Meet Penny........

It’s not really a revelation to hear that the role of a receptionist is crucial to many a business. They create the first impression and reflect the business values & culture.

Here at SFG HQ we are very aware of having the best person/people in the role and are lucky to have two wonderful ladies who job share the role at SFG Reception. Penny & Nina are true superstars, hard-working and ever smiling. They are approachable, engaging and always happy to help!

The other day our Editor was in the buzzing reception hub at SFG, chatting to Penny and she had some wonderful things to say about her role & time so far at SFG, so we thought we’d share her thoughts. Meet Penny………

Ahhh, Penny, you are looking lovely yet again today – wearing any of our brands?

I am! City Chic top and earrings today!

Such an ambassador! Love it! Right, so tell us a bit about you?

I’m married with two beautiful boys aged five & three. I love travelling, especially to Greece and exploring the beautiful islands & villages where I can indulge my passion for food and cooking. I also love spending time with friends and family.

I Joined SFG almost one year ago in a part-time Reception role that I share with my lovely colleague Nina. I work 5 days a week either a morning or afternoon shift and handover with Nina at lunch-time. This has been the perfect arrangement to allow me to balance my child-care arrangements, secure fulfilling work and ensuring work/life balance.

What attracted you to the role at SFG?

Being a mum, I was attracted to the hours but more importantly I loved the SFG brands. I grew up with Katies and Millers as my Mum and Grandmother would frequently shop there. I also love fashion so when I saw the role advertised, I thought why not work within the fashion industry!

Penny @ SFG reception in Sydney

As a receptionist, what does your role entail?

The reception area at SFG is super busy, so my hours flyby! My day to day tasks include meeting and greeting clients, customers & suppliers, answering incoming calls and receiving and sorting deliveries. We have anywhere from 50 - 200 parcels delivered each day! I’m also responsible for sending out all international samples and managing the couriers as well as responding to email enquiries and requests from SFG team members.

What’s your favourite part of the role?

People! My day centres around interacting with people all day from all different walks of life, whether that’s my colleagues, suppliers, customers or our couriers. This gives the busy role a lot of variety.

What are the perks to working here?

There are so many perks working at SFG! One the best ones being our generous staff discount (40%) which means there is an even bigger excuse to shop and I have a happier husband! We are also able to attend samples sales, again receiving a significant discount as well as getting to see the latest fashion trends, first, before it hits the stores. I was recently asked by one of our suppliers if I would mind wearing a few bits of their jewellery, which are currently stocked in our stores, and the best bit is I get to keep it! However, by far my favourite part of working at SFG is the team culture we have, everyone is so friendly and approachable it means coming to work is always fun!

What would your top tip be to someone considering a role at SFG?

Don’t be intimated by the stereotypes that the Fashion Industry has. At SFG that couldn’t be further from the truth – the people here are down-to-earth, friendly and welcoming and the culture is great! If you want a great role, in a buzzing environment all you need to do is demonstrate the SFG values and work hard and I’m sure you would be a success!

Now Penny, I don’t want to cause any ruffling of feathers internally but who is your favourite SFG brand & why?

Hahaha – I love them all! But if I was pressured to pick I would say that I have two favourite brands, City Chic and Katies; I love what City Chic represents in terms of giving confidence and sass to plus-size women to wear whatever they want and to look & feel fantastic! And with Katies it’s about accessing latest trends and fashions whilst also being affordable and keeping some classic pieces.

Favourite fashion trend of the moment?

I’m obsessed with leather look coated jeans at the moment they are so versatile, you can dress them up or down, are comfortable but with a bit on an edge!

Who’s your style icon?

Penny's dream destination

My current style icon is Sally Obermeder! I love her sophisticated & classic style, she always looks so well put together without trying too hard.

Now, obviously you want to be at SFG forever (!) however if you weren’t working at SFG what would you be doing?

I would be living on an island somewhere in Greece, sunning myself with a cocktail, sampling delicious food!  

An insight into the Buying function at Katies

We recently sat down with James Matthews-Newman, Head of Product for Katies to see if we could garner an insight in to the world of Apparel Buying within our iconic Katies brand. Take a read to discover what the Buying function looks like and get a sneak peek into up-coming trends for AW16.

Can you tell us what your role as Head of Product does within Katies?

"In short, I manage the best buying team in Australia! I’ve been with Katies for a year now & am still impressed about the high performing nature of the team! Essentially, I manage the process of getting product to market; working closely with our suppliers to building relationships; setting the strategic direction of the categories & implementing sales initiatives.

