Interview Julie Lingard
Having turned her independent Leeds store Aqua Couture into the most popular brand on ASOS.com, surely Julie Lingard can relax for a while? Or maybe not, as Rebecca Ryder discovers
Interview: Julie Lingard
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It is always heart warming to hear success stories about local businesses. Aqua Couture’s rise to stardom is all the more inspiring given the recent economic downturn. The company was born just over a decade ago when owner Julie Lingard bought a clothes shop in Hull, moving to Leeds’ Corn Exchange a couple of years later, before finally finding its current home in the achingly elegant Victoria Quarter.
For just over a year now, Aqua has been selling on ASOS.com, the UK’s biggest online fashion retailer. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, it became the site’s highest-selling brand. Julie never dreamed the collaboration would be so fruitful. “We emailed out our look-book, and within an hour they’d replied saying they’d love to take us on. Their support has been brilliant. They’re funding our whole launch party when they sponsor us at London Fashion Week.”
A major boost came last year when Alesha Dixon wore an Aqua dress on the front cover of Company magazine, resulting in the whole ASOS range selling out in two days. “Apparently it would cost £50,000 to pay for that kind of publicity.”
Plans are now underway to open a London store in the fashion mecca of Carnaby Street. Julie is hugely grateful to the company that helped to pave the way. “We never thought we’d sell in London but ASOS told us 70% of their customers are London based.”
But the pride in Aqua’s Yorkshire roots remains, which is humbling in such a London-centric industry. “Everything about us is local. We have our factory in Bradford and our studio here in Leeds, and the designers we work with are from around here. They like us in London because they think we have a real story. We see ourselves as a Leeds brand and this will always be our flagship store, but in London they think we’re ‘niche’ because we’re northern.”
Many retailers are too afraid to deviate from current trends, so only time will tell whether more will follow Aqua’s concept-led approach to style. “I hope so. A bit of competition is a good thing. We and All Saints get the same kind of crowd but they appreciate us for different reasons. We’ll have dresses that there are only ten of so they like that they can get almost one-off pieces. The great thing about Leeds is the overall shopping experience. People tell me they travel here just to shop because there’s so much variety.”
In the mid-1990s, Julie moved to Australia and worked for three years in retail, developing a passion for all things sartorial. Yet the country is not known for its fashion credentials. “They have all these great shops with beautiful dresses, but they’re charging hundreds of pounds for them. They don’t have the young market in mind. People won’t pay £400 for a dress unless it’s a designer they know. When we started out we did our best to keep everything under £100. It was necessary to get the customers to come to us.”
For Lingard, the Aqua team are like a family. “It’s not just me doing all this. There is my partner who runs it with me, our designers, and some of our staff have been with us for years. They’ve survived on minimum wage and stuck with us when we were struggling. A couple of the girls have modelled for us, and when we open in London a few of our staff are relocating there to work in that store. There’s always room for growth and there are so many creative minds here.”
With ambitions to open stores in Manchester, Newcastle and Liverpool, the future looks promising for Aqua Couture. With a constant commitment to looking ahead and expanding, they have already put Leeds on the fashionable map. We eagerly wait to see what else they can achieve.
36 Queen Victoria Street, Victoria Quarter, LS1 6BE, 0113 243 3336, www.aquacouture.co.uk
Posted on Wednesday 17th February 2010
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