Amanda Ruiz has a remarkable ethical fashion line, and her company is quickly finding it’s market. Check out what this featured entrepreneur has to say about starting and growing a successful business.
What does your business sell, specifically? Ponchos, cardigans, hats . . . do you have a catalog online?
The garments we sell are all ethically made in Peru (my husband’s country) by skilled artisans in the Andean region of Arequipa. The fibre we use is the amazing alpaca, which is world renowned for being lightweight, extremely durable and warm, and most importantly it doesn’t tend to bobble or pill – so we call it the luxurious alternative to cashmere – take a look at this quote recently added to our Facebook page (http://bit.ly/dpDDnu):
‘I’ll take alpaca over cashmere any day. It is greatly underestimated and one of the best investments anyone can make in clothing! My two year old poncho still looks brand new!’
Alpaca used to be only reserved for Inca Royalty and customers can see why as when they touch and feel it as comments are ‘Ooooh, feels as soft as silk’ and ‘Wow it is so soft and cosy’
We sell on line at www.hummshop.com and with pop up shops. Predominantly our garments for women – our best selling sleeved poncho which has been the focus in several of Doug Richard’s seminars as after attending my first S4S Boot Camp with him I went and immediately followed his advice and did a video testimonial, put it on the front page of the website and the poncho in question sold out! Other garments we sell are batwing jumpers, the new and gorgeous serape (pron: ser-a-pay) and this is our answer to this year’s killer must-have garment, the cape (see here for info on it…. http://sut5.co.uk/l/c.php?c=7596&ct=101975 ) and we also have some lovely long cardigans (coatigans) plus the essential accessories – berets, scarves, socks and long mittens.
We started the business by only doing children’s knitwear but found that the demand was much stronger for women’s garments, so we diversified and created a much larger women’s collection, however we still keep the all time favourite pom pom poncho for the girls http://hummshop.com/girls/girls-ponchos plus the pom pom scarf and mittens.
Doug was also instrumental on the men’s collection – we do button neck jumpers with the contrast piping on the hem and collar which are very popular (see here for Doug sporting his http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNWw05Fff14 ) but we didn’t at that time carry scarves for the blokes – well Doug asked so Doug got – we now have a range of very stylish scarves for the guys. Mind you I did spot him atop Mount Kilimanjaro NOT sporting a Humm ski hat/ chullo so that will have to be rectified as we also do men’s chullos!
What’s unique about your work?
I personally design and put the collections together, and this year we have collaborated with textiles designer Brandon Mably of the Kaffe Fasset Studio who has created an exclusive collection for Humm. See here: http://hummshop.com/designer. What is unique is that we are using European styling and colours – in particular brights which are my favourites (turquoise, purples, fuchsia, magenta, lime green) and using the traditions of textile making that go back centuries in Peru to bring to the international market garments that are stylish, elegant and colourful as well as being very practical as they are so warm yet lightweight, which is thanks to the indigenous alpaca fibre.
We also ensure that the factories we work with treat their artisans ethically – the workers receive a fair wage, healthcare and pensions. I speak fluent Spanish and go to the factories where I can see first hand the treatment of the workers, their environment and in general their working conditions. Speaking with one factory worker, Carmen, who is in charge of quality control, she told me that her daughter suffers from asthma and has had during her life frequent trips to hospital, all of this is possible thanks to the healthcare she receives from the factory. It is Carmen who, whenever I call the factory says ‘Señora Amanda, give us MORE orders please!’. More orders mean more work for the people in a very poor country (44% of the population is under the poverty line) and whose lives are often blighted by violence in the home and poor education, so we are proud to be helping out in a small way.
We send out to our customer base monthly newsletters, which are informative and interactive. This month’s newsletter has a fun competition, where you can win the item that Segundo in the factory is making, see here: http://sut5.co.uk/l/c.php?c=7596&ct=101975
You don’t have to speak Spanish to be able to win – it has had a fantastic response and we are still receiving entries, so have a go!
When and why did you start your business?
I started the business 3 years ago and was inspired after the birth of my first child, Felix. When we had Felix we were given lots of beautifully bright gifts from our Peruvian relatives – ponchos, hats and cardigans. I loved the styles and bright colours of these items. As I had many compliments on the garments from friends and even strangers on the street, plus the added benefit of the warmth alpaca gives to a product, I had the eureka moment in thinking I could share this wonderful discovery and design and sell my own range of knitwear.
My mother used to run an extremely successful mail order business (Janet Coles Beads) importing beads from all around the world and I learnt a lot from her over the years, both whilst I was growing up at home seeing her run her successful cottage industry to then working for her, that running this business just seems to be a natural next step.
Where can people buy your products? Are they available from you internationally as well as nationally?
Our products are available to order via mail order through our website and our lovely catalogue as well as various pop up shops we do around the country.
An amazing event we are organising for November 6th is the Latin Fusion Fashion Show in Colchester – this is a fashion show with a difference as the models will be samba and salsa-ing their way down the catwalk and there will also be zumba and salsa master classes as there is a great Latin community in Colchester so we are joining forces with the resident Zumba and Salsa Queens!
We have customers from all over the world – Australia, Austria, US, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Sweden, Germany, France to name a few so yes we ship internationally and our new website has the brilliant currency conversion button too!
Are you looking for more resellers or a distributor? Do you have a list of shops people can find your work in so they can buy it?
We currently sell into boutiques as well as to Oxfam – that was an amazing achievement as their screening process for the ethical treatment of the artisans was extremely tough – and yes our goal is to get more orders for our artisans as Carmen frequently requests!
You mentioned that you are a fan of S4S. What’s different about us? 
I attended Doug Richard’s School for Startups event on x November, 2009 in the Colchester Community Stadium. The event was packed and all of us attendees (business owners / people about to set up a business etc) listened to his every word for 8 hours and he captivated the audience. I had attended a business course that very week near Stansted organised by an organisation which helps business start ups and this seminar promised to deliver killer business tip after killer business tip. Let me tell you I went away from that talk very disappointed as I was not given one tip to use for my business…..however for 8 solid hours, Doug offered insightful advice on how to grow your business, suggestions on marketing and PR, on the importance of video testimonials as well as giving surgeries on individual business cases of people in the audience – I walked away in the evening with my note pad bursting with notes and actions and fully inspired.
The very next week I did one of the important actions Doug had suggested and made a video testimonial of a happy customer describing why she liked Peruvian Knitwear. See here for this testimonial: http://bit.ly/aQFdll
I put the testimonial up on www.hummshop.com and the product literally sold out. It was amazing advice that really worked!
Kosmetyczka
13 March 2011
9:08 pm
I was recommended this blog by my mom. I am not sure whether this post is written by him as no one else know such detailed about my difficulty. You’re incredible! Thanks!