I’m also the conduit between our Design and Merchandise Planning functions, as well as working closely with Visual Merchandise, Marketing & Store Operations."

James looking very dapper in a tux! 

What have you loved about your role so far?

"12 months has absolutely flown by! The teams moral, work ethic & ability for all the departments to pull together is truly inspiring. I love the huge design focus that we have within the Katies brand. Very few ‘high-street’ brands, at our price point, invest like we do in the design element of our product. Whilst, I have a career that spans 15years in the fashion & retail industry I’ve found the last year has been packed full of learning for me & I truly feel like I am surrounded by some of the best in the industry & we all come from a very diverse background. We all want the brand to be successful & will do whatever it takes to get the product looking its’ best to meet & exceed our customers’ expectations!"

What does a ‘typical’ week involve for a Buyer in your team?

"Haha, I wish I could answer that but as anyone who has worked in buying knows, there’s no such thing! The only two certainties are the Monday morning trade meetings, to review the previous weeks performance, & that it will be crazy busy! But we wouldn’t have it any other way."

Everyone says a role in Buying is “fast paced” what does this mean at Katies?

"It is fast paced and therefore not for the faint-hearted. You need to be on top of your game, be highly organised and able to multi-task & prioritise. The teams focus is on getting the most up to date products for our customer; it’s not about giving her “youth” trends, it’s about interpreting the trends and colours so she can buy into them, feel relevant & be trend appropriate.

We work 6 months ahead and have a new ‘story’ dropping in each week. We are a volume fashion environment & with volume comes the need to be fast. Our Buyers have multi-category responsibility & deal with a broad supplier base. Some people thrive in fast paced & others struggle – for us we need Buyers who love being in the thick of it with a broad variety of work to be involved in & who can make good decisions quickly based on their skills, experience & knowledge."

How often do Buyers get to travel & where do they get to go?

"There’s a lot of travel involved in most buying roles & for us the trips typically include; London, Los Angeles, New York, Europe, China & Bangladesh."

How would you describe the Katies brand environment & team culture?

"Katies is very much a team focused environment; everyone works well together & truly wants to see the brand achieve success & provide great product to our fabulous customer – she deserves it! I am a great believer that you are only as good as your team."

The Katies team having fun on Melbourne cup! 

What exciting things can we expect from Katies in 2016?

"I can’t give too much away as don’t want the competition getting wind of this, but we have some exciting new “capsules” launching……………………………………"

What’s the most challenging part of a Buying role for a new person joining the business?

"As when joining any business, it’s the first few weeks where you just feel like you don’t know anything; new systems, you’ve inherited someone else’s range, different business language etc. We’ve all been there & my advice is that you have to manage those frustrations safe in the knowledge that it will all fall into place. We encourage out new starters to ask loads of questions, don’t be afraid to get stuck in & have a voice & opinion, make notes and smile!"

What’s your top career tip for a Buyer looking to progress their career?

"Remember why we are in this industry; it’s about providing amazing clothes for our customers, never lose sight of why we do this & never under estimate your customer, learn to love her. If you are passionate about fashion & love what you do that will show in the results!"

What’s the best thing about working in the Katies brand?

"We operate like a high-end designer with great attention to detail, amazing prints & artworks that are designed in London & Europe. This strong design focus coupled with offering this to our customers at great price is what stands us apart!

It is amazing the amount of work & effort that goes into every single product that we produce and the fact that we can offer such a great price never fails to impress me."

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

"Usually it’s my two dogs waiting to get into the bedroom & jump on the bed! But on a serious note, my team & my passion for what I do." 

Any sneaky insight into the top trends we should be looking out for in AW16?

1. "It’s going to be a great colour season with some gorgeous rich tones of rust, camel & ochres.
2. Knitwear is going to huge with the key shapes being the cape & poncho.
3. Another colour story that will be really strong this year is midnight blues; think Indigo and denim leading the way!  
4. My top tip would be to invest in a beautiful, quality winter coat, camel is the hottest colour this season!"

Thanks James! 

Editor 

Sneak peak to Katies AW16 collection

How a creative approach to job applications can work in your favor

• Want to know how to secure your dream job?
• Want to stand out from the crowed and get noticed?
• Tired of applying on-line and not knowing if your application gets seen?

If you’ve ever been on the hunt for a new role then it’s likely you have answered ‘Yes’ to one or more of the above. In a crowded and competitive market it can be hard to stand out and grab your perspective employers attention. However, one of our newest Team Members did just that! Hear how Stuart Christie took control of his job search and landed a Buying role with our Katies brand!

