Financing confidence to conquer the world
Fashion
£42.5k
Inventory
Dear Frances
Fashion
Founded 2016
Established by designer Jane Frances and finance executive husband Scott O’Connor, Dear Frances is one of the world’s fastest growing new designer footwear labels. Its mission is to create luxury shoes for modern women that are timeless classics, not disposable trends.
By selling directly to customers worldwide via eCommerce and social media, its digitally native approach has delivered rapid growth in the last few years. With an influential Instagram presence and high-profile customers like Margot Robbie and Zoe Kravitz, Dear Frances has featured in Vogue, The New York Times, Forbes, InStyle, Elle Magazine and other leading publications.
“With a great understanding of the modern business cycle and start-up stage, TradeBridge have given us the flexibility to meet all our cashflow needs and respond to seasonal fluctuations without restrictions.”
Their challenge
Dear Frances wanted to establish themselves as a new global fashion brand in a highly competitive market. To support their rapid growth strategy, they needed a lot of working capital on hand to invest in inventory and marketing. With their high-quality products handmade in Italy, they have to order stock months in advance and hold more than enough to satisfy seasonal peaks and growing demand. However, the short-term loans offered by traditional lenders didn’t support Dear Frances’ ambitions. They were too expensive, too restrictive and didn’t offer anything like the funding they needed to take on the world.
Our solution
We use real-time trading data to assess the true strength of an eCommerce business, so we could offer more funding than other lenders, as well as more flexibility. With our revolving credit facility, Dear Frances are free to draw down and repay funds as they wish. They get instant working capital when required and only repay when their revenue increases - and with a credit limit that rises as they grow, they can keep investing in more inventory and marketing to maintain rapid growth, without having to slow down or compromise.
- Flexible credit line with no set repayments.
- More funding than other lenders.
- Long-term credit facility that grows with you.
- Only pay for capital when you use it.
- Delay VC funding and dilution for longer.
“Like most start-ups on a rapid growth trajectory, our challenge was to have enough working capital to support unrestricted growth. We needed a flexible credit facility to guarantee we’d have enough inventory for seasonal peaks in demand such as Q4.”
So why TradeBridge?
We chose TradeBridge because they understand fast-growing eCommerce businesses. They got our brand and the challenges we faced, then tailored a revolving credit facility that gave us the flexibility to grow on our own terms. TradeBridge has given us the confidence to accelerate growth, because we know we’ll have the working capital to cover seasonal peaks now and in the future.
What’s next for Dear Frances?
We’re continuing to build out our global eCommerce platform in key markets and adding new sales channels by partnering with major retailers like Nordstrom in the US, The Bay in Canada and Galleries Lafayette in France. This will bring more brand exposure and a presence in flagship physical retail, so we can keep growing both online and offline.
Ready to talk?
Find out how our financing can work for your business.
Call: +44 (0)20 7313 8088
or email: info@tradebridge.com
