Member Article

London fashion entrepreneur kicks off Pitch to Rich in style

A 22 year old woman from South West London with aspirations of changing the face of the London Underground, is taking social media by storm.

Alex Maher’s ‘Pitch to Rich’ idea, the Style Tube, gained over 680 shares on Facebook and 215 votes in less than 24 hours.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Media Business launched the ‘Pitch to Rich’ competition on March 24th in an attempt to unearth the entrepreneurs of the future.

Alex, who has designed a website and app showcasing the unique street-style which passes through the London tube every day, said: “I only heard about the competition on Friday [24th April] when someone sent me an email asking for support for their pitch. I took one look at the website and thought, ‘I have to win this!’ I’ve worked tirelessly to get this off the ground and am blown away by the response it’s received, it’s really humbling.”

She is hoping to team up with big fashion brands like ASOS and Missguided, as well as partner with Transport for London (TfL) to create an interactive platform, directly connecting online and London based retailers with fashion conscious tube travellers.

Alex explained: “I first had the idea when I was studying at the Condé Nast College of Fashion. Sitting on the tube every day, I would always see people who’s original and quirky style would make me do a double take,

“I just thought that this would be such a great interpretation of the traditional street-style blog, but more than that, the Style Tube would be a platform for Londoners to connect with local businesses and online retailers, making travel around London an interactive fashion experience.”

By partnering with TfL, the Style Tube would connect people from wherever they are in London or the Underground, to businesses via the TfL journey planner.

As Virgin Media currently have exclusive hosting rights to the Underground Wi-Fi, by working in partnership with Virgin through winning Pitch to Rich, Alex hopes to be able to access the 1.26 billion people travelling the tube network each year.

She concluded: “I’m utterly exhausted; I’ve been working flat out since Friday whilst working in my day job full time. I even ran straight from a funeral on Saturday to get up to London to film for the pitch!

“But if I can get Virgin Media and TfL on board, the sky really is the limit. I believe this has the potential to completely change the face of London transport, as well as help to cement London’s reputation as the street-style capital of the world.

To vote for Alex and the Style Tube to see her go one step closer to pitching to Richard Branson, visit: http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/pitch-to-rich/new-things/style-tube/

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .