Vol. 2 - Jimmy Charnock, Represent

This chat is going to Jimmy Char-knock your socks off! Represent have written the playbook on community building for fashion brands, and this is the man responsible.

Meet Jimmy:

Represent Clothing isn’t just a brand, it’s a community. At the heart of this epic brand’s success is a loyal global following that goes beyond fashion. And this is the man that has made it all a possibility.

Jimmy has been a vital member of the Represent team for nearly 4 years and in that time has spearheaded a number of industry defining community initiatives helping them to take steps towards achieving their mission of building the best brand in the world.

His passion transcends clothing. It transcends Represent. Instead, Jimmy finds purpose in using this exceptional brand to cultivate a sense of belonging, where fans don’t just wear the brand, they live it.

From exclusive drops to behind-the-scenes access and community-driven events, Jimmy has built a culture of connection between brand and audience, a connection that is helping turn this brand into a global sensation. It’s more than a label, it’s a lifestyle and Jimmy has been an instrumental part of making that happen.

The Interview:

What drew you to the fashion industry?

I don't think it's going to be majorly introspective. I grew up with the lads who started Represent, George Heaton and his brother Mike. They went to my school. They live in my hometown. The office is in my hometown.

I like streetwear but I wasn’t majorly into fashion. What I was into though was local people doing great things and doing them well. That’s really what drew me in.

What do you wish you knew before entering the fashion industry?

It's a very good question. I think what I wish I knew was

Don't look sideways. Don't look backwards. Don't look at anyone else. Just do your own thing.

Fashion is art in a sense. It's subjective. People have their own opinions. So even though I'm not in the design side, not looking at anyone else and just forging my own path, throwing more events that no one's ever done before in the fashion industry.

So, I suppose you could summarise it with a reminder to just look forward.

Best piece of advice you have received?

It’s not majorly industry-led but I think the best advice I have ever got was just from my mum.

She always said that all she cares about is that you’re a nice and kind person. You can do whatever you want, be with whoever you want, live wherever you want as long as you're a nice person. If you are, you'll do well, whether that's financially, in peace of mind, happiness, mental health whatever.

I think it is the best advice as this has translated into my role now. As Head of Community, a lot of what i do is making people feel special. That’s not done by flying them around the world to see our factories in Portugal. Instead it is just being human, making friends with people, being kind, giving them the time of day, interacting with them and making them feel valued and a part of the brand.

All of that stems from being a nice person.

Moment you are most proud of in your career to date?

My proudest moments are the Represent community days.

Without blowing my own trumpet, I believe these are fashion industry firsts and no other brand has done it quite like us so far. I actually stole the idea from the gaming industry - I'm a bit of a gamer. Community managers are big in that industry and whenever a new game is coming out in 6 months or so, you invite your 50 biggest fans and streamers from Twitter or Discord to come play and preview it.

So I stole that idea and for our community days I invite 50-100 of our best customers to enjoy a day with Represent, provide feedback on what we are doing well and what we can improve and just rewarding them for doing everything they do for us.

Best customers is not based on spend by the way. It’s not our highest paying customers. It's our most engaged loyal customers who love the brand, love what we're about, love our missions, love our values, speak about us all day, every day on different platforms.

So we’ve done this twice before and have more coming, both for Represent and for 24/7, our fitness arm of the business. Now we have the bricks & mortar stores in Manchester, LA and soon to be London, it gives us the chance to run these activities more. I’m excited for some customer only parties.

So yeah, i think what i am proudest of really is taking a fully ecomm business and giving it an offline life allowing customers to interact with the brand in real life. Family is one of our company values and we now embody that!

A book you think all aspiring fashion leaders should read?

Unreasonable hospitality - Will Guidara.

It's actually a hospitality book. You could be the most data driven, Excel focused guy or department ever butI feel like hospitality and this book can provide so many transferable skills that can help you to better engage with and understand your customers, shareholders, departments, managers, whatever.

There’s this story in it about a very high-end NYC restaurant. They hired someone whose title was ‘Dream Maker’. Very American i know. This person isn’t a chef, isnt a waiter or barstaff. He existed simply to create remarkable experiences for their customers.

One day he was serving some VIPs. It was their last night in town and they'd gone to this swanky restaurant to finish off the trip. Amazing food, spent a lot of money. But just as he was walking past, one of them remarked that they hadn't tried a New York hot dog off a cart on the side of the road, an iconic thing to do. So, this guy, even though he worked at a restaurant, ran over to the nearest street vendor, bought a hot dog, gave it to the chef who cut it up, made it look very Michelin star, but it was just a street hot dog. But the customers were so impressed that they then returned every year, spent ‘X’ amount of money and created a point of differentiation.

I think it applies as how many brands sell street wear online? A lot right. So why should people invest money on Represent? We need to make them feel special, stand out.

Marketing campaign you wish you had come up with?

So it wasn't the first one of this, but Luxe Collective. Well you know Ben Gallagher, the founder. Well they did a market stall campaign activation where they played upon the fake bag market sellers but with high end luxury products. There were pop ups, food trucks, music and more. Was pretty cool.

It actually sparked the idea of the Represent Archive IRL initiative. Represent Archive is our peer to peer reselling of just Represent items. I want to do an immersive activation for it like a car boot sale and invite some of our biggest sellers. So, I wish I would have thought of it first, but I've stolen it.

What’s one skill, or area, you are actively working on to improve? And why is it important to you?

It's actually more boring but i am looking to get better at reporting.

It’s hard because I am Head of Community and Customer Service. Community is quite ethereal and harder to attribute true monetary value in the short term. However, Customer Service is more data driven with a lot of reporting and a ton of KPIs. So i am really trying to improve on the reporting side of my role to create a more accurate picture of real needle movers.

1x resource you use to stay ahead in this rapidly evolving industry?

There's a few newsletters I sign up to like TheIndustry.Fashion one which gives quite a good daily roundup.

But in general, I think to stay ahead, it's what I've said previously. If you spend too much time looking at other people, you'll never be able to forge your own path because you're always going to be a day behind whoever you're trying to emulate.

In saying that, there are some brands I personally like such as Aimé Leon Dore who are killing it. I think keeping an eye on the why they’re doing certain things is important rather than trying to find inspiration.

Your one to watch? An individual in the space killing it?

I might not be the best person to ask as I'm so focused on Represent. It's a bit mad. Actually I have got to learn to chill for a bit and not be so switched on to Represent all day every day.

But a brand I think is killing it is Arne Clothing. They're kind of competitors but not competitors. They’re very local to us. We’re Bolton. They’re Warrington. There’s a big football rivalry there.

But they've just got a new HQ that's been all over LinkedIn this month, it’s crazy. So, from the outside looking in, they look like they're smashing it. They've really focused on what they're doing. and I know they're mainly UK, but I think they've got plans on going global. So, I think on a global standpoint, they might make some waves and they're local to me, so I'll always support.

Brand / product you can't live without?

It's difficult because I get free clothes. Haha! So I don't buy anything to be honest.

But New Balance trainers are always spot on. I did have some 550s but they started hurting. I have weird feet. But New Balance trainers are the one.

Industry hot take?

Community isn't a corporate buzzword. It should just be a feeling.

I feel like Community is a title that's been picked up by lots of people and is being misused. It becomes too corporate and we try to make community drive lifetime value or AOV. I do believe it should be a feeling, a sense of belonging and value alignment with people who love the brand for what it stands for.

I have to credit Represent. There's never an ROI analysis on anything I do. I get a budget. I don't have to figure it out or justify my spending on gifting or events. They know we have to invest in the community for long term success and reward our people that make us special and different. So credit to the company as well.

Tech you couldn’t live without. Work edition.

High Cohesion. It connects our Shopify to our warehouse system and it fires information backwards and forwards. But this year it’s built us a function for automatic refunds on returns for loyal customers. So based on your previous spend, you are put into the trusted bracket which gives you a refund on return as soon as you drop your parcel off with royal mail rather than waiting until it is back in the warehouse and quality checked.

So it's functionally helped take down our returns lag and it's another point of loyalty we can add to our loyalty system. So yeah high cohesion so they process most of our refunds for us automatically and saved a lot of time and effort from my team.

Follow Jimmy

Jimmy and Represent are must follows. They continue to be at the forefront of how brands can create authentic connections with their customers that benefit, delight them through IRL experiences and truly respond to the demands and asks of a loyal fanbase.

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Register to My Prestige in order to stay up to date with latest news, drops, discounts, events and community engagements. I, for one, am looking forward to their London store launch. Expecting an invite Jimmy. Hint hint. ;)

Til next time x