249: From Vision to Action with Stock Doctors and Retail By Design

Catherine Erdly: [00:00:00] How does it feel to finally realize a goal that you’ve been working on for eight years in your business? Hi, I am Catherine Erdly, founder of the Resilient Retail Club, small business retail expert, and also your host. On today’s podcast, I’m talking to Genevieve of Genevieve Sweeney Knitwear. I’ve worked with Genevieve for many years.

She has taken part in both Retail By Design and also Stock Doctor programmes and I can’t wait to dive into her story, find out more about her amazing luxury British made knitwear and the big goal that she has finally made happen after many, many years.

Welcome to the Resilient Retail Game Plan, a podcast for anyone wanting to start, grow or scale a profitable creative product business with me, Catherine Erdley. The Resilient Retail Game Plan is a podcast dedicated to one thing, breaking down the concepts and tools that I’ve gathered from 20 years in the retail [00:01:00] industry and showing you how you can use them in your business.

This is the real nuts and bolts of running a successful product business, broken down in an easy, accessible way. This is not a podcast about learning how to make your business look good. It’s the tools and techniques that will make you and your business feel good. Confidently plan, launch, and manage your products, and feel in control of your sales numbers and cash flow to help you build a resilient retail business.

Genevieve, thank you so much for joining me today on the podcast. Do you want to start off by introducing yourself and your business?

Genevieve: Hi, Catherine. Yes, I’m Genevieve and I’m the founder of a luxury British knitwear label. We design and manufacture luxury knitwear across the UK, supporting small family run meals and celebrating British craft.

Catherine Erdly: Fantastic. And you have been doing [00:02:00] that for how long now? When did you get started?

Genevieve: So this is my 10th year.

Catherine Erdly: Oh!

Genevieve: I’m celebrating 10 years this year. Yeah, so it’s an exciting year ahead. ahead

Catherine Erdly: Wonderful. And I should say as well, I feel like I have to confess that our household is a Genevieve Sweeney super fans, and my husband has a huge collection of your socks and jumpers. And I’ve a pretty, I’m getting there with my collections.

So if anyone listening is in the market for a fabulous jumpers, socks, knitwear, accessories, amazing blanket scarves. So you said those sold sell out really quickly.

Genevieve: Yeah, they are one of our bestsellers, definitely.

Catherine Erdly: And I think it’s really fascinating. You and I have worked together over a number of years now, and I just think it’s amazing, your dedication to the quality of the wool. And your knowledge of the industry as well. So, do you wanna share a little bit about your background?

What kept Genevieve rooted in British manufacturing

Genevieve: Yeah, so I’ve always knitted, I did a degree in knitwear and went on to [00:03:00] work for Global Brands in New York, Switzerland, London. And I was always involved in the design, development and production. I kind of wanted to cover all departments so I could learn how to run my brand, but I never knew what it was I wanted my brand to be.

But I really realized that I loved meeting the makers and like going to the yarn mills and seeing how the yarn was made. And just really kind of being involved in every step of the process. And then that’s kind of where I guess my love for the yarn and the quality came from.

And then when I also realized that there was a disappearing British knitwear industry and I’ve really wanted to do something to stop it from dying out.

Catherine Erdly: So you work with, so it’s not just British-made, but it’s also the wool’s British, all of the components.

Genevieve: Yeah, so, about 80% is British spun. So it’s spun in Scotland or Yorkshire. And then some of the fancy yarns for the socks are done in Italy. And [00:04:00] then, all the manufacturers are kind of like up and down the UK from from Scotland and Derbyshire. And even the buttons are British made, from the last button makers in the cots worlds.

And I get to custom dye all the buttons to match the yarn. I t’s just beautiful that you can have all these different details and processes kind of still across the UK.

Catherine Erdly: Yeah no, that’s fantastic. The thing is you’re not just designing. But you actually, like you say you spin some of the yarns, right?

Genevieve: Yeah, so I get very involved in all the processes. But I think it’s what like I see the design, not just as a silhouette. I see it as the yarns. So I twist lots of yarns, get different textures and color mixes. So it’s something very unique from the start.

