We were recently joined by Karen Radley, founder of boutique women's fashion show Scoop International, for a Lunchtime Masterclass. Read the transcript from the live web chat, below.
A fashion expert with 30 years' experience in the industry, Karen is the brainchild behind Scoop, a new and unique show that aims to showcase "the upper end of the contemporary womenswear market."
Scoop made its debut at London's Saatchi Gallery in February this year. It took shape as a reaction to retailer demand to see something new and different. With an impressive line-up of bridge and premium collections, it is based around creating an international design-led and London-based exhibition for niche designers; one where labels do not have to battle one another for attention and everything displayed is diverse, guaranteeing visitors something they have not seen elsewhere.
Karen got bitten by the fashion bug very early on, when she was on her year out and attended a show in Copenhagen. She was supposed to be going to university, but instead ended up travelling to Dusseldorf, Munich, Paris and New York to attend catwalks and niche events. She went onto focus on clothing design, international sales, overseas sourcing, operations and marketing.
Karen started in manufacturing through her family business, Radley and then consulted for many big brands on design, including M&S. She then worked in sales for Missoni which then lead to her running her own sales agency called Quorum, whose designers included Ossie Clark, Alice Pollork, Celia Birtwell and Betty Jackson. In February this year she founded Scoop and the show has gone from strength to strength, garnering widespread critical acclaim in the process.
This web chat is now closed but you can read all the questions posed to Karen and her replies, below.
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