry, but one where they can be sure that their clients’ information isn’t simply going to be binned or filed in the delete basket. By subscribing to Netpress, PR firms can list all their clients, describe their businesses, detail their spokespeople’s contact details, upload as many press releases and events as they like and sit back and let us help promote their clients for them.”
Netpress will also be a “stepping stone” onto the PR ladder for some businesses, says Wilson. The site carries hints and tips about writing press releases and identifying news hooks. Members will receive regular, monthly newsletters helping them to promote themselves better, she explains. “And once they understand what media relations is all about, they’re more likely to seek the help of the PR industry for other areas of communication. There’s a PR directory on Netpress for just that purpose,” she adds.
By Lesley Springall
Lesley Springall is an Auckland-based, freelance business journalist and a director of Netpress. She can be reached at Lesley.springall@netpress.co.nz.
Her Inform
Insolvency and Liquidation
Jane Emerson from Gibson Sheat Lawyers provides Her Business readers with some smart steps to ensure you get paid in the face of insolvency.
Small businesses face many risks and challenges. In particular, ensuring that accounts for goods or services rendered are paid on time and in full can be critical to your financial wellbeing. The media is full of articles about companies going into liquidation or becoming insolvent. The flow-on effects of unpaid debts can be soul-destroying for small companies whose owners see their hard work wasted and even their future put at risk.
This article provides practical advice for creditors so they can best ensure the payment of accounts when a debtor company appears to be heading towards liquidation.
Early action is the key
Once you receive notice that a company is in liquidation, it is often too late to then attempt to have your accounts paid. Unless you have a security interest or have taken other steps to ensure payment, your only real option at this stage will be to file a creditor's claim form, which usually means your chances of recovering full payment are slim.
In order to greatly increase the chances of your accounts being paid, you can take earlier steps (depending on the nature of your business), including:
Registration of a security interest: If you have provided goods on credit, or provided the finance for a company to purchase specific goods, you may be able to register a security interest in the goods. This may protect your position by allowing you to repossess the secured goods until you have received payment. There are measures necessary to ensure your security interest is effective, including registering your interest on the Personal Property Security Register.
Lien: If you have been delivered specific goods for repair or improvement, the worker’s lien allows you to hold the goods until you have been paid. In some cases you will also be allowed to sell the goods to recoup payment.
Guarantee: When you first enter into an agreement for the provision of goods or services to a company on credit, it is a good idea to have someone such as a director personally guarantee payment. Ideally this will be entered into when you first provide the goods or services, but you can request a guarantee at a later date in return for providing ongoing credit or services if you become concerned about a company's ability to pay your accounts.
A guarantee widens the scope of who you can pursue for an unpaid account and provides much more incentive for an account to be paid, as a guarantor could risk having their personal assets seized, their house sold and, ultimately, being made bankrupt if they refuse to pay.
Damage Control
If you don't have any safeguards in place, and you become aware that a debtor company is facing financial difficulty, there are still measures you can take to increase the likelihood of your account being paid.
These include:
Avoiding voidable transactions: Voidable transactions are payments made by a company before it goes into liquidation which you, as the creditor, may subsequently be forced to pay back. Transactions most at risk are payments obviously made under pressure that give you more than you would receive if you waited until the debtor went into liquidation.
Two ways to try and avoid your payments falling into this category are to ensure you receive payments matching specific invoice amounts instead of lump sum payments, and, if your account is guaranteed, to demand payment from the guarantor instead of the company.
Take early steps for recovery of the debt: If the debt is for the repayment of an account for which there is a confirmed sum owing, your best option may be to have a lawyer write a letter of demand followed by the issuing of a statutory demand.
A statutory demand is served on a company's registered office and, if not complied with, can be enforced by liquidation proceedings. The threat of being liquidated is often a great incentive for a company to pay a debt, and there is no obligation to file liquidation proceedings if the demand is not complied with.
If the amount owing is unclear, then you can issue court proceedings to establish the amount owing. If the proceedings are undefended, this can be a relatively inexpensive option and, assuming the company eventually has the money to pay the judgment, you may also be able to recover a percentage of your legal fees and Court costs. Once you have judgment, you then have the option of issuing a statutory demand or executing the judgment against company assets.
If you are worried that a company is unable to pay your accounts, all is not lost. There are steps you can take. Most importantly, make yourself aware of what the steps are, how you can take them, and act early!
By Jane Emerson
Jane is a Litigation Solicitor with Wellington commercial law firm, Gibson Sheat Lawyers, specialising in secured creditor recovery, transport law and general commercial litigation. For further information on the contents of this article visit: www.gibsonsheat.com.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of a general nature only and should be treated as a guide only. We strongly recommend that you obtain specific legal advice before relying or acting on the information contained in this article.
