Fashion designers need to manufacture, says Pulse head
Designers need to manufacture in order to capitalise on their creations, argued Pulse Investments executive chairman Kingsley Cooper on Sunday at a business forum during Caribbean Fashion Week.
He wants designers to increase production and market in order to grow their brands despite the lack of resources.
“We all have egos in this business because we are in the creative industries but it goes beyond that,” he told stakeholders at the Hilton Hotel in Kingston on Sunday.
“At the end of the day it is more important to have a solid business with a solid market with a process that allows you to move from creative idea to a finished product that is marketed and sold to consumers in a way to make your business profitable.”
The objective of the forum was to facilitate the growth of profitable brands based in the Caribbean.
“For us to move forward as an industry in a meaningful way and not play lip service we have to have resources dedicated to development,” he said. “The vision for business forum is the continued effort to move away from just a show…but it is more important that we move forward as business than just to have a wonderful show.”
Pulse has managed to increase its resources in cash and kind despite the recession. Specifically, its advertising entitlements and unexpired sponsorship in kind which totalled some $1.6 billion at March 2010 up from $1.3 billion at March 2009. These items represent over 90 per cent of its current assets and allowed the company to have positive working capital. Unexpired sponsorship represents in kind services which have not been utilised and are recorded at estimated market value.
Pulse Investments recorded $101 million net profit from $399.8 million in revenues over three months to March 2010. This represented flat profit compared with the similar quarter in the 2009, however it cash and equivalents actually were slashed by 24 per cent from $16 million to $11.8 million.
Its principal cash generating activities includes model agency representation, multi-media production, marketing, show promotion and sub-letting of leasehold properties.
