West Elm, the stylish community- and craft-conscious global homeware retailer, is led by President Jim Brett, a passionate advocate of South African craft and design. Business of Design has him on its Cape Town conference line-up next month.
Jim’s support of our local industry has been dedicated and longstanding. Working with Source Design Export since 2006, he placed significant orders with over 150 South African design companies while he was Merchandise Manager at Anthropologie Home, and for the last four years Jim has had a committed programme of ‘design under licence’ with dozens of top South African designers, earning them royalties for large volumes of product at West Elm stores.
Jim’s talk at the Cape Town leg of Business of Design, ‘The Strategy of Creativity – Identifying Your Product and Developing Your Sales Path’, will cover this forward-thinking retailer’s insights on the difference between art, craft and product as he takes delegates through the journey of building a production and sales strategy when targeting new markets.
JIM BRETT KNOWS THE BUSINESS OF DESIGN.
• Jim’s ‘Re-Mix, Re-Merch, Re-Price’ strategy turned West Elm into the fastest-growing
brand in the Williams-Sanoma portfolio, resulting in 75 stores globally.
• West Elm’s Impact Sourcing model provides measurable social impact by collaborating
with craft workers and artisan communities around the world, expanding the retailer’s
product range while highlighting product with provenance.
• Jim initiated West Elm’s Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action, a $35-million handcraft-purchasing plan to create more than 4 500 economic opportunities for artisans, supporting craft communities, empowering women and preserving cultural craft traditions.
• Launching West Elm LOCAL has empowered individual West Elm stores to sell the work of makers and designers in their regions or towns, offering regional assortments within stores.
BOOK: to learn from Jim Brett and a host of other industry leaders at Business of Design, a two-day conference geared to revolutionise the way you work. For the full line-up in both Cape Town and Johannesburg, visit
E tracy@businessofdesign.co.za or call 021 461 2856 / 2097.
