Last Wednesday night, MFN hosted ‘An Audience with ... Harvey Jacobson, Managing Director of the Jacobson Group, at The Soup Kitchen in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Jacobson Group is the parent company of well known brands including Gola and Lotus, the group also manufactures and distributes footwear for the Multiple and Independent retail sector in the UK, Europe and the US. Audience members included a varied selection from Harvey’s own team, members of the press, PRs and a spattering of Importer/Exporters, Retailers and Wholesalers.

Harvey’s commanding charm and ability to conduct the room meant that the informal structure of the night was even more so informal. Anecdotes from his company’s origins on Manchester Market stalls and bloopers from the group’s past took centre. Needless to say, many serious questions were also asked, to which Harvey responded passionately and with sage advice.

Of the early days of his fashion empire Jacobson said: “[It all started] on a Market Stall, Oldham, Crewe, Newcastle-Under-Lyne, Stafford, sounds a little bit like the Trotter’s Three Wheeler.” Harvey added, owing his successes in the supply sector to his unsuccessful stint in the retail, “I was probably not a very good retailer, and that amounted to some success because if you’re not good at something you’ve got to move on.”

After explaining the journey from the Market stalls to his cosy indoor office Harvey answered questions concerning the exact positioning of his company’s business. ‘When we started out’ Harvey told the audience, ‘there was no vertical trading ... Manufacturers or Importers used to supply Multiple Retailers or Wholesalers and the Wholesalers supplied the independent Retailers.’ In 1996 Jacobson Group’s business was 100% selling own buy product to major retailers, an operation Harvey calls Direct-to-major-account, but this changed with the acquisition of one of the 1970s leading sports fashion brands, Gola. Gola was one of the most successful brands in the UK throughout the 1960s and 70s, however in 1996 the business was failing and was ripe for take-over. Harvey Jacobson now had a channel with which to sell own brand product whilst continuing to supply the major Retailers, Jacobson Group was fighting on two fronts.

The rare opportunity to speak to a businessman who works with some of the UK’s biggest multiple retailers, offered at this MFN event, gave some interesting insight into the power relationships between major Retailers and major manufacturer/suppliers. When asked about the fundamental differences between selling on Jacobson Group’s own brands and Direct-to-major-accounts Harvey said, ‘the biggest difference is price. The big retailers have a very good idea on fashion these days, you can’t pull the wool over their eyes, but they demand very sharp prices!’

With sharp prices come even sharper deadlines, when asked about the UKs dependency on fast-fashion and its affect on the footwear industry Jacobson said he had seen changes in sales patterns, ‘it’s unbelievable how fast factories can turn it around, I remember when turnaround was 120 days, in recent years ... we can receive order and ship in 30 days.’

“I let on that I don’t know anything about fashion,” Harvey smirked, “I suppose I know a bit”. With a company boasting ownership of a brand that recently celebrated it Centenary, that has collaborated with Christian Lacroix, that was worn by the England Team in their last World Cup victory, not to mention the major brands that his company supplies it is clear that Harvey Jacobson knows a little more about fashion and indeed the fashion business than he is letting on.

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