Understanding fashion dilemmas
Jan Clift, owner of Feva in Cheltenham, on why customer insight serves indies so well.

Image: Jan Clift, owner, Feva, Cheltenham

It’s our 10th anniversary this year at Feva and we've launched a host of exciting projects to mark the occasion and celebrate with our customers.

Ten years is a long time in fashion retail, but as much as you think you know your customers it is sometimes helpful to take a step back and re-connect with what they want and how they really feel about fashion.

So we decided to launch our first ever Feva survey, asking 190 women aged 30-55, from our Cotswold region, what their biggest fashion dilemmas are. The research was mainly conducted to ensure our bespoke personal styling packages were spot on and was part of a larger customer satisfaction survey. The results were insightful.

An impressive 84 per cent of women felt they would benefit from professional fashion advice – the most pressing concerns being “dressing suitably for my age but still looking good” and “looking casual but still stylish”, with 70 per cent and 60 per cent of respondents respectively agreeing these were among their biggest fashion dilemmas.

Other pressing concerns were “standing out from the crowd/being individual”, “making myself look slimmer”, “finding my perfect pair of jeans” and “knowing what cuts and styles suit my shape”, with more than a third of respondents agreeing with each statement.

Findings also suggest “favourite fashion items” are not all about looking good, but just as important is finding something comfortable, versatile and easy to wear, with more than 60 per cent of respondents loving their favourite piece for at least one of these reasons.

When asked, “What is your favourite fashion piece in your wardrobe?”, the most popular items were dresses, coats and jackets, with 55 per cent referring to one of these items as their current can’t-live-without article.

Results suggest there are many women in the Cotswolds feeling they would benefit from professional style advice. Knowing what fashion dilemmas they are struggling with will help us tailor Feva’s personal styling packages accordingly. We want to be able to provide real and individual fashion solutions for our customers, to support them to dress for their body shape, colouring, lifestyle and character.

Helping someone to feel good about what they look like is a huge part of what we do at Feva, as it makes a real difference to confidence and self-esteem. And this is the difference between what an indie can provide and what the high street cannot, surely?

• Feva.