I’m very involved with depending on who the manufacturer is. Sometimes I’ll go and program with them on a machine, or sometimes I give them a tip pack. I love just being involved in all the different kind of creative outlets. Because magical things happen when you’re with the artisans.[00:05:00]

Catherine Erdly: Uh, yes. Yes. What would you say then, as you’ve been growing, as you’ve been running the business for the last 10 years, I mean, which is in itself an incredible achievement. What have been some of the kind of pinch me moments or moments that you’ve been most proud of?

Genevieve: Well, a very recent one, like literally a month ago, which is kind of a real big moment that I’ve literally been planning for about eight years. We’ve just welcomed an industrial knitting machine into our studio, so we’ll be made doing 30% of the manufacturing in-house and we’ll be teaching apprenticeships and continuing, like passing on the skills to the next generation.

It’s honestly something I’ve been planning for eight years. I tried to find some funding. It didn’t really exist where I was. So it was finding the right studio, kind of getting to the point where the business could do it.

So that felt like a real magical moment when it arrived. You know, the brand values and our kind of vision and goals is, it feels like a big achievement and a big pinch moment for sure.

Why in-house production changed how Genevieve plans and sells

Catherine Erdly: I mean, that’s incredible. So that’s gonna [00:06:00] be then the production, so 30% of the production in house, what’s that going to allow you to do in terms of trying things and experimentation?

Genevieve: Yeah, so there’s kind of like two sides to it. One side, we can do limited edition runs. So we can test new products, and then if it’s a bestseller, we can then pass that program directly to the manufacturer for them to knit bulk. Which is it kind of saves them all the pain points of prototyping, sampling. And it just kind of it makes it a much more kind of lean quicker kind of production stream.

And then also we will be able to, yeah react to customer demand? Yeah, with my blanket scarf, it sells out within a week. And the lead time to make a new one is four months. So I’ve completely missed the season. And customers get really upset that they haven’t got it for Christmas. And so yes, it’d be amazing to be able to be reactive to and also to kind of like not hold so much stock and to knit on demand. So it’s kind of got really exciting kind of different parts to [00:07:00] it.

Catherine Erdly: Yes, yes. So much freedom, I suppose, to be able to have that production in-house and then also as you say, then to be able to be part of passing on those skills and getting apprentice.

Genevieve: Yeah, and the skills we want to teach are ones that kinda factories we find really hard to get people engaged and wanting to do the hand thinking. Which is the construction of the garments. So the machines that they’re now working with are seamless machines.

So they’re made in kind of one piece. So you don’t need those hand process. So it feels like very quickly, those kind of artisanal skills are gonna disappear. So yeah, I really champion it.

The hardest parts of running her business over the last decade

Catherine Erdly: So what have been some of the biggest challenges that you’ve had in running your business?

Genevieve: Well, I feel like over 10 years I’ve kind of been through a lot of storms with like Brexit and obviously like covid, but I feel that Brexit was a quite a massive one because we had such a huge customer base in Europe, and that was quite a shift. Yeah, that’s [00:08:00] been a challenge and then also cashflow as a seasonal business, like knitwear is seasonal.

And at the beginning that was very hard. To grow organically was a real challenge because it did have those kind of peak seasons, so like Q4.

But so over the years we’ve grown internationally. So like Australia’s a good market for us, so we get to follow the winter and then kind of bring in new products that can be worn throughout the year and more kind of summer-y knitwear as well. I think the cashflow is the one where that kind of slows you down, I guess. And we’ve never taken on funding, so it’s had to be kind of organic and slow, slowly on each year.

Catherine Erdly: Yeah, and I think probably as well for you, you ‘re very creative and you love to create new things and experiment with new things. And I think that is always the balance, isn’t it? With cash flow, it’s about you want to develop this range, and then equally it’s having to manage, especially when you are having production runs done.

Because that’s a whole other level as well, isn’t it? You have to commit.

