Ashley & Helen opened The Box Edit Boutique at the beginning of 2020, which brought the latest fashion trends to Barry. They share their journey on bringing their vision to life with Style of the City.
Creating a must-have curated collection of clothing for the woman who appreciates good clothes and great quality, that’s our main goal! Before establishing The Box Edit Boutique, we both worked in London in design and buying & merchandising at head office level for several High Street retailers (including Warehouse, Miss Selfridge, Debenhams, All Saints and Coast). Using some of these key skills and our previous fashion experience has been instrumental when building the business during Covid 19.
Sourcing the right pieces is paramount. We want each garment to have longevity and we are wanting to change people’s attitude to ‘fast fashion’, which is not good for landfills! We stock well established Danish brands as well as Independent labels and hold a Conscious Edit in our shipping container. Supporting labels based in the UK was always important to us, showcasing high-quality items which are ethically made from spare bedrooms and studios across Britain. This slow fashion process means there is as little waste as possible, again assisting in reducing landfills. Our Edit allows us to buy in small quantities and rerun popular lines quickly. We strive to source independent labels which are not widely available and of exceptional quality, adding statement pieces to your wardrobe that you will wear year after year.
We are passionate about community and collaboration, which is why we wanted to create a small independent boutique, shopping small and shopping local is the future. Sourcing our collections during the pandemic was particularly tricky, without our fashion background it would have been a struggle; however, our knowledge of fabrications helped enormously when viewing ranges online and our skills in buying/merchandising were put to the test when logistics proved tricky in lockdown. We can honestly say we have pulled on every previous experience we have had to navigate the problems that arose in light of the pandemic.
The location for our Box of Style was important to us- we both agreed that Barry was the place we wanted to open the boutique. There is an incredibly exciting vibe around Barry at the moment and it is definitely THE place to be and it feels that all eyes are on Barry. We both just love the Vale and specifically Barry!