“When I first moved to Australia I became aware of SFG through a friend who was temping on reception; she raved about the offices, the team members and of course the SFG culture in general. After working in fashion in various capacities in the UK I had set my sights on re-joining the industry and when the time was right SFG was my first choice. I did some investigations and set my eyes on the prize, coming up with a plan of how I would make it happen.

I had been working in an Australian Government recruitment role trying to place people with disability into work and we had to employ various innovative strategies in securing opportunities for the candidates. This got me thinking about my own job search and I came up with a creative way to put myself in front of the right people at SFG. I wanted to show that all my previous (and very varied) work experience, in the fashion industry, would be right for them and make for a great investment for the company.

Having had a great deal of contact with employers and businesses it was clear to me that many candidates fail at the first hurdle due to their resume so I wanted to tackle this head on. I set about creating a document that was both visually different and also included content presented in a fresh and easily digestible way. I used logos instead of company names and formatted the whole thing to A5; placing the finished document into a blank cardboard folio style binder.

With the use of LinkedIn I created a mailing list of all the important people in HR and Buying across every brand under the SFG umbrella. This list ensured I had a targeted approach and made sure my document landed on the right desk. In addition to my creative resume & target list I decided to give each recipient an incentive to take time out of their day to review my skills for relevancy; so  I popped a gorgeous, individual tea bag into each 'resume pack' in the hope they would enjoy it while reading 'my story'. 

 

Stuart's awesome resume 'pack'

It worked. 

I was contacted by SFG a couple weeks later to arrange a telephone interview, they didn't have any opportunities at the time but thought my approach and initiative, coupled with my skills(!), suited SFG's ideology and of course the SHIRT values at the core of the business.

I wasn't hired immediately, as there wasn't an opportunity, but as soon as one came up I received the phone call I had been waiting and here I am working at SFG and I am VERY happy about it. The team at Katies are amazing and have been very supportive in me learning the role and business. Everyone is really friendly, approachable and hard working.

I thank SFG for being open to my unusual approach and I really feel it is a true reflection of the open-mindedness and resourcefulness of the business to go outside the box to improve the business at every level. I hope to be a member of the team here for a very long time to come." By Stuart Christie

Stuart Looking very happy in his role at Katies! 

Notes from the Editor - As a lucky recipient of a 'resume pack' including yummy peppermint tea bag I can assure readers that this was one of the most innovative job applications I have received in over 10yrs. We LOVED receiving it! Well done Stuart we hope you have a long, happy & successful career with SFG!  

Part 2 of our Company Purpose launch: Fail fast, surround yourself with extraordinary people, hire your weaknesses, and tap into your customers...

Last week we blogged about our Company Purpose launch evening and shared with you SFG’s purpose. Now that you know what makes us jump out of the bed in the morning – we want to share more about the event, the inspirational special guest, along with insight into what some of our fabulous brands have been doing to change the perception of fashion!

After we indulged in some tasty canapés, drinks and had an update on the State of Origin scores, we welcomed the motivational entrepreneur, Lisa Messenger, author, publisher, Founder and Editor in Chief of the Renegade Collective magazine. The Collective Magazine appeals to game changers, rule breakers and thought leaders with a common appetite for challenging the status quo.

Lisa is a dynamic, high energy individual with strong values led ambition. She lives and leads with purpose!

Gary Perlstein & Lisa Messenger 

Lisa’s philosophy and approach to life had such an uncanny alignment to our PURPOSE that it was a bit surreal. She is passionate and 100% living & breathing her PURPOSE – she believes that anything is possible if you back yourself, never give up and surround yourself with an amazing team. She told us to “Fail fast, surround yourself with extraordinary people, hire your weaknesses, and tap into your customers…”

To read more about Lisa Messenger or the Renegade Collective check out her site The Collective

After Lisa’s inspiring segment, our CEO, Gary, took to the stage once again and asked representatives from three of our brands to join him to share the brand journeys and how they are bringing our purpose to life.

First up, was Carly Turner, Marketing Manager for City Chic who spoke about their passion for their customer by giving her both what she wants and needs.

She told us about the brands light bulb moment that they could be more than just a clothing retailer; “We could be a community, a sisterhood and a brand that our customers really wanted to be part of.

It was from the creation of our community and sisterhood that we learnt our customers wanted to look like their skinner friends and have the same shopping experiences as them. They didn’t want to wear daggy moo moos, they wanted to wear fashion they could pick-up in, that made them look hot but more importantly feel hot!

Our customers showed us they wanted to be bold, sexy, glam and chic, they wanted to be part of a brand that embraced and celebrated curves, a brand that would change the face of the plus size industry.

