Flair for fashion helps former boutique owner overcome collapse of business

A deep insight into the fashion business, a straight-up character and the ability to leave certain aspects of her business to the experts is speeding entrepreneur and designer Sandra Walsh towards the success of her second business, Canopi.

In February 2012, Walsh designed the first prototype of her product Canopi, a patent-pending arm-covering garment which can be worn under sleeveless dresses, eliminating the need for a cardigan or jacket to hide the dreaded “bingo wings”.

As a former fashion retailer with two boutiques, Walsh was all too aware of the issue many women have with sleeveless dresses and came up with a design which is now available in more than 200 stores countrywide and which has sold 25,000 pieces since her launch just 11 months ago.

Walsh is the former owner of the two Sandz stores – well-known Dublin boutiques. She first opened Sandz in 1998 in Mount Merrion, moving to a new location in Ranelagh in 2000. She then opened a second shop in Blackrock in 2005.

Her boutiques were successful for 12 of the 14 years she was in business and, while she admits she probably stretched herself too far with the opening of the second store, she says the main reason for the business’s downfall was the decline in footfall due to the recession.

Prototype
"People simply weren't coming through the door," she says. "And if they were coming, they weren't buying. Many of my customers had successful businesses themselves, they had private school fees for their children and so on, and when business started turning bad, the first thing they sacrificed was their shopping habits.

“It was a great business in the boom time but suddenly I found I didn’t know who I was buying for – I had no regular customers anymore.”

While Walsh admits the failure of the business hit her hard at times, she says she chose to look upon her successful years in business positively.

Within six months of her boutiques closing, Walsh had her first Canopi prototype manufactured in Ireland.

Rival products
Less than a year later, the garments are sold in Brown Thomas, Arnotts, Kilkenny, Avoca, Fran & Jane and Pamela Scott among other retailers in Dublin, and in approximately 200 boutiques nationwide.

Walsh’s knowledge of the fashion industry, her forthrightness and a well-made product are what motivate the business.

While she has a national distributor in Colm O’Rourke of Fashion City, she also works as an agent for the product within this distributorship, working on the ground meeting potential stockists.

There are similar products on the market, such as one by M&S and one by Mary Portas of TV show Mary Queen of Shops .

Walsh’s product differs, however, in that it is seamless and therefore looks like part of a dress as opposed to looking like another garment worn under the dress.

She is undeterred by rival products and jokes that she often brings the garment of the competitor with her on training days, so her stockists know about the other products on the market.

“I think it’s great that there is something out there for everyone but they’re not the same as my product.”

Her design, which retails at €39.95, is popular with business women who find it a versatile garment in that one dress can be given two looks with the addition of Canopi.

Her design is available in a variety of neutral colours and in two main fabrics and has been worn by the President’s wife Sabina Higgins, stylist Lisa Fitzpatrick and RTÉ presenter Keelin Shanley.

Australia
Recent business developments include a distributorship in UAE through a vendor of the Spanx brand, alongside which Canopi sits in many retail stores.

Walsh is in negotiation with a potential distributor in Australia who will be selling an anti-UV version of the garment. There, her agent will focus on social media for advertising and online retail – a learning curve for Walsh who is more familiar with a business-to-business model.

Walsh says that, having moved on from her first venture, she has learned to really listen in business, to take things on board and yet at the same time, not to take things too personally.

"It's about being true to yourself, being confident in your product and having 100 per cent conviction."

canopisleeves.com