SME Magazine recently caught up with entrepreneur Jane Porter, the creative force behind Studio 104, specialists in iconic and fashion-forward uniforms for high-end businesses around the world. She started by telling us about her company.
I’m the Founder and CEO of Studio 104, a design studio that creates bespoke, iconic uniforms. We work with the world’s best luxury brands – market leaders in their areas of expertise and our client roster includes globally renowned names from hotels and hospitality groups like The Ritz, The Dorchester, Gleneagles, and The Newt in Somerset, to retailers such as De Beers and Fortnum & Mason, plus Royal Palaces and private airlines. Our day-to-day business is designing uniforms for projects where hundreds of thousands are spent on the details – everything has to be absolutely perfect – and it’s incredible to be a part of that magic. My team and I dress the world’s best.
You have a great history. Tell us about your early days – why did you decide to start the business?
Going back as far as I can remember, I’ve had a burning desire to work for myself and to create something of my own. My dissertation was on ‘How Do Entrepreneurs Become Successful’ and I interviewed Jeff Banks, who back then presented The Clothes Show, and in what was a beautifully serendipitous moment many years later, I met him at an awards ceremony and told him that he’d been at the beginning of my trajectory. There were many business ideas that came before the idea for Studio 104 though – my husband, Ian was always my sounding board for any self-starting idea I had, and I think in the end, even he got sick of them! 
Studio 104 was born from an idea that came to me whilst Ian and I were on holiday in Africa; staying in a five-star hotel, I noticed that the uniforms worn by the staff just didn’t match up to the luxury setting, so I thought, “I can do so much better than this”. As my background and skillset was within fashion – at the time I was working as a buyer at Sweaty Betty and before that, had worked with some of the best in the industry at M&S and as a product developer – it wasn’t out of the realms of possibility. I knew it was The One Big Idea when I couldn’t stop thinking about anything else, I was in tears because of the passion I felt and couldn’t wait to get back to London to action my dream into being.
My first step was to identify globally who my ideal clients within the hospitality industry might be; next step was to book a round-the-world market research trip to visit the hotels in person and to do this – as I was completely self-funded – I backpacked with friends, saving money by staying at hostels. It was a hilarious dichotomy, because whilst my friends would wake up, throw on their bikinis for a day lazing by the pool or the beach, I would get changed into a suit and be prepping for meetings with Hotel General Managers and Operations Directors. In meetings, I’d quiz them on what issues and pinch points they might have with their current uniform offering, identifying how I might improve on their existing uniforms, and how to weave this into a design of my own.
After collating all the information, I designed my first collection prototype from my kitchen table in South London, ready to go to market. I also knew that to be taken seriously as a player within the industry I had to create a whole brand identity before I had any business on the books, and I needed a website. Calling in favours, getting friends to model, photograph, and assist, I crowd-sourced my launch! The Savoy discovered my website via a smart early investment I made in SEO and they became my first hotel client. Almost 15 years later, they’re still one of our most loyal clients.
What were the early challenges you had to overcome?
The biggest challenge in the beginning of Studio 104, when looking to create my first protype designs, was the costs of the quotes that were coming back from the factories, they just didn’t make the business viable. My fashion buying and manufacturing experience was international, based within the Far East or within larger European factories, but because of the minimum order quantities far exceeding what I needed, using any of my contacts wasn’t an option. I wanted to use UK factories; however, the costs were equally as prohibitive as labour costs are higher as manufacturing is at a much smaller scale. Plus, I was setting the business up in the middle of a recession, however that ended up working in my favour; Portugal was on its knees financially and as a massive part of their economy is in manufacturing, they were desperate to secure new business – I was invited to attend a trade show free-of-charge and there I met with a Portuguese manufacturer who had dropped their minimum order requirements to as low as 5 or 10 units, and so I was able to make my prototype collection samples. Portugal was a massive breakthrough and it then led to me securing my first client in J P Morgan. Soon afterwards, we signed The Savoy, which enabled Studio 104 to revisit the UK factories we wanted to do business with.
Another challenge was that I was running my business on my own; creating and ideating, designing, seeking out manufacturers, marketing and selling my business, all by myself as I couldn’t employ anyone. Throughout my career to that point, I’d worked with a team, and I strongly believe in the power of collective collaboration – it’s how my team now functions, we’re in it together. As soon as I was able to, the first role I recruited for was a freelance garment technologist – within fashion design and retail, it’s one of the most technically difficult roles and I literally had no idea what I was doing when trying to do it alone – I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we found someone!
Your business is now a global enterprise. What challenges does that present? 
Being a parent while being an entrepreneur is a challenge, I’ve chosen and worked hard to get to the point where I can put my family first. I landed my first client aged 30 and my life was very different then, I’m now a mother and for that reason, I don’t travel as much which is my choice. That said, I’ll always be the one to visit a key client in person and in the past month I’ve been around America and am planning to be in the Middle East soon, but it doesn’t ever come at the disadvantage of being a parent.
The other challenges are financial; in 2016, post-Brexit, navigating the changes to imports and exports and the trade agreements has been colossal, it was like you could hear the money draining out of your pocket and we lost tens of thousands of pounds in the first few months down to changes in legislation. In business, people often try to over-complicate things so it’s all about finding the easy solution. It’s a vital lesson, being open-minded to change and as a global enterprise, we live that lesson daily. We’re always learning and understanding the nuances of different countries’ laws, their jurisdictions, customs, and cultures – knowing these inside-out are vital to protecting your business, so I’d always advice looking at working with a lawyer who specifically understands and has experience of working within the international market you’re looking to grow within. There’s far too much to lose when it comes to contracts, don’t ever go out of your depth, and try to wing it!
What do you think are the keys to your success?
From the point I was able to, I built a team of experts around me and it’s one of the best business decisions to make. We all have the same shared vision and belief and we all focus on just being really, really good at what we’re doing to create an incredible product. My success I believe, is down to that and to having a great accountant and a solid marketing plan. As my background is in fashion and retail, I know the value in building a brand that looks exquisite and how to craft beautiful garments, so Studio 104 takes a high-end fashion atelier-approach to everything that we do.
How do you see the business developing in the future?
I’m ambitious, I know that I want to scale the business over the coming years. Currently, we’re on a recruitment drive to allow for that future growth and winning bigger projects as I need to do so without burning my existing team out and looking ahead, I’d love to win more multi-site projects.
What advice would you give people who are considering starting up their own business?
There’s never a right time, you just need to start today as you’ll never have all your ducks in a row. Build a strong vision and then methodically work out how to get there. First and foremost, market research is vital as you need to be providing an answer to a question and a solution to a need; that will then give you the confidence to then launch. And you need to know it’s a viable business idea. Finally, as a woman now in my 40s, I want young women in their 20s and 30s to know that the younger you are when you start your business the better.
When you’re younger and you don’t have additional responsibilities – be those caregiving-based to older family members or a younger family, financial or otherwise – it’s far easier to pour all your time and energy into turning a dream into a business. I didn’t start to enjoy being my own boss until I was about 8 years in and when you’re younger you’re gutsier, you’ve less to lose, I’d say to stoke that passion and drive, do more of what inspires you. And on how to find the ‘it’, The One Big Idea, I’d advise to keep seeking it out as it could take years! Which is another reason to start earlier. Plus, don’t let a lack of experience within the market you’re looking to work within hold you back; you don’t need to invent something new, just make it better … because no one’s going to do it like you.
