Starting Over

 

  Jenny Drury was behind two successful fashion labels – but three years ago she decided to start her own, which was successful from the outset and even has several of its own stores in China. What is the secret to her success, being that she had to start from scratch in such unpredictable times for new businesses?

Fashion is all about what’s new: fabrics, designs, styles, shapes, trends and markets, creating an unpredictable and unforgiving rollercoaster that designers need to constantly negotiate in order to launch and maintain a label.
Even those who start strong have to continue to produce products that pass the buzz test season after season, and with the recession making all new business success unpredictable, why would experienced and established designers want to start again from the very beginning?
But when you have a résumé that reads like Jenny Drury’s, it’s easy to see how creating a new independent label was a seemingly effortless step for the dynamo. From working in fashion retail at 17 to owning a small community newspaper on Australia’s Sunshine Coast, working in sales and merchandising in the clothing industry before setting up her own business to produce well-received New Zealand label Ezzue for Paris Texas, Drury has never been afraid to boldly break new ground.
“Back when I started working in retail, things were different. There weren’t as many designers and stores as there are now, and you had to work really hard to make your way in the industry,” she says. “I learnt a lot about what worked in terms of design and price points from dealing with customers firsthand, before I moved on to work in other stores around the country, which allowed me to experience different markets and other ways of doing things. It was then I understood that just because a concept didn’t quite work once, it didn’t mean it wouldn’t work in a different place, at a different time.”
The sales and merchandising experience she gained after that helped her to understand other fashion retailers’ businesses and strive to create product that worked for them, which is when she began designing Ezzue for streetwear chain Paris Texas and IZAAK for men. A change of ownership in 2007 saw her utilise her industry experience and launch new label Ketz-ke that same year.
Now entering its fifth year, Ketz-ke is sold in over 80 stores across New Zealand and the USA. It presently has twenty of its own stores in China, has expanded to doing four to five ranges a year and branched out into design bags, belts, jewellery and sleepwear.
Drury is very self-effacing about the label’s runaway success. “I was very fortunate that when I started the label I had a following of loyal retailers who had been dealing with me for many years,” she says. Then the chance came to collaborate with a mainland Chinese company and open Ketz-ke branded stores across China, with an aggressive expansion plan rolling out faster than Drury ever expected.
“There is a saying that the best time to expand your business is in times of recession, but it took a leap of faith to believe this adage and open new stores at a time when other major retailers are either downsizing or closing down altogether,” she says. “But when I was approached to open Ketz-ke stores to cater for the local market and the large number of ex-pats living in the region, I was delighted,” she says.
Mr Lin, general manager of Drury’s partner company in China, explained the rationale behind opening fashion stores in such difficult times. “Ketz-ke is a fresh exciting brand that we knew would be welcomed by the local Chinese market,” he says. “Young women in China are right up with the latest trends, and more and more want to dress in the way they see in European fashion magazines,” he says. “Ketz-Ke’s casual urban wear offers this for them.”
The feedback was so overwhelmingly encouraging since the first store opened in May 2009 that twelve more stores have opened since. “The customers have embraced the price points, fit, colours and feel of the fabrics included in the range,” says Lin. “We are happy to be able to offer those who live in China an international clothing label at genuine prices.”
“They have such a sensible approach, focusing on taking advantage of reasonably priced store locations in high traffic areas, something I could only have done for myself here in New Zealand,” says Drury. “The levels of trading have been over and above expectations, so hopefully this is the start of great things to come,” she says.
With such a catalogue of achievements, to what does Drury credit her success? “Sheer determination and a willingness to take control of my own destiny!” she laughs. “Building a new brand is a very exciting, continuous process; an ever changing journey, there is no time to get bored and that suits my personality perfectly.”
“I have always felt a strong calling from within myself to be creative and to do something everyday that fulfils that desire,” she says. “Fashion is how I tempt my senses, prove my vision and communicate with women all over the world on a daily basis. What more could you want in a career?”
Drury is self-taught and doesn’t believe you need to study fashion to be able to create it, but does believe one needs to learn hands-on industry experience from somewhere or someone. “This industry can be brutal, and it will only get harder for those aspiring designers breaking through in years to come,” she says. “However, this is something that should be embraced not feared, for it is because of hardships that we grow and learn,” she says. “As a result of the intense competition we have here today, New Zealand has some of the best new designers managing to make it here and overseas.”
Perhaps it is her no-nonsense motto that has assisted in Ketz-ke’s rapid rise: “Failure is only for those who stop trying,” she says. “There is really nothing more rewarding than setting out to do something and then accomplishing it. This is what I live for, and what I will continue to live for, for as long as I create.”
Melanie Feilding
www.ketz-ke.com