Farron Davis- The Journey To Becoming A Brand And Design Manager

Thumbnail Design: Bethany Hutchison

Image Credit: Blakely Clothing & Archant

Ripped paper texture: Adobe stock

Farron Davis is a brand and designer manager for Blakely Clothing and one of the most recent industry guest lecturers at Norwich University of The Arts. Blakely Clothing is a lifestyle fashion brand of Norfolk origin which was created in 2012. Blakely clothing is predominately an E-commerce brand; however, the brand has most recently opened up a store in one of London’s biggest shopping centres, Westfield, Stratford City. Blakely creates simplistic and timeless pieces allowing individuals to wear Blakely garments all year round adapting them to the weather in a capsule wardrobe fashion. One of Blakely’s unique selling standpoints is the simplicity and authenticity of the brand in which ‘timeless’ and ‘classic designs’ are at the forefront of the brands mind. Blakely’s brand ethos is the creation and curation of reasonably priced fashion which can be worn year after year. Personally, I believe that in 2023 this ideology and mission is ever prevalent due to the rise in fast fashion with many people only wearing their clothes a handful of times before they send them to landfill. Blakely is pioneering a new, sustainability driven way of life whilst lobbying for individuals to both look and feel their best in Blakely clothing. (Unknown I, 2023)

So, what does a brand and design manager do? A brand manager is responsible for ensuring that the products and services supplied by a company align with the brands identity and current/potential customers. In order to ensure that a brand is staying on track whilst being authentic to itself brand managers are tasked with monitoring marketing trends whilst looking at the products and marketing of competitive companies. On the other hand, a design manager works closely with the design or graphics team. The role is highly collaborative and artistic and involves a high level of communication. Part of being a design manager is checking designs and ensuring that they succeed in their customer messaging. Design managers also create design strategies by outlining how the design team will create the brief. (Unknown II, Unknown) (Unknown III, Unknown)

Image Credit: Get The Gloss

Initially, Farron had her intentions set high on working for Vogue. To help her on this creative journey Farron studied Fashion Communication and Promotion at Nottingham Trent University. Whilst at university Farron was able to obtain work experience at places such as More magazine and Harper’s Bazaar. Using her degree, Farron worked as a freelancer for the online beauty and healthcare website ‘Get The Gloss’. When talking about this Freelance work Farron highlighted the Importance of a high-quality portfolio in which candidates ‘stand out’.

But what does it mean to simply ‘stand out’ as a candidate? Farron explains that in order to reach this benchmark one must provide a personal touch to their application. In order to provide a personal touch Farron advises individuals to learn about the brand in which they’re interested in and how it aligns with their own personal values, ethics and beliefs. In addition, Farron also emphasises the importance of speculative portfolios. Speculative portfolios are portfolios which show future mock ups of campaigns, photography or designs (to name a few!). They show the brand that you know their aesthetic and their target audience really well. Creating speculative portfolios show that you are an active and engaged individual with the abilities to impact your chosen brand in a positive and revolutionary way.

Image Credit: Sweaty Betty London

After her freelance work at ‘Get The Gloss’ Farron then took on a graphic design role at Sweaty Betty. At this point Sweaty Betty was an emerging and growing fashion brand built by a small, intimate collection of people. At this time the company held free workout classes in their flagship store in Notting Hill. Farron used to attend these workouts providing her with invaluable networking opportunities alongside prior insight into the company which she was able to use for her application. Due to the company being so small once Farron obtained the role she was able to work in a highly collaborate environment working alongside some of the head members of the team. Due to the small scale of the business Farron was also able to work in multiple different areas allowing her to gain experience in different roles helping to guide her to her favourite specialism.

Image Credit: Mulberry

After working for Sweaty Betty Farron then moved onto working again as a graphic designer for the designer company Mulberry. However, she soon realised that working for Mulberry was an incredibly different experience. For instance, Mulberry had already established itself as a brand and therefore tackled the company from a different approach. Farron was not able to be as collaborative within this company due to the large number of employees and instead had to stick to her designated role. In addition, Mulberry’s brand identity and aesthetic was completely different to Sweaty Betty adopting a cool, edgy and alternative standpoint.

After working for Mulberry Farron then spent eight months working as a freelance creative before working for Blakely clothing in April 2020 as a creative and design executive. Farron was drawn to the Norfolk based brand as she was able to identity a lack of clear brand direction and identity- something which she hoped to change. Farron joined the brand with hopes to uplift it and establish the company within fashion. In April 2021 Farron continued to work for Blakely however she was promoted to design manager and in November 2022 she was yet again promoted, this time to the title of brand and design manager.

Image Credit: Blakely Clothing

Whilst Farron has been working for the company Blakely has seen continuous growth and development. By joining a small company Farron was initially able to work closely with the main designers and founders of the company (namely Gareth Newman) providing them with her professional insights and dreams/aspirations for the company. Since working for the brand Blakely has continued to grow and expand its clientele. This expansion is evidenced in the closing of the flagship Blakely store in Norwich and the June 2023 opening of Blakey in Westfield Stratford City alongside talks of a website update. 

After Farron’s presentation we then had the opportunity to ask her some of our burning questions which she answered eloquently and concisely. Overall, I really enjoyed this guest lecture from Farron Davis and learning more about the progression of her career. As someone who is interested In working as a photographer and/or graphic designer for fashion publications I found Farron’s insight into this particular specialism invaluable. For those interested in learning further about Farron’s career and any tips/tricks that she may have for breaking into the industry I will leave the Q&A segment below. I look forward to staying up-to-date with Farron’s work and I am excited to see where she will take herself next!

Bibliography

(Unknown I) (2023) About- Blakely. Available at: https://blakelyclothing.com/pages/about-us (Accessed on: 26.10.23)

(Unknown II) (Unknown) Brand manager job description. Available at: https://www.lhh.com/us/en/insights/job-descriptions/brand-manager/#:~:text=Brand%20Managers%20are%20responsible%20for,competitive%20products%20in%20the%20marketplace. (Accessed on: 26.10.23)

(Unknown III) (Unknown) What does a design manager do?. Available at: https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Career/design-manager-career_KO0,14.htm (Accessed on: 26.10.23)