Genevieve: Yeah. Yeah, [00:09:00] you have to commit nine months in advance, pay deposit. Yeah, it’s a hard one to manage definitely at the beginning ’cause you don’t realize how hungry product businesses are.

What happens when your customer base grows with you

Catherine Erdly: The other thing that’s remarkable about your business as well is just how loyal your customers are too. I mean, so you do have a really sort of strong core customer base. Is that just something that’s developed over the years?

Genevieve: Yeah, I think the customer base is so, so loyal. And they’ve been on the journey for years. I actually met someone last night at an event, and she’s been buying from me for eight years. And she said, I just feel like I’ve been part of this journey.

Catherine Erdly: Oh, wow.

Genevieve: I’d never met her before, but I knew her name like because I’d seen it pop up. I think because it’s quite, my marketing comes from me and it’s my voice. It’s kind of my experience. And so I think people connect with that. And yeah, my newsletter i t does have half of it is that kind of storytelling throughout the week.

So I think that’s where the loyalty comes, but also because they love the [00:10:00] product and it really lasts. It’s just wonderful that when people, the feedback is that they try something on and it’s that comfort that they feel like they’ve owned it forever and it’s just, yeah, it’s just something.

It feels that the product brings a lot of joy and comfort and yeah, the quality is really loved.

Catherine Erdly: Yeah absolutely. And I think it’s interesting what you were talking about, things like creating the unique yarns. It’s like it is very much unique to you and when you actually see the product in real life and you see the sort of depth of color, of the yarns, and the different textures to it.

Quite unique and I think that, I’m sure for a lot of people like you just said, it’s once you’ve had one, then it can be habit forming.

Genevieve: I think also, I don’t make it easy for myself. The colors are so hard to show online because they change as the light hits. And so when people see it in real life, I don’t know, it does kind of come to life. [00:11:00] Cause cut color can be really hard too, that’s my constant challenge actually, of trying to show the color perfectly because they are so unique and it’s all inspired by Mother Nature.

So often, like I love lichen, just like the limes and greens that sit together that you just never imagine would.

Catherine Erdly: Yeah. But that is that challenge in having to zoom in and see the actual colors when, because you know, when you zoom it out, you said it doesn’t. It can be hard for photography to pick that up.

And did you start off doing in-person events or is that something you just sort of dabbled with periodically over the 10 years?

Genevieve: When I launched my business, I kind of like launched the website and then it was kind of like tumbleweed. And I was like, oh people don’t know about me. So I did lots of events in London to start off with which was just a great way to meet people to see them try on the garment, to actually have that conversation to talk about the brand.

I actually found it a really great kind [00:12:00] of marketing just opportunity just to see what people were engaged with. And then over the years, I did some. One year I did a tour across the UK during Christmas markets and I did 22 in a month. And it was absolutely like chaotic. But it was great to kind of see how the product, what people thought of it and to tell that story.

But now, since having two kids, I do a lot less. I’ll probably do a few a year, but this year, because it’s my 10th anniversary, I want to do another tour of the UK. From like Scotland to like Bristol or Cornwall, and kind of stop at where all my best customers are and get that chance to meet them and thank them.

Catherine Erdly: My goodness. Yeah, it’d be amazing. And I’m curious, when you did that tour across the country, because this is always really interesting with events. And actually not even just events, but you know, for example, I’ve worked in the past for businesses with large store bases. And it is always amazing that there’s [00:13:00] such a variation between different areas or just different markets.

How people react to products, what they think of it, the kind of people that you meet. Was it fairly consistent? The reaction you got when you crossed the country? Or was it quite different?

Genevieve: It was definitely quite different like, and I would find myself editing what I showed.

Catherine Erdly: Mm.

Genevieve: So if I went to Cambridge, it would be much more relaxed, much more kind of paired down. And then probably if I went up to the lakes, it was definitely a lot more walking socks and that kind of chunkier knit.

So I definitely found myself changing it. But I mean, I did 22 events but some markets, like some are so hit and miss. And I remember like getting different friends and family to meet me in different spots and we’d be like, oh, this isn’t what we thought it would be. And some were quite unexpectedly amazing. So it was a lot of lessons learned, but yeah.

