NEW YORK — The ongoing globalization of fashion tastes has compelled talent acquisition and development firm Karen Harvey Consulting Group to open up shop in London.
The group chose London’s Covent Garden as its European base for recruiting design talent, rather than Paris or Milan, because of the influences emanating from London’s streets, said Harvey, president and founder of the three-year-old boutique firm. “The runway is important, but our primary clients are not at the couture level,” she noted.
As the pull of globalization makes it imperative for fashion players to understand the distinctions that remain between cultures, Harvey said, it has become increasingly important for smaller search and development consultants to get a toehold abroad. That’s both to help U.S. clients expanding in Europe get a grip on the local culture and to export talent for companies seeking a fresh perspective for their business in this country.
The consultant’s clients include Nike, Liz Claiborne, Coach, Abercrombie & Fitch, Revlon and Kenneth Cole Productions.
Approximately 20 percent of Harvey’s search work is devoted to design talent, which will be the focal point of the London arm. In London, Harvey said, the fashion community is quicker to encourage design viewpoints than in the U.S., where, she contended: “There’s been a greater emphasis on the large-scale commercialization of brands.
“In Europe, big isn’t better,” Harvey offered. “There’s more of a belief one can do what’s right.”
The London office is currently staffed by two people, with a senior executive expected to be named in January and expansion to a staff of around a dozen people anticipated during the next three years. Prior to the appointment of the senior executive, the New York staff will be working in the London office, as well. Harvey herself, who founded her search and development firm in April 2001, expects to make regular trips to London. “My approach is to look at things from the inside,” Harvey explained. “We have to be able to look beneath the surface, beyond the résumé, so we can understand how people think.”
While Karen Harvey Consulting Group has made recruiting trips to London for the past two years, the new office will enable it to build a long-term strategic base — and accept local work — rather than be limited to what Harvey described as chasing assignments from American firms.