Online fashion destination SilkFred has kicked off 2024 with the milestone news of hitting 2 million customers.
Known for being the point of call for occasionwear and one-of-a- kind fashion from independent brands, SilkFred has started 2024 with a bang after announcing it has served its 2 millionth customer.
SilkFred came to life in 2011, with the mission to bring aspiring fashion designers to market, founders Emma Watkinson, Kate Jackson and Stephen Jackson quickly realised that the high street was either dominated by retail giants or fast fashion franchises, leaving little room for showcasing work by independent brands.
From here they created SilkFred; an online-only destination that works exclusively with independent brands to showcase one-of-a-kind fashion. From the outset, the team had one goal; to connect the SilkFred customer with independent brands and help them find unique fashion they wouldn’t find anywhere else.
Fast forward 12 years, SilkFred has stuck to its original mission and built an extremely loyal customer base spanning across nearly 1 million social media followers, a chart-topping app and has helped nurture the growth of many well-known fashion brands through selling on SilkFred such as Never Fully Dressed and Dancing Leopard.
Speaking about the brand’s customer-centric approach Watkinson says: “Over the years, we’ve seen a huge shift in the fashion world but SilkFred has had one constant focus since the beginning; the customer.”
“We always wanted SilkFred to be a customer centric brand. From what products we share, to personal styling tips, our wonderful customers are always at the heart of what we do. We strive to always connect with them in unique and personal ways.”
Watkinson goes on to discuss how engaging with users on social media has created an ever-growing community: “We use social media as our shop floor, engaging in personal conversations on our Facebook group, bringing shoppers handy fashion tips on Instagram and TikTok, coupled with starting social trends like our Try On Tuesdays is one of the reasons I personally believe we have hit this milestone. We constantly work with the customer to ensure we’re innovating in ways that will always benefit them.”
Aside from being laser focused on a customer-centric approach, Watkinson also says they always wanted to keep the brand online. Although SilkFred began in 2011 when the high-street and print media were still thriving, SilkFred always stuck to its original goal of being an online-only destination in order to give the customer everything they needed in one space.
On building the vision for SilkFred, Watkinson reveals: “We always knew we wanted to be an online only business.”
“At the time, not everyone shared a similar vision for a brand, but we really believed that we could create a place for independent brands to showcase their amazing designs, as well as giving the customer amazing freedom of choice.”
“To this day, SilkFred remains a place where brands come to launch and grow and customers can find the perfect outfit for all their social occasions.”
When it comes to the future for SilkFred and how it plans to grow in 2024 and beyond, Watkinson says: “In 2024, we are excited to welcome new customers and brands to the SilkFred community and deepen our relationships with our loyal customers and brand partners. We want to continue to grow our community and provide them, not only with unique and interesting fashion, but to make getting dressed up fun.”
“Finding new ways to engage customers, especially in this day and age, is never easy but we have a couple exciting endeavours in the pipeline.”
“We are currently working on developing our AI service ‘Fred’ which gives our customers a personalised shopping experience and our live stream events.”
“These are all innovative ideas that we believe will keep our customers excited and bring them a superior shopping experience that they won’t be able to get anywhere else.”
