Vela Blu, a new apparel website selling ladies casual styles in
luxury fabrics and yarns, was launched just before Easter. Its
owner is Dagmar Krafft, formerly managing director at Elegance UK
and chief executive of Italian-inspired fashion catalogue
Artigiano. “Vela blu is Italian and can mean blue
yacht, or blue sail,” explains Krafft, who says the name
for her evokes feelings of relaxing days in the sun; the Vela Blu
collection is designed to epitomise a relaxed, yet sophisticated
style, she adds.
The Vela Blu journey started in 2009, and Krafft began sourcing
her first collection last May. Even though the website is fully
functioning and search results for Vela Blu appear in
the top three listings on Google, the company is still very much
in its embryonic stage. It has only one full-time
employee-Krafft, and its email list comprises friends, family and
existing contacts. Vela Blu didn’t use rented names for its first
enewsletter broadcast.
“I’m still on a fact-finding mission,” says Krafft,
which includes determining whether to introduce a catalogue.
“Producing a catalogue is a very costly exercise, and I
don’t know yet if it’s viable for us.” She is also in the
final stages of putting together a marketing portfolio, something
she put off doing until the site was live and bug-free. Marketing
will include consumer PR, print advertising in women’s titles
including Red, Good Housekeeping and the
Daily Mail‘s You magazine, and online activity
including affiliate marketing. Krafft says she was focusing on
bringing the brand to market and did not want to estimate
turnover figures, but she did say that she hoped to turnover
£250,000 in the first year, growing to £1 million in
sales by year three.
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