So much to choose from, but nothing to wear. Fashion was dull and same-same. And that’s the genesis behind Ashley Battle’s fashion brand, The Lot.
When she couldn’t find clothes that spoke to her fashion sense or match clobber in retail to trends she saw in fashion magazines, Battle decided to start up her own brand to wardrobe her style into tangible fashion.
That was fourteen years ago. And what started off as a loose collection of international and local brands eventually morphed into a recognisable style imprint. Today The Lot has standalone stores and department store showcases in Cape Town and Johannesburg with plans to grow organically throughout the country.
Ashley Battle has loads of energy. It’s infectious in any kind of conversation and engagement with her. But she knows her fashion and has a never-ending passion for talking about her first love. She is a driven individual whose diary is as busy as her ambition.
But it wasn’t all skirts and shirts for a young Battle. Her parents wanted her to study and become a nine-to-five kind of person.
She said: “Fashion was always my dream and founding The Lot was almost a happenstance realisation of my ideal. I got to live my passion and since my student days I have never had a day job”.
Battle deejayed during her university years, saved up the cash, and invested it all into her fledgling business.
She said that while online represents a good chunk of her business right now, it wasn’t always like that, and previously bricks and mortar retail was the lifeblood of entrepreneurs like her. It was really the pandemic that pushed online shopping to the forefront.
She said: “I think that Covid accelerated the inevitable, as online shopping was seeing a lot of growth before that”.
Today, The Lot runs a successful digital business with a departmental showcase on sites like Takealot and Superbalist. In physical life, Battle just opened a large presence at the Rosebank outlet of artisanal department store We Are Egg.
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When Battle started out, a lot of her fashion was imported. But that’s changed. She said: “We manufacture a lot of our own range, which has been something we’ve evolved more and more over the years.” In The Lot’s catalogue several other local brands have also joined in Battle’s endeavour”.
And what started as a unisex brand has evolved into a focus solely on women’s clothing. The Lot also comprises of an all-female team.
Battle said: “We are a team, a family, and I am so grateful for the successes that we have been able to achieve. It takes everyone’s contribution and hard work to make the company function, and without my colleagues it would have been impossible to climb the ladder of accomplishment”.
Battle said that women’s empowerment reflects in fashion. And we see it everywhere. There’s more skin in the game, garments and fabrics are more revealing and daring while, at the same time, not being blatantly crass. It’s feminine sensuality in a new world of liberation.
Battle said: “I think that it’s a reflection of the feeling of wanting to be liberated and empowered. There’s also a difference between a lot of skin and me maybe pushing boundaries, but in a classy way. And I think that’s where it is. It’s not about just showing as much as possible, but it’s about being fearless, fierce and free, maybe pushing boundaries”.
Battle added: “I think after the last three years where the world has been so conservative and so restricted, largely to the pandemic and the global geo-political situation, fashion reflected that mood. I think this is the first summer season that people are feeling really free again. And we’re definitely seeing that in the trends”.
A lot of colour, a lot of sheer and a lot of cutouts and naughty but nice fashion is the order of the day.
She said: “I think people are wanting to reflect how they’re feeling in what they’re wearing. Fashion obviously is a great expression of that. So, it’s definitely a fun, colourful, fabulous summer and the trends are showing us that”.
