An award-winning young designer has taken the reins at a high street fashion store.
Jayne Hannah Wilson, 29, is the new manager of H&M at the Eagles Meadow shopping centre in Wrexham.
The fashion obsessed go-getter, who won a £400 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.
Jayne said: “I’m pretty obsessed with fashion. Every week I make sure I know what’s going on in the market, and I’ve always been like that. It’s mainly keeping up with designers.
“I like to make sure I know what’s going to be big six months in advance. Now designers are launching their autumn and winter collections.
“Autumn it’s going to be quite baroque styles – things like thick embellished jackets, and long velvet overthrows.”
Jayne is a great believer in the smart but practical look.
She said: “Working in this environment you’re on your feet most of the day. You’re up and down ladders all the time. You need to comfortable but it’s also having that little bit of smart edge.
“My favourite thing of the moment is the skort, which is skirt that has a separator in it so it looks like a pair shorts.
“They’re practical but they’ve got a bit of a chic vibe. You don’t have to worry about the whole ladder situation!”
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.
She then worked as a weekend supervisor at interior company Au Naturale.
Jayne said: “I’ve always worked. I was at college fulltime 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.
After graduating from Liverpool University in 2007 Jayne beat off tough competition to become an administration manager in H&M’s Chester store.
She said: “I was very specific about the companies that I would and wouldn’t work for. It wasn’t so much the job description. It was what company I’d want to grow in. I was thinking five years ahead.
“The 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.
“It’s very unusual that H&M advertises externally for management positions so I was very lucky initially got have got in.”
Two and a half years in Jayne was talent-spotted by the area manager and put on the fast-track to the top.
Jayne said: “They 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.”
Jayne describes her management style as firm, fair and direct.
She said: “What I’ve always said since I’ve been a manager is I would never ask someone else to do something I wouldn’t do myself.
“The staff all see me sweeping the floors and emptying the bins, so if they’ve got a problem with it they shouldn’t have because I’m the manager and I do it.
“High standards are important and so is relating to customers.
“It’s 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’t have a uniform.
“If 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’re looking for.”
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.”