To show the customers we were listening we knew we had to do something bold that would make a stand for curvy women everywhere.

City Chic made history as the first plus size fashion brand to walk the catwalk along straight size designers at Rosemont Fashion week. In true City Chic form we shocked the crowd and the press as international model Laura Wells tore off her skirt revealing a display of curves that had never been seen on the Australian runway!”

City Chic has grown from strength to strength and recently opened its’ 100^th store and is our first brand to spearhead SFG’s international growth as they launch stores in South Africa & the USA. The City Chic customer is bold, sexy & glam; she isn’t afraid to showcase her curves & lead a world of curves through fearless fashion.  To see more of what CC is up to Click Here and check out Inside CC!

Carly Turner, Linda Whitehead, Christabel Warner & Gary Perlstein

Next, our Crossroads Brand Director, Linda Whitehead, spoke to us about the Crossroads woman; she is real, down to earth and fun, she wants to feel comfortable in her clothes but she feels she doesn’t fit in the world of fashion today – this was their challenge! They had to redefine fashion for their customer and they took it upon themselves to deliver great products that build our customers confidence by understanding what she really wants.

A significant step was to start using a gorgeous size 12-14 model in their advertising campaigns as she represented the reality of Australian women. The feedback from our Facebook fans has been overwhelming! Women were suddenly telling us that they can finally see how the product would look on them and it was about time ‘average’ sized women were being used to advertise clothing. To check out our beautiful model In the Crossroads Style Edit

Crossroads is here to support busy women at different stages of her life and as her body changes. The brand has created jeans that fit and flatter woman at any age of any size. Through their ‘Fit Bus’, launched a the Easter Show in Sydney earlier this year, they are touring the east coast of Australia, helping women find great fitting pants, no matter what their shape or size.

Finally, we passed the mic over to Christabel Warner, National Operations Manager for Autograph. Christabel spoke about the brands journey of reconnecting with the customer and really understanding the struggles she has in life but also in finding clothes that make her look & feel confident.

We were introduced to the body image movement led by Taryn Brumfitt, and watched her thought provoking video. Watch this space for the brands collaboration with Taryn and the body image movement! We encourage everyone to take a look Body Image Movement

A little gift for our Team Members to keep the PURPOSE fresh in their minds

As the evening was drawing to a close we turned our attention to the screens to watch another short video – but this time shot by SFG’ers - where some of our Team Members and customers spoke about their roles bringing our PURPOSE to life & WHY they do what they do.

Here at SFG, we don’t take ourselves to seriously and always enjoy a good laugh so we prepared a bloopers reel! Some will say it was the highlight of the night!

The lights went up and each attendee was a presented with a copy of Lisa Messenger’s book, Daring & Disruptive and were given the opportunity to have it personally signed and even a photo with her!

It was a busy, full-on, fun packed event. We had a serious message to communicate but we had some laughs along the way. We left inspired, motivated and connected to our purpose. We appreciate everyone’s commitment in attending and really hope that they got something out of the event. Maybe inspiration, a new idea, a connection to their PURPOSE? As Gary said “The characteristics we look for in our team members include; consistency, fair play, authenticity, scope to grow, learn & develop & persistence.”  

We’ll leave you with one final thought:

People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.

And what you do simply proves what you believe.

Meet the SFG Careers team!

Welcome to the new SFG Careers blog! We are super excited to launch our brand new blog plus be able to provide a picture that puts some faces to the names of the recruitment team here are Specialty Fashion Group. This financial year has seen us re-invent the recruitment, talent and careers function to improve process and most importantly candidate experience.

The aim of the blog is to provide an insight into life at SFG, what career pathways are available, who’s who and anything else you would like us to share with you!

In the picture above we have (left to right): Neveena Gill – focused on our Millers & Rivers brand and a lover of all things fashion; Lisa Donovan – our Recruitment Manager, passionate about showcasing what a great place to work SFG is (oh and her cat Harry Winston); Megan Conway – our enthusiastic and extremely hard working Recruitment Assistant who prides herself on providing candidates with an amazing first impression of SFG and finally myself, Lucy Hibbert, in the foreground – I look after our Autograph, Crossroads & Katies brands and am a wannabe ‘Social Media Manager’!

Together, we are committed to engaging with talented individuals who love what they do and the contribution they can make to a business. The SFG brands are about making people ‘look and feel great’ – wherever they may live, whatever their size, shape or age.

So connect with us!! You can find us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+ & Twitter. We would love to hear from you all! 

Instagram

LinkedIn

Google+

Twitter

Email Us