55 INSPIRING THROUGH PASSION Alexandra Machin, Director of Hot Tomato, explains how the company began from a desire to design and create independently, and now offers a range of fashion accessories from jewellery through to textiles When did you start up and why? We started in 2007 – there were several motivations: We wanted to explore the world together with our then young family and to satisfy our desire to design and create independently. We also wanted to have a bit more control over our lives and destiny. What prompted you to launch the business? I had been an agent working in the gift industry, prior to that I had been a buyer for a giftware company, designing, sourcing & buying – I’d already travelled extensively within that role so starting my own business in a similar field seemed a natural segue for me. What challenges have you overcome since the company’s launch? We have learnt on the hoof and continue to do so. We’ve had to adapt our skill set and remain open to new avenues and ideas. I think after the initial push to launch your business you are then constantly honing and fine-tuning it, striving to offer the best product, direction and service possible – it’s always a work in progress! Tell us about your product offering. We offer a range of fashion accessories from jewellery through to textiles – key for us is that they are affordable and hit pertinent pricepoints in store while offering the retailer a decent margin. I think stripping our offering down to its singular components does a disservice to what we offer as a package – we work hard to marry product, price and margin and that’s our offering. What are your most popular products? As with all fashion that’s a moveable feast – jewellery is definitely a mainstay but that is set against a backdrop of fashion accessories as a whole and one is definitely a foil for the other. Have any styles taken you by surprise with their popularity? Many over the years and they are always the ones we never buy enough of! Those styles have evolved into a core collection of ‘faithfuls’ which builds year-on-year. They tend to be the go-to classics, although we do have one design of earrings that buck that trend and are a bit on the whacky side and we simply have to keep them in-stock! How do you keep your designs fresh and current? Do you follow trends? Yes, we always have an eye on the latest trends and colours. We have two main launches a year with around 350 - 400 new lines each season.
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