J Barbour & Sons PR Student Placement
Blog 7- January
January was a very quiet month, due to still being between seasons AW21 and SS22. I continued to complete my weekly tasks such as press round up, which has become second nature to me and an easy task to complete during each week of my placement. I also continued to create drop boxes for the new collections, which this month were Modern Heritage and Barbour x House of Hackney collab. I also created a dropbox for a Mother’s Day Gift guide ahead of time, as the PR Team would like to achieve coverage for this event. I continued to assist the PR Team in responding to image requests, this month included a request from Beth from Yorkshire Post Magazine, to which I sent her Imagery of Men’s and Women’s SS22 and Carryforward spring Jackets, to be used in the next issue.
Barbour Modern Heritage Collection SS22
Barbour x House of Hackney Collab SS22
Over January myself and Rachael from the PR Team started the process of our sample cage changeover. This meant transferring all of our sample stock from AW21 to the retail department and get the new SS22 sample stock sorted through into collections, and organised and labelled within our cage. This was a very lengthy and unglamorous job which took a lot of heavy lifting and organisation. Going into this job I did not realise that PRs within fashion companies have to do this ahead of every season. This is one of the reasons I don’t think PR is for me, due to its behind-the-scenes nature and the lack of creativity.
During one of the PR meetings this month the team brainstormed ideas to come up with ideas for some sort of competition like the Barbour x Vogue design comp but for Barbour International this time. Anna suggested a writing competition, and then I gave my thoughts and suggested a photography competition which they liked and are now trying to develop the idea.
I got to pack up all the new Barbour x Roksanda collab (AW22) with the head of womenswear designer Nicola. Once we had packed them I sent them to London to the Barbour Holford office after they had been shot in the studio. I really liked getting to meet Nicola and I asked her loads of questions about how she got into fashion design and her previous jobs and experiences within the industry.
In one of our morning, PR Team meetings my supervisor Sue told us they have decided to do a Paddington-themed advert for Christmas again. She said they said it was because it was so well received by press and the public they are going to do another story on Paddington. This was interesting to learn how they made the decision and how they are developing the next concept after the previous advert has just aired.
This month the PR team had another meeting with Exposure, I got given the task of taking the minutes, and noting down key points and actions. Circulating with everyone involved at the end of the meeting. This was a good experience for me as I now know how to take minutes which is a great skill I can put on my CV and use in my future career.
In January Victoria Perry was announced won the Barbour x Vogue competition. I created a clothing menu of Barbour product for Victoria to choose from, for her outfit for the Vogue photoshoot. I chose clothing from the upcoming season, which I think fitted the photoshoot location and Victoria’s personal style. During January I also got to meet Helen Barbour, she came into the office for a meeting, I made teas and coffees for everyone in the meeting and took them to the boardroom. It was nerve-wracking talking to the head of the brand but a good experience in learning how to be professional and friendly to such important people within the company.