"I always had a vision of owning a store that would be unique, that would allow anybody to access designer collections at a fraction of the retail cost and shop in an environment that wouldn't make them feel as though they were anywhere other than a designer boutique," Vosper explained. "Unlike other stores, I stock past-season collections along with gently used press samples; prototypes; the cancelled designs that never made it to production; and runway pieces. Unlike other past-season retailers that hold collections of only one season past, RSPV stocks carefully edited pieces from any collection, and of course the actual runway samples, which any other retailer wouldn't be able to market due to the gently used nature of the clothing."
So seemingly simple, and yet never done before, the concept took off right away with the first collection coming from one of Vosper's close friends, Olga Vilshenko, Mara Hoffman and Bionda Castana followed, but it was Versace that really put RSPV on every sale-shopper's wish list. The current sale (ending soon!) is Peter Pilotto, and fellow London Fashion Week star Antonio Berardi will be hot on its heels - so what is it about the store concept that has made retailers and shoppers alike embrace it so wholeheartedly?
"It was an hour into a designer sample sale, I had queued in the cold for most of that time and once inside stopped to look at the madness that had ensued around me: £6000 gowns strewn on the floor; grown women pushing their way past one another to fight for a jacket; the energy in the room was something I didn't want to be a part of," Vosper told us. "I decided there had to be a better way to host a sample sale. It was during the time of working on my business plan that my husband and I bought a building with a retail space; it made sense to launch my business within a space I owned before taking on the expense of enormous rent elsewhere. Now we know the business model works, we're looking at spaces in Notting Hill and will move the store next summer."
Currently in Chiswick, where Vosper lives, the shop hasn't been conceived purely from a business perspective by Vosper, who spent her career watching young designers struggle to raise their profile and clear the inventory needed to give them a working cash flow.
"I work with one designer each month to focus solely on sales and promotion of their brand, meaning we're appealing to the right buyers for the designers we have in store, thus resulting in targeted sales," she explained. "The reason so many brands are choosing to work with RSPV is that they're seeing there's no downside. A standard sample sale requires the designers' team to arrange everything, to be out of the office for no less than three days setting up and working at the sale, the expense of hiring a venue and the stresses that go with it.
If I were a designer, why would I want the creations that have been so important to me to be grabbed at and discarded in the way that always happens at an impersonal sample sale? It cheapens the brand. At RSPV we handle the collections with full respect as we know how the process works from sketch to production, my team all have fashion backgrounds and we fully understand our role in protecting the brand we're working with. And as for customers, everybody who walks through the door is treated in the same way; I launched RSPV so that we could stock designer collections without the intimidating store environment that goes with the territory."
Helping designers, and helping your bank balance? Pretty convincing stuff. So what can we buy next?
"The festive season will be taken care of by Grace, the label launched by the genius Jens and Erik behind Frame Denim," she said. "I have confirmed Olivia von Halle when RSPV reopens after the holidays in the New Year - I think we will host a chic Valentine's sample sale, her collections couldn't be more perfect for the occasion."
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