Gift Focus inc Attire Accessories - July/August 2020

80 WILLIQUE, WWW.WILLIQUE.COM Anna Willique from her namesake brand talks about how the current pandemic has brought her even closer to her team, and is witnessing an upsurge in online orders. Can you tell us a bit about your company? A love for premium craftsmanship and bold, architectural aesthetics lie at the core of the Willique brand. Using the finest quality leathers and hardware, a pure appreciation for functionality and with a subtle nod to classic English design – Willique creates beautiful handbags and accessories with an emphasis on durability and longevity. The Willique collection is a range of bespoke luxury leather goods that strives to provide classic, modern designs that references my Caribbean heritage, notwithstanding her love for sustainable and ethical practices and her extensive travel around the world.With quality and traditional design at the forefront of the brand, it produces a limited number of pieces in each collection, which lends to a Willique piece being a truly bespoke investment. How are you finding lockdown? At the start of lockdown it was a bit of a shock as to what to expect. Obviously, there was rather a lot of uncertainty and a little fear within my team as to how the industry would be affected. At the moment, we’re finding this time incredibly useful as we’re able to improve our systems and fulfil orders. We are looking to the future and this time has been really innovative for the brand and brought myself and the team closer together. The bigger picture for us is helping our clients and assisting in creating beautiful moments and creations for them. What are your business plans during and after COVID-19? For the brand, we’re getting back to the core of our ethos and building healthier relationships with past and future clients. We have just launched our staple five-piece collection called ‘A Mid Caribbean Day Dream. ’The experience of COVID-19 has taught us to scale back and focus on the necessity of our products. Orders are of course coming in online and it will be a while until face to face appointments can begin again but we’re very anxious to connect to customers once more. What are you looking forward to about life returning to normal? Personally I’m excited about connecting with loved ones and friends – I’m missing the human touch and connection that we have lost over the past months. I’m looking forward to seeing, speaking and connecting with others. I’m most certainly missing going into a shop and physically touching and feeling garments and materials. Do you have a top tip on how businesses can weather this temporary storm? Continue your routine as much as possible. Have belief in yourself that you and your business will come out the other side of this stressful time. Stay positive and focussed.

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