Catherine Erdly: Well, I think that’s probably good to hear if anyone’s been to an event that they found was disappointing Because I know that can really knock people’s confidence, but it’s just so [00:14:00] variable, isn’t it? You can have an amazing event in one place and it really depends on how it’s organized, right?

Genevieve: Yeah, and also like every year is different. Some of them I’d go kind of year after year. And they would change, but as kind of everything do. It’s a good experience. It’s good to kind of, I think as a marketing tool, it’s a great way to kind of speak to people and learn what people are interested in. Especially when you’re an online, mainly an online brand, and you don’t get that conversation day to day.

Catherine Erdly: No, no, completely. You don’t really get to see people pick something up or look at something and you don’t really get that. I mean, obviously you can analyze where people have clicked and what they’ve looked at.

But it’s not the same as being able to actually talk to somebody and understand what their thought process is.

Genevieve: Yeah. Yeah, that seeing what people were drawn to is brilliant. When I worked for other brands, I would go and stand in the store and watch the customers. Where they went to in the store, what they looked at.

And I guess it’s the kind of like, that’s how I see it as I love seeing what people grab to, or what they touch. And then what they end up buying is often very [00:15:00] different.

Why Genevieve joined the mastermind after Goldman Sachs

Catherine Erdly: That’s really, that’s so true. Yeah, what they’re drawn to and then yeah no, it’s fascinating. So last year you joined the Mastermind. Do you wanna tell us a little bit about what it was that was behind that decision? What made you join?

Genevieve: Yeah, so I’d just done a Goldman Sachs small business course. And I felt that I had all these kind of grand plans, but no kind of accountability. And I really wanted to work with you to kind of work through those plans and to get my business into the position where I could buy a knitting machine and everything.

So it was kind of where I needed. Because I’ve got a very small team. It’s just me and another so I just wanted to have someone to be able to strategize. And to kind of think out the box and also work on the bits of the business that I may have been ignoring or not focusing on so much.

Catherine Erdly: So do you want us a little bit about the Goldman Sachs? Because sounds like an amazing program.

Genevieve: Yeah. Oh, it’s absolutely incredible. It’s a four month program. It’s [00:16:00] very intensive. They kind of say that you exit your family home life for that time. But you are in a cohort of 70 businesses and you have lectures throughout the week, and you go to Oxford University and you’re taught by professors and Harvard professors and you kind of take apart your business and learn about all the different like marketing operations.

Like human resource, kinda everything, and re-look at it. And that’s probably where I looked at my operations and I was looking at my lead times and the bottlenecks. And that’s where I thought, this is where I really need a knitting machine to kind of help with production.

And you get to meet incredible businesses across the kind of so many different categories and some quite new businesses and some that are like 40 years old. So it’s a real mix, but it’s a very open space. You learn a lot from being with other founders.

Catherine Erdly: So you came out with a list, a long list of things to do. But it was a question of being able to put it together into a plan.

Genevieve: Well, it’s easy to get drawn back into the day to day. It is very easy to like, you start off like working [00:17:00] on the business, not in the business, but it’s very easy to quickly like go back. Get back into it. Yeah, especially when you’ve got young kids running around as well.

Turning big ideas into a plan you can stick to

Catherine Erdly: Of course. Yeah, I have nothing but admiration for anyone who runs a small business with small children. When I had small children, I definitely would not have had the head space. So hats off to you. So during the Mastermind then, what were some of the shifts that you were able to make?

Genevieve: It opened up like we ended up speaking about parts of the business that I hadn’t really focused on. Well, I knew my bestsellers and I knew what wasn’t selling, but it was kind of focusing on that bit in the middle and really focusing on it and kind of releasing cash out with the business and just I got so much more out of it than I guess my original intention really making it really healthy business. And actually kind of making those steps of like, right, how can we get to this goal?

What do we need to do? I just found it really invaluable.

