As Glamify Fashion plots further pop-ups across the UK, founder Ashley Ali speaks to Retail Week about the importance of physical retail, navigating return rates and overcoming the negative connotations of fast fashion
From market stalls to previous global success, Ashley Ali is hoping to replicate his triumph with global fast-fashion brand Misspap as he continues on his journey of building Glamify Fashion from the ground up.
Starting out with a market stall in Liverpool, which he named Paparazzi, Ali quickly grew his first business and rebranded to Misspap. Having sold the brand to Boohoo in 2019, he is now laser-focused on the slow and steady growth of his newest business Glamify Fashion.
Founded in 2020 and capitalising on the online loungewear boom as a result of the Covid pandemic, Glamify is a trend-led brand for shoppers living “a champagne lifestyle on a lemonade budget”.
In what’s been a turbulent time for fast-fashion brands, Ali discusses the inspiration behind the brand, pop-up stores on the horizon and balancing trend-led fashion with ethical business decisions.
What inspired you to launch Glamify Fashion?
“Coming from a retail background and having learned so much from Misspap, I decided to take my experience and dedicate it to a new brand focused on loungewear, a popular product with lower return rates.
“Shortly after the launch, Boris Johnson announced lockdown and it was like the universe was on my side because anyone that had dress stock didn’t sell any of it for at least a year. There have been so many little moments like that that have been part and parcel of my journey and it’s been nothing other than gut instinct and winging it.
“None of it has ever come from anything other than past or initial experience. That move to do that then led me to massively take advantage of home social media content and it grew ridiculously. We saw crazy amounts of growth and we didn’t need lots of resources. Glamify came out of the pandemic strongly.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t sustain the highs because people were getting back out there and we had to compete with the high street again. Also, on social media we were back to the pressure of posting content that caught people’s screentime attention. However, fast-forward to now and we have started to rebuild, get back on track and understand reality for shoppers.
“That’s where we are now. We are back on track with our normal strategy and for the first time, I just opened a pop-up, which was a huge full-circle moment. It was on our agenda for brand awareness and driving consumer confidence in 2024.”
Are there more pop-up stores on the horizon?
“Definitely. The more we can have a presence in places like Liverpool One, Bluewater or the Trafford Centre, the more we can drive conversion and consumer confidence.
“We are going to decide where to put our pop-ups in line with our best opportunities that we’ve already got online. The roadmap of the stores is down to the top 10 cities that we already ship to online.
“It has such nostalgia of being back in front of the customer for me, there is nothing better than listening and being in the same breathing space as the customer and asking how we can improve. It’s a great part of the journey that we’re at now with Glamify, bringing the two worlds together. It’s that combination that’s the key to success of retail and etail.”
Many fast-fashion brands have been changing returns policies recently, what are you doing at Glamify?
“We’ve just kept ours to a 14-day period that you [customers] can return and to be honest we manage it quite well. The best way that we manage our returns as a small business is by controlling the type of product we stock. There are a lot of products and categories that are linked to high returns and we as a small business have the option to pretty much stay away from those product categories as we grow.
”We choose to sell items that have lower returns and can still hit our goals. The likes of PLT and Oh Polly especially are very dress-focused and obviously dresses have the highest return rates because there is more demand on the fit and the fabric. We are more casual than dressy, we focus on loungewear and streetwear which lend themselves to far lower returns because of the nature of the product and the oversized fit.”
What is your view on the fast-fashion supply chain?
“It’s a massive advantage that the likes of Shein and Boohoo are under scrutiny, I see it as a benefit. I’ve seen the words fast fashion tarnished over the years and people are now leaning towards the new buzzword of slow fashion.
“As an independent it’s about being able to manipulate how we move rather than being this massive juggernaut of a business. It’s far more difficult for bigger businesses to change or move, so for me, it’s definitely an advantage as we can pivot.
“We are trying to balance being quick and the part of fast fashion that I’m always going to stand by is trends but there are ways that we can overcome the negatives that come with that.
“I don’t believe you have to be unethical to be a fast-fashion company. You can be a fast-fashion company doing it in the right way but still bring trends to the market quickly. I really do believe in that and that’s what we are trying to balance. There are fantastic places nearer to the UK in Europe that you can utilise for a very efficient supply chain and still overcome speed to market while operating legally and officially.”
In a highly competitive market why would consumers choose Glamify?
“Glamify is for shoppers with a champagne lifestyle and a lemonade budget. People want value – perceived value and actual value, so what we give is not the cheapest or the most expensive but we are in the middle.
“We’re nowhere near Shein and Boohoo, but we’re nowhere near the designer brands. We’re also not as expensive as the likes of Zara, so we are in a sweet spot.
“It’s a difficult place to be and we have to question our growth opportunities but at the same time growth isn’t our number one goal right now. Profitability and enjoying the journey are the priorities.”
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