Ash & Hazel
Co Founded - Sustainable Lingerie
Product Video
A captivating 30 second video designed to grab the viewers attention and entice them into our online store. Released on the launch day of our first collection, this short video I directed and edited received 13,000 views on our Instagram page and reached 50,000 accounts, resulting in 600+ profile visits and an 800% increase in website traffic.
'Sustainable lingerie that makes you feel beautiful'
The Brand :
Ash & Hazel was set up to reimagine the sustainable underwear industry. Offering ethically sourced materials and sought after biodegrade fabrics, our lingerie was beautiful, timeless and guilt-free. We believed that sustainable lingerie should be an easy choice for everyone. We felt incredibly proud knowing that our customer could wear their lingerie feeling empowered, informed and most importantly, their most sexiest selves!
Sustainability :
Our lingerie was made using a world first, decomposable and biodegradable lace, AMNI Soul Eco sourced from Italy and ROICA V550, an eco-friendly spandex which benefits from having a reduced period of decomposition when discarded and requires less water and energy during production. All of our fabrics were dyed naturally using OEKO TEX Certified dye and dyeing processes and all of our materials were OEKO-TEX 100 and OEKO-TEX STeP Certified. The lace and mesh used were also deadstock materials. To avoid using plastic in our lingerie, all of our fastenings and sliders were recycled metal and 100% recyclable.
Adjustability :
Ash & Hazel lingerie was designed to grow and adapt with our customer throughout their monthly cycles and over the years. As two female designers we understood that our bodies change and how important it is to find underwear that fits properly. we believed that this should never mean you have to discard or throw away lingerie that no longer fits and therefore worked hard to ensure that our lingerie will offer comfort and a secure fit throughout all stages of our customers lives. Our bralette had fully adjustable back and shoulders straps ad our knickers had adjustable side straps to allow for changes in the body and a tailored fit. We strived to be as inclusive as possible and offering adjustable pieces also allowed for us to offer a variety of sizes within a relatively limited size frame. Having adjustable lingerie created a more sustainable mindset and increased the lifespan of all of our garments.
Pricing :
Ash & Hazel pledged to offer sustainability without the premium price tag because we believed that sustainability should be accessible to everyone. We spent months researching for the best sustainable, high quality materials that were within our budget, to allow us to offer sustainability without the premium price. We were very proud that we were able to stick to this and keep our prices within our set budget so that sustainability was more accessible to our target audience.
My Role :
As co-founders we designed our collection as a team and shared tasks in admin and production research. My independent role included researching and sourcing our sustainable fabrics and liaising internationally with our fabric suppliers to make sure that we had the best quality and price. I worked continuously with our main suppliers in Italy and felt very confident liaising with them, with the language barrier. Looking after our finances as a business and customer service to insure all customers were satisfied and looked after. PR reach out, working with agents and influencers and marketing both digitally and through media/press and magazines - we were featured in magazines within our first month. Running all of our social media platforms, creating and scheduling content, generating over 50,000 page views on launch and our Instagram reels receiving over 47,000 views combined. Digitally designing and creating our website to a high professional standard, writing all copy and focusing on SEO and customer retention for optimum sales. I analysed our data to evaluate our ROI, to understand how we can grow our business efficiently and successfully.
Photoshoot
I directed our photoshoot and designed our set to fit our specific brief, outsourcing all of our props and arranging the flower bouquets. I created our photoshoot studio in my living room using large white sheets as the backdrop and setting up studio lighting to enhance the natural light already present. Referring back to the schedule and call sheets throughout the duration of the day allowed for a smooth and productive photoshoot. I worked closely with the photographer to creatively direct the model and the photograph. This shoot pushed me outside of my comfort zone and I had to take initiative to create a professional photoshoot on a very small budget. I was incredibly pleased with the outcome and felt that the photographs reflected our collection beautifully.
Website - Mobile
Home page - Mobile format
Each page had its own purpose within the website. With our home page being the most important in keeping customers interested and enticed, the other pages were used to inform and educate our customer on our brand, our story and our sustainable mindset. Links were added at the bottom of each page to redirect our customer to our social media pages as well as quick and easy links to other parts of the website. I kept our brand ethos cohesive across each page and this style was reflected across all of our digital platforms to create a professional and aesthetic feel. I designed the website to be an exciting and positive experience for the customer and to ultimately keep them on our page for as long as possible.
I curated the website with customer retention and easy navigation at the forefront of all design choices. The website was designed so that the customer was enticed into viewing our full collection and I advertised free postage over a certain price to encourage the customer to buy a full set of our lingerie instead of 1 item. This definitely helped to generate higher value orders and pushed for more sales. The website feels inviting and looks aesthetically pleasing, original and professional. I used my recent digital marketing experience to tailor how the website looked, with both a sales and graphics mindset combined. All parts of the website were clear and concise and I constantly referred back to SEO to write copy that reached our target market. Our website and Instagram appeared at the top of the google search.
Product page - Mobile format
Whole website - Mobile format
I designed a separate layout for our mobile website and our laptop website, this way the spaces had been optimised for the most successful outcome. Often the mobile layout can be overlooked and I felt it was really important that our website was just as graphically pleasing and clear / easy to navigate on a phone as it was on a computer. The majority of our audience found our business through social media and therefore were more likely to click on our website link from external platforms such as Instagram or TikTok on their phones. Having a well designed mobile website boosted customer satisfaction and ultimately generated more sales - we saw an 800%+ increase in customers using the website on their phones vs computer.
Website - Laptop
Ash & Hazel was closed down in August 2022 due to life changes that impacted our ability to continue as a business. The experience I gained from starting Ash & Hazel was incredible, I am confident in all business settings; design, finance, admin, buying, international markets, marketing, digital graphic design and production. Now I am ready to take the skills that I have learnt into industry.