๐๏ธ Ruth Chapman
If you are a woman working in fashion today might I suggest Ruth Chapman, the co-founder of Matchesfashion.com, as a role model. Not only did she build up her fashion empire with her husband Tom from scratch, with a single brick and mortar store in Wimbledon, in southwest London, 30 years ago, she turned it into one of the leading independent luxury e-commerce players in the industry.
Ruth Chapman
Under her guiding hand Matches Fashion.com became known for its nurturing and dedicated support of young designers, with a healthy dose of national pride in highlighting home grown British brandsโฆ as well as a highly curated and clever selection of some of the most influential international luxury labels from around the globe. A selection that directly reflected the desires of a clientele that is also very international and endlessly looking for new discoveries and high quality designs.
All of which is very admirable indeed, but what is perhaps just as indicative of who Ruth isโฆ. is the warm and family like working environment she fostered within the company over those three decades. Which saw more than a few staffers starting out as interns and moving up through the ranks of the company as it grew into a global player.
In 2017, the company released its financial results for the first time, revealing a 61 percent year-on-year growth and full-year revenues for 2016 at an impressive ยฃ204 million pounds. Also last year Ruth and her husband decided it was time for new challenges and they sold their majority stake in the company to private equity firm Apax. Although the exact amount they sold the company has not been disclosed the rumor on the street is that it was in the region of 800 million pounds.
I spoke with Ruth while she was in Paris attending a few fashion shows during the latest ready to wear collections. We talked about what it was like to leave a good job to follow a dream, how building a great team is the best way to be successful and what she wants to do with the next act of her life.
After our chat I felt like Ruth was living proof that women really can have it all, and look absolutely amazing doing it.
