Pop-up shops and self branding - the rise of IM Designs with Imogen Madan

Imogen Madan graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2020 with a degree in Geography and is currently undertaking a Masters in Entrepreneurship at University College London. 

During her time as a student she developed a DePop start-up idea called IM Designs, a fashion business which initially reworked traditional branded T-shirts into cropped wrap tops.

Today, the London based entrepreneur offers a whole range of authentic designer clothing and reworked goods to customers and she has seen great success with pop up shops in high street locations including Oxford Street in London and also several other city locations across London and Bristol. 

Despite the pandemic in 2020, the business gained a lot of traction in its first full year and through self-branding and promotion the business has increased its Instagram followers from 8K at the start of the year to 26K by February 2021. 

Today (as of June 2022) IM Designs has over 36,000 followers on Instagram and 22,000 on DePop. Her pieces have been used in photoshoots by several celebrities including Molly Mae from Love Island and singer Jorja Smith. Follow @im__designs on Instagram.

Imogen received an Ideas Fund award from the University of Birmingham to help develop the product portfolio early on and her passion for entrepreneurship continued after graduation accepting an offer to study a part time Masters at UCL while running her own business.

Imogen: Starting my own business has been an exciting, but challenging, start to my 20’s. Life as an entrepreneur can be unpredictable at times as you never know what’s around the corner, but it had also offered me a lot of freedom in return.

As an entrepreneur (particularly if you are a sole founder), managing your time and organising your daily tasks can be overwhelming and at times, very stressful. 

At the beginning of each week I like to write down the tasks I need to complete, prioritise then (usually by due date or importance) and cross them off as I complete them. Crossing off tasks can be really satisfying, especially when you feel stressed! 

If there’s one piece of advice I could give to anyone starting a business; step back if you feel too overwhelmed. I’ve learnt over time that stepping back for a few hours really helps me realign my focus and I end up being far more productive afterwards. 

My second piece of advice is more specific to fashion start-ups and would be to think about your channels of sales as you grow. I started my business on Depop.

Don't get me wrong, Depop is a great starting place for fashion brands and offers direct access to a huge pool of customers - but sometimes there are more preferable options. For me, selling a £200 dress on Depop incurred a £20 fee itself (not including merchant fees and postage costs) which diluted my gross margins substantially. 

Moving onto my own website helped me protect my margins in the long term. More recently, I’ve been running several pop-up shops within Bristol and London, as well as having permanent stock in Jacobs (Bristol). Pop-up shops are an excellent marketing strategy to get in front of both existing and new customers - particularly if you do them in desirable areas where you know your target customer will be. If you decide to do a pop up, make it an experience - people LOVE experiences. 

At a pop up on Oxford Street, I hired a DJ, a drinks sponsor (shout out to Double Dutch), nail technician, tooth gem artist and videographer which spiked the curiosity of people walking past the shop and drew them in to browse. That day, thousands of people came into the shop, I acquired over 1000 new followers and sales went through the roof. Experiences don’t have to be extravagant though - you just need to give people a reason to come into your shop rather than the one next door.

To shop at IM Designs: www.imdesigns.co.uk
To follow: @im__designs
To contact: queriesimdesigns@gmail.com

UoB students and graduates can get support for an idea through the B-Enterprising Team

With thanks to Imogen Madan, IM Designs
By Bob Lee