“The Customer Is My Queen”:When Fashion Faces It’s Biggest Battle Yet, How Is Jean Queen, Donna Ida Keeping Her Cool

The way that entrepreneur, Donna Ida discusses her transition from unique boutique specializing in jeans and fit to ‘Denim Queen,’ with her own iconic brand, makes it seem so obvious, so commonplace, that we should all really have our own fashion brand tucked under our belt.

The Donna Ida brand was born to answer a need – a need for a better fit of jeans.

 “I have always loved jeans, I have always loved ‘that look’ but I couldn’t find anything, anywhere to fit my shape. I was looking for an expert in a store to help me. I was looking at starting up my own business – and I was exploring the idea of some type of concierge offer. Yet a friend said to me ‘you love jeans but struggle to find them’-  I thought it was genius.” It took Donna just one short Vespa ride to decide that was her fate.

 “On the journey it dawned on me that I had recently read an article about the Heidi Klein brand where they had created a store that just sold swimwear. I thought it was so clever, I wish I could think of something like that.” The idea had obviously nestled in Donna’s brain and when the ‘A-Ha’ moment came – she was ready to galvanize.

Launching in 2006 as a specialist with a new offer, Donna wasn’t met with the same enthusiasm by everyone else. She recalls branded suppliers trying to upsell her on beyond the denim she had gone to buy. One vendor asked what would happen if a customer at her store was needing an outfit for a certain dress code that night – “I said, then I will send them to Selfridges”.

“In business, the one mantra I continue to stick by is “keep it simple”. You can’t be everything to everyone. Whenever I have tried to do that, it doesn’t work. You need to stay in your lane.”

She wasn’t scared of heading into a sector dominated by huge brands and LA style specialists, “I did my research.” She explains the hard yards she walked researching styles, store offers and what the perceived gap in the market actually was, “There was nothing else like this out there.”

This was the way that Donna, who at the time was working in marketing, could find the earning opportunity she desired and finally be in charge of her own destiny. 

It hasn’t always been plain sailing, as Donna highlights how seeking out others’ opinions hasn’t always worked for her, preferring instead to ruminate on an idea for 24-48 hours before deciding which way to go. 

“Every time I have gone with someone else’s advice, because I recognize they might be more experienced than me, or they are more successful, I have always gone wrong. It is only you that will know what is right for you. You are the one that has to live with the consequences.”

 Donna had a partner who had invested in the business, and after a success with the first store in Chelsea, Donna was clear that the second store should be in Marylebone High Street. 

 This was one of the last quintessentially British High Streets in Central London. With its wealthy population, many residents living around the location, it was a template that had worked well for her with the Chelsea store and she wanted to repeat the success.

 “My business partner was incredibly vocal and yet didn’t have the same background as me.” Donna gave in to her own strong feelings and under the direction of her shareholder, opened the second store in Westfield Shopping Centre. 

 “A disaster. A disaster. The hardest 5 years of my life being in that place. On the morning of opening, I was driving up to the massive red ‘Westfield’ sign and I felt sick to my core, because I knew this was a disaster.”

The store as part of the busy mall opened from 9 to 9pm, with Donna closing the stores most days. This was not the territory for the Donna to create meaningful relationships with her customer, and with the footfall having such a diverse mix of customers, this didn’t allow the same targeted approach as in Chelsea.

“I listened to her because I wanted to please her. When I reminded her of the conversation about Marylebone High Street – she simply shrugged ‘why did you listen to me then?’ and I learnt a lesson the hard way. If I had have done what I wanted to do, I would have been able to sell that lease on Marylebone High Street back in 2010/2011 for half a million pounds and finance my own brand much earlier. “ 

Donna knew that the long-term plan was that she would always launch her own denim brand. Starting as a specialist stockist of a curated collection of the best variety of upmarket denim brands, Donna still felt there was a gap to fit into and that she would be able to source quality and style just as well as the competition, if not better. Yet the road to sourcing the perfect product wasn’t easy.

