Fashion recruitment agenices, whilst well established, often charge dearly for their services.  Co-founded by Esra Young, The Ragtrader is an online service for freelancers in the fashion industry which enable designers from anywhere in the world to work on projects half-way across the Globe.  Here, Esra talks to The NextWomen about recognising a niche in the market, their heavy reliance on social media and the slow move online by players within the industry.

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From Freelance Fashion Designer to Female Entrepreneur

I graduated from Central Saint Martins with a degree in womenswear fashion design in 1999 and worked as a freelance designer for numerous UK companies.  Freelancing is tough at the best of times as it is not consistent, but I found it increasingly difficult to fit work around my two young children & so came up with the idea of The Ragtrader as an answer to the problem.

What is The Ragtrader? When did you launch and what are your objectives for the next three years?

The Ragtrader is an online service which enables international fashion companies to use freelance fashion and graphic designers based anywhere in the world. We launched in December 08 & are in the process of recruiting agents around the world in order to grow globally. China is proving to be one of our strongest markets. Our aim is to become the "go-to" place for companies looking for freelance fashion or graphic designers.

Who makes up The Ragtrader team and what do you all bring to the table?

The team compromises of me and my husband Steven who has also worked in the fashion industry for over 10 years. We have a few interns, a technical team that manage the site and business advisors and investors.

What is your business model and how do you differ from your competitors?

We are unique in the fashion industry. No other company offer the business model we do. Our competitors tend to be the established fashion recruitment agencies, but these companies charge very high fee's and cannot offer the same type of flexible service we do. We are the first company to enable designers based in London or New York to design from home for companies based in China.

What were your start-up costs and how were they funded?

The start up costs were fairly substantial as we had to build our site from scratch and it's a complicated and in depth one.  We really believe in the idea so we invested all our savings along with capital from angel investors to fund the initial start up and ongoing expansion.

Do you make use of social networking or is this not necessarily a tool that works for your business?

Yes, we rely heavily on social networking to promote our business. Being internet based, it is the perfect tool for us.

Have you always had the entrepreneurial bug and have you had any mentors along the way?

Yes, I've always known I was going to start my own business, it was just a case of right opportunity and right time. Luckily they both came together with The Ragtrader.

How do you see online fashion progressing in the future?

I think the fashion industry has been quite slow to realise the potential of the internet. It has only been in the last 5 years that retailers have really started investing in online selling and this hasn't even filtered down to the suppliers and manufacturers yet. Fashion is such a global business - most countries are importing from all over the world, it's almost the perfect industry to be using the web but it's very new territory for them.

On a lighter note, name one website you wish you’d founded

MakeupAlley. I'm a real product junkie and could sadly spend hours on this site.

Any Female Internet Heroes?

Hara Glick, founder of MakeupAlley.