Lyndsay Lowes and Amy Goodall
A successful North East business has taken a turn into the fashion industry as two aspiring fashion entrepreneurs have come together to launch a new online womenswear brand.
CiA Training, based at the North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) in Sunderland, are leading providers of print and digital resources to the educational sector, with a loyal client base and reputation built over the last 30 years. The company is now turning their hands to fashion with a new venture, What About This Ltd, an exciting womenswear website.
The brand is the brainchild of company managing director Lyndsay Lowes and Amy Goodall. The two women, both Sunderland University graduates, quickly realised their mutual passion and flair for online womenswear whilst working together. Amy explains:
“We identified a gap in the fast fashion market for affordable womenswear aimed at 24-35 year olds who still like to keep up to date with the latest styles and trends but don’t feel they fit with a lot of online brands in the market.
“It was a chance conversation between us that we realised we both had the same ambition to do this and that sparked the idea to take it further.”
Amy, comes from a fashion and retail background and has always had a passion for online retail and always dreamed about creating an online womenswear website. Combined with Lyndsay’s business acumen, the two are leading on building the new venture whilst balancing the demands of the existing business. Amy continues:
“What About This is a brand which sets out to empower and inspire women, whilst fitting in with the fast fashion ethos and current trends. Our brand has a really strong focus on customer service, and we’re very set on having ‘faces’ and ‘voices’ behind our brand. We want to be personal and relatable.
“We set up our brand as we don’t feel the world of fast fashion has a large focus on the customer service side of things. We’d like to create a community rather than just ‘another fashion website’. We are already receiving positive feedback from our pre-launch social campaigns so that’s really encouraging as we approach the launch.”
Although both women have ambitious plans for the business, they are also realistic and know this is a highly competitive market they are entering but hope through hard work and passion they can make their mark.
What About This will launch with a capsule collection of 40 items, with the website going live on the 26th April.