How working with our Stock Doctors team during her busiest season gave her clarity

[00:18:00]

Catherine Erdly: And you actually are it’s quite interesting because you then, after the Mastermind actually went on to Stock Doctor. The Stock Doctor programme and worked with one of our Stock Doctors, Katie. So I’d love to know the difference between the two and how you found that process.

Genevieve: Yeah, working with Katie. It kind of came at like a really fantastic point ’cause it was my busiest season. It was Q4 and I, as much as I have the intentions to kind of do all the analytics and to look at what’s gonna set out quickly, what’s slow and kind of looking at the analytics of it, I would just never get it done because it was kind of like head down getting kind of Christmas orders out.

So it was a fantastic chance to have that kind of weekly or monthly meeting and to have that kind of having the numbers kind of confirm, I guess, what my thoughts and feelings were on the season. And looking at where what categories I needed to top up or what I needed to push with marketing and kind of give that real, I guess, analytical [00:19:00] strategy to it as well.

Because often when you’re busy you think, “oh, it’s great, it’s busy,” but then you could easily quite forget about two products that cause your focus is elsewhere.

Catherine Erdly: Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I think that was what’s really interesting about the fact that you’ve done both of these. Because often when I’m talking to people about mastermind or Retail By Design of, as I’m now calling it, then I’m listening to people tell me what’s going on in their business. If there’s kind of big strategic shifts or things they want to reexamine the business. Or have that accountability moving forward looking at the broader picture, then we tend, then that sort of says to me, right, Retail By Design.

And if it’s like I’m really, really tight for time, I just need to stay on top of my stock. Then that seems to fit really well with stock doctors. So it makes sense that during your busiest time of year, it shifted from one to the other.

Genevieve: Yeah no, definitely.

Catherine Erdly: And and it’s like both of them are valuable different times.

But it’s interesting that you’ve done them both. But absolutely. [00:20:00] I think that’s the key thing is like when you’re just trying to keep up with the sales, but just saying to you, right. By the way, if you got loads of stock of this, so don’t forget to push that.

Genevieve: Yeah.

Catherine Erdly: This is running low. You know, how to manage it.

Genevieve: Yeah, definitely.

Catherine Erdly: In a way so you can focus on other things.

Genevieve: Definitely. And like I couldn’t have done it as well as Katie did as well. And also if I had kind of questions to like about what sizing or what colors are doing well, she could quite quickly, well it seems she did pretty quickly, like break it down and give me that information as well.

So it was so especially like after Christmas, we started looking at kind of like our line sheets and autumn winter planning. And that was really, really helpful to kind of look at how many colors do you actually need per product? And how many items do I need in total, per category?

And that was really interesting ’cause I’ve never really done that before. I’ve kind of designed and made, I guess it’s that issue of being a maker. Like you kind of make what you want and what you [00:21:00] think. I don’t know, there’s that less kind of strategy behind it. Whereas now I feel like I have a really great plan, which is great when I’ve got the knitting machine cause it stops me from going from going crazy with making.

Catherine Erdly: Then the two machine will be running day and night and

Genevieve: Yeah, exactly.

Catherine Erdly: Fantastic. Well, thank you for sharing that. And so you’ve got the knitting machine now, so what’s next for Genevieve Sweeney?

Genevieve: Yeah. So well, what’s next is bringing together our microfactory, getting our apprenticeships in, and then getting ready to celebrate our 10th anniversary, so that will be autumn. So we’ve got a limited edition collection launching and then our, some really special oversized scarfs.

So yeah, I’m really excited to get it all together.

Catherine Erdly: Oh, fantastic. Well thank you so much. And of course do you wanna wrap us up by telling everyone where they can find out more about you?

Genevieve: Yeah, brilliant. So my website is genevievesweeney.com, and then I’m on Instagram as Genevieve Sweeney as [00:22:00] well.

Catherine Erdly: Thank you so much for tuning in. Don’t forget to go check out Genevieve’s incredible knitwear. I can tell you from firsthand experience that it is amazing.

And of course, if you have a moment to like and subscribe to the podcast, it makes a huge difference getting it out there in front of other people. You can rate it inside the Spotify app, and you can also rate it and review it inside Apple Podcasts.

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