THE FRIDAY INTERVIEW – SUZANNE ELLINGHAM OF SOURCE FASHION

This Friday we chat to Suzanne Ellingham, Director of the Source Fashion exhibition held at Olympia twice a year. The Show only launched in February 2023 but such is its appeal that there are now leading responsible manufacturers and artisans from over 30 countries around the globe taking part. The Show offers everything from garments to accessories, sportswear, footwear, packaging, yarns and trims and continued growth in lingerie and swimwear production. With its roots in ethical sourcing it is clearly a passion to Suzanne, who has a practical and down-to-earth approach to working to a more sustainable future.

Life and career before Source Fashion

I have had a bit of a varied background, and most people who know me find it hard to reconcile that I went from a degree in computer science and the finance world, into running large scale trade shows!

I have been at Hyve Group for about 6 years now and before launching Source Fashion, less than two years ago, I was head of content for our retail shows. This gave me a number of years really understanding the ecosystem and talking to people who know a lot more than me, and didn’t mind my curiosity about how things actually work and what their challenges really are.

Before that, I was in the Dubai for 5/6yrs working within strategy and partnerships for a big tech company, working at the cutting edge of financial crime technology, combatting the real world challenges that banks and corporates face in trying to combat fraud, money laundering, organised crime and terrorist finance. Again – working with a lot of people a lot smarter than me, who also didn’t mind my natural curiosity. A lot of this work was about bringing home the human cost behind the numbers. It’s a very difficult area to work in, but incredibly rewarding. I would say it’s probably a very good reason why Source has ethical sourcing at its core, it’s important to me that companies choose to work with manufacturers that don’t have poor labour practices. With the launch of our shows, there isn’t an excuse of we don’t know who to work with.

“Responsible and sustainable production is just who we are, it is intrinsically mbedded in our core values as a show and more importantly this is the type of Show myself and my team WANT to work on.”

Your proudest moment to date?

Professionally I feel fortunate to have had many. I’ve spent years repairing and launching brands, products and creating advisory groups. Some of the things I have launched and rebuilt that are still running and are stronger now are a real source of pride. But, in every project you have that moment when you know it’s really going to work. We had a moment like that at Source Fashion in February this year when we opened the doors, and the first people that walked through the door were serious buyers.

My team work incredibly hard and believe in what we do. Building Source Fashion has been no small feat, but at that moment every member of the team realised we had done it, and built a platform that is different, and done it the hard way. Whilst we are not there, we all realised we were on our way and the hard work had paid off. There may have been a few happy tears that day.

“As a show we want to feel proud to have an entire floor of good businesses who share our values”

A Typical Week in your life

No two days are the same, and I’m not entirely sure any week is either?

I am in our HQ in London three times a week, and an average week could be running through trading with the sales team, running through marketing messages, budgets, and far too many meetings etc. It really does depend where we are in the show cycles (we have launched 5 Source events in different verticals in the last two years, and they are all growing).

In the last week I have been in the studio interviewing, fed back and signed off the creative direction for the catwalk show and got very excited by that, and then go from that to a macro presentation on the UK retail market. Lots of time travelling, and this year I’ve spend a lot of time in China, seeing our manufacturers (customers) and working with government agencies, which is where I should spend my time.

Source Fashion is the only trade event of its nature to offer a responsible fashion catwalk show and insightful content sessions. The Show continues to evolve with each season as the success of the new Source Luxury in February 2024 has proven.

I joke that what I do is firefight, juggle and try to delegate more. Events are a world where BAU is expect the unexpected and curveballs… and those are the only things that I would say are typical in any week.

The Show has just announced the formation of an advisory board featuring dynamic thought-leaders and experts dedicated to responsible and ethical fashion. The Board is comprised of Nicola Kirby (Head of Sourcing, John Lewis); Oliver Bruckner (Production Director, French Connection), Hannah Birkinshaw (Senior Buyer, Karen Millen) Hayley Shore (Design Director, Pepsi Co) Simon Platts (Ex-Sourcing Director at ASOS.com) and Melissa Craft (Senior Sourcing Manager, New Look).

What is your greatest challenge?

People who know me very well, know I’m quite introverted, which does come as a surprise to others who I am not close too. My happy place is usually on my own in a quiet place. Over the last few years, I have had to push myself to be front and centre a lot more, and come out from the ‘behind the scenes’, a place that I usually happily stand, pushing others out front, and where I have spent many years in my career. Whilst it’s probably not my biggest challenge, it is one I struggle with.

The one product you cannot live without

My husband would say I am surgically attached to my iphone, which is a fair assessment really. Product wise – I’m addicted to Beauty Pie’s 7 Oil Hair Elixir. I have given it to all my friends (and Mum) and they all love it. Anything that can tame my hair is magic stuff!

Time out?

I’m lucky enough to live in Northamptonshire, so plenty of quiet to balance out the hectic London commute and work craziness. It’s nice to have that real line between home and work to decompress and switch off.

In my spare time I’m a potter, so most Saturdays you will find me in the studio playing with clay, usually covering myself in clay too – and usually a cat. My current ‘big’ project is a kitchen tile installation for my house. I have 130ish tiles drying out – ready for their first firing in a few weeks (they have been drying for over two months) and then I can glaze them.

Pottery has taught me two things – patience, and despite your best intentions – things will always go awry. You can’t control everything!

Pet Hate?

People who waste my time. For so many reasons time is precious to me, and I spend my time working on things I love, and with people whom I love.