How boutique, remote-first businesses can create belonging, growth, and impact in line with ESG values.

The 10th annual instalment of the BoF-McKinsey State of Fashion Report saw “challenging” replace “uncertainty” as the word describing the year ahead.

From tariffs reshaping trade and AI transforming shopping behaviour, to consumers prioritising wellness and proven value, the industry faces a fundamentally new reality.

As founders, this year reminded us that real growth doesn’t always look loud or fast. More often, it looks like clarity, discipline, and commitment to doing things properly, particularly when no one is watching.

A defining trend of 2025? Brand collaborations. But with volume comes fatigue: when every collaboration starts to look the same, the magic fades.

Six years. No investors. No safety net. Just two women, sisters and best friends, building a business from scratch while having four babies in four years (I know…), renovating houses and moving cities.

Discounts don’t build brands, they train customers to wait for them. It’s easy to chase short-term revenue with a sale, and much harder to build long-term demand without one. But that’s where brand equity and real margin live.

At Axe & Kettle, we’ve helped brands like JW Anderson, Nanushka, Matilda Goad and Glassette grow with brand-first, performance strategies that build businesses not just websites.

At Axe & Kettle, we’re building more than a digital marketing agency, we’re building the kind of business, and the kind of world, we want to live in.

The third in our Q4 digital strategy series, our Organic Search & SEO checklist outlines how luxury brands can optimise for high-intent queries, protect brand space, and turn visibility into meaningful conversions.

The next in our series to help your business win Q425, our comprehensive Paid Search guide helps luxury brands refine strategy, protect profitability, and turn visibility into meaningful performance across Google and Performance Max.

From Meta to TikTok to Pinterest, we’ve built a checklist designed to help luxury and premium brands cut through the noise, elevate creative, and convert with clarity this season.

EU regulations are transforming fashion: digital product passports and extended producer responsibility create new opportunities for brands to build trust, tell their story, and embrace circularity.

From Fendi to Mulberry, fashion’s icon revival era shows how heritage meets modern storytelling to drive relevance.

The LFW panel with Vogue Business emphasised that in a crowded market, clarity is key. Brand audits, assessing purpose, values, positioning, and perception, are essential for long-term growth, helping brands balance quick wins with lasting impact.

For brands looking to strengthen their presence and build audience confidence, Meta Verified is worth exploring. Particularly for businesses where trust and social proof matter.

How we helped transform a cult brand into a high-performing global powerhouse 🌐 

We want to see more women in power - in the boardroom, at the strategy table, on stage and behind the lens. And we’ll keep doing our part, loudly and proudly.

We helped Studio HÁM achieve exceptional eCommerce growth by rebuilding their outdated website and migrating it to Shopify, resulting in a +357% revenue increase, +150% higher conversion rate, +70% boost in average order value, and a +732% return on ad spend.

We conducted comprehensive UK market research to overhaul core category and collection pages, specifically targeting purchase-ready, premium customers. We did this by carefully balancing brand-specific terminology with keywords that highlight high-end materials and British craftsmanship.

Updating content, optimising product pages, and building backlinks during this period can significantly boost visibility and organic traffic. With heightened competition, focusing on SEO in Q4 helps ensure your brand stays top-of-mind, driving conversions and maximising revenue during the busiest time of the year.