Fit being everything, Donna and co. had to travel on some thankless journeys to find the coveted high-waisted jeans that would become a key-line in the Donna Ida collection. Donna had identified that denim needed consistent fit patterns, which might update in color. Where the denim brands she stocked would flit from fit to fit, moving with fashion trends, she understood that only certain types of body shape would be able to wear any and every style of jean.

The gap in the market was identified by Donna’s constant presence on the floor, helping customers as they tried on styles, and no doubt the outpourings of frustration as many customers felt as much as they coveted the denim look, there wasn’t a product for them. A problem Donna had recognized herself as a customer at the start of the journey.

Knowing the market and wealth of products so well, she was able to mix and match in her mind the assets of certain styles that combined would create the perfect fit for the gap.

But finding somewhere to produce that product and in the smaller quantities Donna wanted to buy, wasn’t without its challenges.

 As she used her network to facilitate her search, there seemed as many dead-ends as opportunities. She recalls how ‘middlemen’ wanted to inflict a pricely cost per unit to oversee relationships with the factories. 

“I was so green, I was so clueless. We dealt with one ‘designer’ who just took my brand and stuck it on the back of an old pair of jeans. He made the ugliest pair of jeans you have ever seen in your life. Ten grand later, in developing the ugliest pair of jeans on earth with him, I knew I couldn’t spend any more good money after bad with him. Nothing was right. After cooling my jets, I was at one of our customer focus groups working with customers to understand what else they might like to see in our stores. We always said at the end, if there is anything you want to chat about that you didn’t want to raise in the group, I am here, please just email me. 

A talent agent had been part of our focus group, and she had recognized the potential for me to start my own brand and emailed me the very next day. Serendipity struck, as she was working with a designer who had been heavily involved in the Victoria Beckham denim brand. She created the jeans with me; she even added in some unique touches that I wanted, to make the product feel right and she helped us find the right factory.” 

Clearly customer research had served Donna well in more ways than one.

 She holds the customer in high regard. The stores even in the early stages of the brand had dedicated iPhones for customers to message enquiries any time of day. Fit advice, special orders and new product alerts would be personally supported by the in-store team out of hours, and each style advisor would liaise directly with customers to ensure the whole service felt completely personalized. 

The Donna Ida brand knows its niche and works tirelessly to stay relevant and exciting in this space. Could any of this personalized service and brand energy be achieved by some of the bigger retail brands struggling on the high street these days?

“You have to get involved with the customer. It’s not rocket science. You have a product and a customer. You need to put them together. In a lot of stores, it feels like you have extra security guards in there, not sales advisors – because they are just stood ‘protecting the product’. Fashion is about a product, a customer and enabling them to meet in the most beautiful & effective way. I have always been as involved with the customer as I possibly can, in stores and now online through social media.”

And she has a loyal and dedicated following as a public figure on social media. Every day on Instagram, Donna posts everything from recipes, beauty tips and her shopping habits, unique in that it is glamorous but with brilliant Australian comedic aplomb. It’s like a digital version of Donna’s Little Black Book, and it feels genuine as she shares and signposts towards other businesses. 

 Whilst she can’t say explicitly that the content leads to direct sales conversion immediately, the fact is recognized that once she engages with someone who likes her style, they stick with her.

 So, what now for this brand that gets customers and product to meet in the most beautiful way? Still evolving the brand, a new phase for Donna Ida has just launched. Keen to take advantage of the social media network and the brands savvy customers, Donna Ida Ambassadors are now to host events at home.

With a dedicated training call from Donna, Ambassadors are also supported in event planning with the invites, samples and payment systems, whilst they invite a minimum of 10 of their network to attend and enjoy the socializing and fitting session. A specialist from the Donna Ida team joins the event via FaceTime and helps with the sales.

Whilst in-home selling isn’t new for retail brands, fans of the brand will certainly be keen to get the discounts on offer for an Ambassador and the events are sure to be great social media content.

“I’m so happy I have made my business more simple. I don’t have to worry about talking to landlords, rates, staff appraisals. All I have to focus on now is my product and my customer. 

Every business large or small should get involved with their customer face to face. Respect them. A lot of fashion brands think that they are ‘this or that’ but they don’t respect their customer. You don’t have anything if you have no one to buy your product. Believe me.”