Flora Davidson
Navigating fashion sourcing with supplycompass
Human interaction can appear unrelated to processes and technology systems yet, they are in fact inextricably linked. I have been told previously in relation to fashion supply chains and transparency tools that ‘people are messy and you can’t make them conform’. However, I believe with the right tools, support and motivation people can enjoy working efficiently. If technology can make our lives and businesses more effective and profitable then, what’s not to love.
Issues arise when technology has been created without a deep understanding of the complexities of why and how people carry out their work in a certain manner. For example, is tradition or culture driving a process, or is there no access or desire to use alternative machinery, electricity or the internet. No matter how good your real-time data-driven technology platform is, if there’s no internet it’s not going to work.
Fortunately, Flora Davidson Co-founder of SupplyCompass, a transparent fashion sourcing platform, made sure she did her research before launching her business. Living in India for two years and spending time with people at all job levels in over 200 garment factories has given Flora a unique insight into the way factories work. She understands the cause of any production issues and how to help solve those issues, not only for the factory but for the SME fashion brands they work with too.
SupplyCompass act as a ‘matchmaker’ between factory and brand. Capability and longterm vision are taken into consideration before a match is created. This ensures the right factory is paired with the right brand to develop a great product and strong relationship. Both factory and brand work in a standardised and transparent way that cuts down miss-understandings and speeds up production.
We have come to associate the term ‘fast’ in relation to fashion as negative. However, speed is not necessarily a bad thing. Speed can mean more efficient, better use of resources and fabrics resulting in less waste. And it can also mean that businesses make more profit. SupplyCompass aims to make sourcing faster, leaner and more responsible. Their product development (roadmap) is driven by problem-solving, rather than purely to innovate. They have built a product people genuinely want and will use. If we applied this approach to all fashion design - rather than creating collections then marketing and selling them to customers who up until now have not been involved in the design process - we’d see fewer returns and arguably a more sustainable fashion industry.
Both quantitative and qualitative research has been key to the success of SupplyCompass. Flora’s research approach was honed whilst working at Flamingo, a global strategic insight consultancy, who ‘believe that culture is essential to understanding your business, your opportunities and your future, not only because it’s fascinating, but because it’s genuinely useful’. During her time at Flamingo, Flora worked for clients including Adidas, across Brazil, America and France.
Being able to navigate the intricacies of people’s behaviour and turn those intricacies into a unified system, technology platform and business is forming a firm foundation for SupplyCompass’ future. Perhaps this is why Flora and Co-founder & CEO (Augustus) Gus Bartholomew have recently secured £1.5mil in Venture Capital (VC) funding from Episode 1 Ventures, who have previously invested in Zoopla, Triptease and Shazam.
Join us for this podcast where Flora and I talk about:
Why strong relationships are at the heart of the SupplyCompass’ business and product development
How Flora has built a business that supports transparency in fashion
The future of SupplyCompass and how they plan to use £1.5mil funding
What will fashion sustainability look in 5 years time
How Flora balances the pressures of being an entrepreneur, seeing friends and her wellbeing
Listen to our podcast above and on
Gus Bartholomew and Flora Davidson, Co-founders of SupplyCompass
“Process [ is a typical issue]. It’s the lack of standardisation in every single factory and from every single brand that was something that came apparent really really quickly. We went out to India with the aim of matching brands and manufacturers much better. And then our research led us in the direction of, we need to help them work better, together. And we need to help both sides. So we place ourselves in-between. ”
“I think what was really clear from our two years researching in India and building our business out there was that sustainability can’t happen unless technology is at the heart of it. It’s not a very sexy marriage, but sustainability and efficiency go so well hand in hand. And process is really the enabler of it…We really see ourselves as a facilitator or enabler of sustainability. ”
If you enjoyed this podcast, have a listen to our podcast with Jenny Holloway, CEO of Fashion Enter, an ethical garment factory in London.
portrait photo of flora by black neon digital, all others courtesy of supplycompass
podcast recorded at flora’s office, clerkenwell, london
14.08.2019
