How two small businesses are working through coronavirus lockdown...
A wedding-dress designer and a book seller share their stories.
Sabina Motasem is a wedding dress designer creating luxury British-made dresses. The company has a showroom in north London.
All our brides have postponed their weddings until later this year or 2021. The bridal industry has essentially stopped. In the meantime, we’ve been doing virtual appointments so brides can see how dresses look and what the fabrics are like up close. But buying a wedding dress is an emotional purchase and nothing beats trying it on. To get around this, we've introduced a home-delivery service; we're sending the dresses to customers' homes and I join on a Zoom call to help with fitting and styling. We include a tape measure so I can show them how to take their measurements. Some of the bride’s friends can join in too, just as they would at a showroom appointment. That said, a lot of people have taken pay cuts and some have lost jobs so the majority of enquiries are from brides who are continuing to collate wedding ideas rather than buying a dress.
