A Message to Our Customers

After working over 25 years as Director of Sales for Canada in her family owned direct sales fashion business managed by her mother and step-father, Sherron Lightfoot decided to take her talent for sales, personalized customer service and entrepreneurial spirit into a different direction; retail sales. She started her business, Panache, in 1999 as a kiosk in a major mall in Brampton, Ontario, working as a solo operation. She carried a small inventory of ladies apparel specializing in unique easy care embroidered denim and hand-painted cotton pieces and ventured into evening wear, crystal jewelry and handbags. Her customers hadn’t seen anything like this in a mall environment before. After expanding and moving into 5 temporary locations taking her customers and key staff with her, Sherron opted to move out the of mall environment into a permanent location, 5 minutes away from the mall’s main intersection.

In 2003, The Fashion Network was born as an homage to her parents’ business and Sherron vastly grew her assortment based on feedback from her customers and staff to ensure all her clients sportswear, career, evening, footwear and accessory needs were being met. Through trial and error, Sherron discovered lines that really “worked” for her clients. Fashion lines including Conrad C., Habitat, Ness, FDJ, Mode de Vie, Softworks, Simon Chang Sport, Bylyse and Michael Tyler to name a few. Jewelry lines include Treska, Ma’m Design, Touch of Style and more. Handbags and Footwear from Luv Shoes, Corky’s, The Flexx and more and Shapewear courtesy of Shapeez and Spanx.

The Fashion Network has become well known in the Brampton community and often participates in fundraising fashion shows semi-annually. Customer and friend for over 12 years, Dorothea Solmes says “The owner and her staff are the greatest in the world. I’ve known Sherron for more years than I’d like to admit to and her daughter since she was a little girl, best people there are. I’m afraid to go to the store because Sherron can talk me into just about anything! Great fashions, expertise and knowledge!” It is customers like this that The Fashion Network was built on.

A regular attendee of Toronto and Vegas Market, Sherron regularly buys from the Toronto Profile Show and WWIN, Stitch, Mode Accessory Show and Off Price in Vegas. “We look forward to market each season and happy to see our Canadian contingent rapidly growing in Vegas. I get to connect with friends, make new business connections, help advocate successful lines we sell and ultimately I’m there for my customers” says Sherron. “After our major buys are completed, we continue looking for new lines or something unique that can’t be found in our market. Our demographic and customer has changed over the years and now we are seeing new generations of our original customers shopping with us. We have a diverse fashion appeal that includes classic, conservative and trendy and are able to cater to how a woman feels not based on her age.”

It’s hard to believe almost 22 years have flown by but the success of The Fashion Network has been built as a team approach from a very experienced staff of three to eight who consistently go “the extra mile” and an ever-growing customer base that stays connected via regular emails and Facebook. Sherron is hands on with all aspects of her business including emails to her client base keeping them informed of new arrivals, new brands, special events and promotions. The staff participate in the store’s operations from receiving, pricing, sales, store maintenance, merchandising and customer service. If a customer cannot find their size, no problem, the staff will contact the vendor’s customer service to secure it or find another great alternative. “Our customers just love the personalized service and even pop in just to say hi to our staff. They have become our friends over the years. Our in store Fashion Shows are always at maximum capacity and our Birthday Reward and Frequent Buyer Club loyalty programs are always a hit” says Sherron.

Sherron Lightfoot
Owner of The Fashion Network.