An award-winning young designer has taken the reins at a high street fashion store.<\/p>\n
Jayne Hannah Wilson, 29, is the new manager of H&M at the Eagles Meadow shopping centre in Wrexham.<\/p>\n
The fashion obsessed go-getter, who won a \u00a3400 prize for her wallpaper designs at an exhibition whilst studying for a degree in 3D design at Liverpool University, is always on the lookout for the latest styles.<\/p>\n
Jayne said: \u201cI\u2019m pretty obsessed with fashion. Every week I make sure I know what\u2019s going on in the market, and I\u2019ve always been like that. It\u2019s mainly keeping up with designers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to make sure I know what\u2019s going to be big six months in advance. Now designers are launching their autumn and winter collections.<\/p>\n
\u201cAutumn it\u2019s going to be quite baroque styles \u2013 things like thick embellished jackets, and long velvet overthrows.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jayne is a great believer in the smart but practical look.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cWorking in this environment you\u2019re on your feet most of the day. You\u2019re up and down ladders all the time. You need to comfortable but it\u2019s also having that little bit of smart edge.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy favourite thing of the moment is the skort, which is skirt that has a separator in it so it looks like a pair shorts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re practical but they\u2019ve got a bit of a chic vibe. You don\u2019t have to worry about the whole ladder situation!\u201d<\/p>\n
Jayne, who completed a B Tech National Diploma in Art and Design at West Cheshire College in Ellesmere Port, started her career working weekends at catalogue merchant Argos.<\/p>\n
She then worked as a weekend supervisor at interior company Au Naturale.<\/p>\n
Jayne said: \u201cI\u2019ve always worked. I was at college full-time and worked every Saturday and Sunday. It gave me a solid grounding. It was my degree and my work background that got me in with H&M.<\/p>\n
After graduating from Liverpool University in 2007 Jayne beat off tough competition to become an administration manager in H&M\u2019s Chester store.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI was very specific about the companies that I would and wouldn\u2019t work for. It wasn\u2019t so much the job description. It was what company I\u2019d want to grow in. I was thinking five years ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe company has a really high internal succession rate and they like to train and develop their staff. They do all of their own training packages.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very unusual that H&M advertises externally for management positions so I was very lucky initially got have got in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two and a half years in Jayne was talent-spotted by the area manager and put on the fast-track to the top.<\/p>\n
Jayne said: \u201cThey interviewed me and I got a ladies department manager role. I did that for two years, and then they moved me to Cheshire Oaks for the store manager to develop me for my own store.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jayne describes her management style as firm, fair and direct.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cWhat I\u2019ve always said since I\u2019ve been a manager is I would never ask someone else to do something I wouldn\u2019t do myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe staff all see me sweeping the floors and emptying the bins, so if they\u2019ve got a problem with it they shouldn\u2019t have because I\u2019m the manager and I do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh standards are important and so is relating to customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to make eye contact, to smile, to say hello, to say thank you, and to always have your name badge on so the customer knows who you are because we don\u2019t have a uniform.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a customer is frowning and looking to see if there is anyone round to help, then the staff are trained to approach that customer because they might not be able to find what they\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eagles Meadow Manager Kevin Critchley: “I’d like to congratulate Jayne on her appointment. She is a bright and very talented retailer and will I am sure be an asset to Eagles Meadow in general and H&M in particular.”<\/p>\n