Business of Design conference features Jim Brett, West Elm

The US community and craft-conscious global homeware retailer, West Elm has been led by its president, Jim Brett from paucity to profit in five years. A passionate advocate of South African craft and design, he will be presenting at Business of Design's Cape Town conference, 7-8 October 2015, at the Inner City Ideas Cartel, 71 Waterkant Street.

Working with Source Design Export since 2006, he placed significant orders with over 150 South African design companies while he was Merchandise Manager at Anthropologie Home. For the last four years, Brett has had a committed programme of 'design under licence' with dozens of top South African designers, earning them royalties for large volumes of product at West Elm stores.

Turnaround strategy

• Brett's 'Re-Mix, Re-Merch, Re-Price' strategy turned West Elm into the fastest-growing brand in the Williams-Sonoma Inc portfolio, resulting in 75 stores globally.
• West Elm's Impact Sourcing Strategy provides measurable social impact by collaborating with craft workers and artisan communities around the world, expanding the retailer's product range while highlighting product with provenance.
• Jim initiated West Elm's Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action, a $35-million handcraft-purchasing plan to create more than 4 500 economic opportunities for artisans, supporting craft communities, empowering women and preserving cultural craft traditions.
• Launching West Elm Local has empowered individual West Elm stores to sell the work of makers and designers in their regions or towns, offering regional assortments within stores.

His talk at the Cape Town leg of Business of Design, 'The Strategy of Creativity - Identifying Your Product and Developing Your Sales Path', will cover this forward-thinking retailer's insights on the difference between art, craft and product as he takes delegates through the journey of building a production and sales strategy when targeting new markets.

The conference is also presented in Johannesburg on 21-22 October 2015. For the full line-up of both conferences, go to www.businessofdesign.co.za. Ticket costs are R3,950 (pay half now and half by 1 October), R3,300 (IID and CCDI members), R3,000 (alumni) and R2,500 (students).