In fashion, a good partnership can be more important than all the design flair in the world. Behind all the successful names you'll find a really good business manager, such as Pierre Berge, the business mind behind Yves St Laurent. In the public eye, combinations like Twiggy and David Bailey or Kate Moss and Mario Testino boost the reputation of both model and photographer. Then of course there are the all-important righthand men and women and the muses - Stella McCartney and her chief design assistant at Chloe, Phoebe Philo, or Amanda Harlech, who was muse to first John Galliano and then Karl Lagerfeld.
Of course neither Laura Bradshaw nor Juliet Cater are making such great claims for their partnership but it's clear the pair are working together in a way that's good for both of them and getting better all the time. Bradshaw, who is a familiar face to many after years working in Jigsaw and Havana, has recently opened her own shop, Aura, in Sandymount. While she stocks a number of fairly groovy labels, including Noa Noa and Imitz from Denmark, a diffusion range from Max Mara called Prisma and Italian label Nolita, the back-bone of the shop is formed by a new label called Glass, owned and run by Juliet Cater.
Cater, a 27-year-old from Cambridge, has built up her groovy knitwear range in just three years. Now stocked in France, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, as well as Britain, the label has a growing number of Irish fans - thanks in part to Bradshaw and her partner in Aura, Sian Jacobs, who have the agency for the label. That's not the only Irish connection either - although the label is based in Amsterdam and mainly made in Italy, Cater has a history with Ireland, not least the four years she spent in Trinity studying.
"I had no idea what I wanted to do but I always assumed it would be something academic. But it soon became clear to me that it should be something to do with retail," says Cater, who admits to spending a lot of time cruising Grafton Street during her time in Dublin. This was also when she first met Bradshaw, who was working as a manager in Jigsaw at the time. As a result of co-producing the Smirnoff Student Fashion show in her last year in college, Cater started working for designer Louise Kennedy.
"It was great to be part of such a strong team," points out Cater. "Louise noticed absolutely everything, every button and every seam, which really taught me the importance of small details. She was great at giving everybody an opportunity too." Still, after five years in Dublin, London beckoned and Cater moved over to work at another fashion firm, John Partridge. "It's very easy to be pigeon-holed in fashion - you have to go into the marketing side, or the buying side or whatever. Luckily, I was able to move about and learn all the different aspects."
It was experience that was to stand to her when setting up Glass in 1998. From its inception, the label was a joint production between Cater and her partner, Art Van der Eng, who already had a knitwear label, Barnett & Barnett. Curiously, this line is one of Ireland's success stories although it is not sold here - some 50 per cent of the Barnett & Barnett knitwear is made in Ireland using some of the most intricate of Ireland's traditional knitting skills. The other half of the line is made in Italy; the company is based in Amsterdam and sells to the top end of the knitwear market throughout Europe.
When the pair set up Glass, it was with the aim of bringing a similar standard of knitwear to a younger customer. "We really wanted to sell that London image to Europe because it's so popular now. It's not a total look, it's about people picking out pieces for themselves and mixing it with second-hand stuff or designer labels, which is a very London thing," says Cater. Glass knitwear, and more recently its skirts and tops, tend to be simple in shape, with the emphasis on fit and colour. Certain shapes have become instant classics and are included in each year's range, such as their short-sleeved shawl-necked top, their fine-gauge lambswool in some 15 colours, and their T-shirts, which are made in Italy by the same people that make Armani's.
From the start, Cater was determined that the range was a commercial rather than a designer one - the name Glass for example is a concept name rather than a designer's name. She sees the company aiming for the same market as APC, Paul Smith or Agnes B.
Nevertheless, it is Cater who does much of the design work. "I know what I want and I have a brilliant technical stylist in Amsterdam who makes up the manufacturers' handbooks. I've learnt enough now that I can talk the talk and describe things in terms of gauges and weights and so on." As much as possible, she takes on board pointers from people - such as Laura Bradshaw - who are selling the pieces.
"Juliet is great, she always comes in with the colour charts and so on and talks us through the next season's range. It makes it so much easier to sell," points out Bradshaw. She and Jacobs also point out how much easier it is to sell the range wholesale now that they have the shop, which can also serve as a showroom. "If somebody comes in to us we can say `Well you should get this piece because we know it'll sell'."
Undoubtedly, the kind of mix-and-match merchandising that Bradshaw puts together also helps sales. "I like to mix everything together to give people ideas for a total look. Colour is my big thing - it's all in the scarves, bags, shoes and so on." Meanwhile, Jacobs, who worked as a textile agent in London for some years, is also looking into "filling in the gaps" in their stock by manufacturing certain basics themselves. "We just can't keep basic black trousers on the shelves; people are always looking for them."
For Juliet Cater the decision to expand Glass into Ireland was a logical one. "In part it was sentimental because I had such strong ties to Ireland. But I was also well aware that there's been an explosion in retail since I left. Plus I already knew Laura and knew what she was doing. I like the way she's putting things together and just knew that Glass would fit in here."
