Hope is a British fashion brand that targets women over 40. Launched in 2015, the start-up is now on Crowdcube hoping to raise a total of £500,000 in order to expand the brand.
Founded by Nayna McIntosh, Hope recognises that fashion for the older woman is a neglected but increasingly important area of the market.
So far, Hope has shown promise in the industry. The database is over 16,000 and growing and website traffic in the last three months is +350 percent on last year. There has been strong unprompted international interest with 20 percent of organic web traffic coming from overseas.
This is not surprising given the team’s expertise. Nayna and the Hope team have 200 years’ combined experience, with an average age of 52.
“This a team that knows this woman because they are this woman.”
The company is also backed by the former CEO of M&S, whilst also being in talks with a major US department store.
Using funds from this round of crowdfunding, Hope plan to increase sales growth through various strategies.
This includes online, going international, go wholesale and extend their range.
“By the end of 2016 Hope was being sold through 8 independents and had started discussions with major UK and US department store groups. An imminent purchase order for a trial with one US chain of 32 stores will underpin the 2017 wholesale forecast and a roll out would bring forward year 3 and 4 targets.
“The website is ready to trade internationally and a soft trial in USA is underway. The next stage is to market this proactively and roll out to other countries. International trade (20% of organic traffic) is not yet reflected in current business run rates.”
So far, Hope have already raised over £370,000 of their £500,000 target. They have 22 days left on the crowdfunding website and offer an equity of 13.77 percent.