In 2011, J. Choo Limited was holding its annual company meeting. It had been an intense year of global transformation for the industry and not all fashion brands had faired well. As the meeting unfolded it was clear that Jimmy Choo, unlike the others, had come out of the year in a strong position, expanding into new territories and developing brand new lines. The positivity in the meeting room that day was catching. And it was certainly well deserved. Because without the luxury of a huge budget, the leadership team had inspired everyone in the business to have confidence in themselves and their capabilities. They had encouraged them to pull together, work hard and emerge from the challenges of the previous year with passion and razor sharp focus for the task ahead. So, where do the windmills come in, you may ask? Well, there’s an old Chinese proverb that says, “When the wind of change blows, some build walls, while others build windmills.” And at that meeting in 2011, it really resonated. While other brands had floundered, the Jimmy Choo team knew they needed to be the first to surface from the slump to be ahead of the fashion pack. With laser precision and their unwavering passion they streamlined the business, addressed the failings in their fragmented architecture and spent time getting to know their customers through their data. To cut a long story short, in the first half of 2012 Jimmy Choo was sold to Labelux for £500M. That’s 300 times the sale price back in 2009. The brand also launched its US ecommerce operation and doubled its stores globally. Today’s digital age and the urgent changes required for the GDPR, mean all fashion retailers face a similar storm on the horizon. GDPR compliance won’t be going away, but at Pimble we truly believe it presents you with an amazing opportunity to get closer to customers and, you know, build your own windmill. If you have the passion to begin the process now, GDPR compliance can be a reality.