168 - Starting and building a bespoke fashion label

Champ Consultants is an award winning independent firm of highly experienced qualified accountants and tax advisors based in Cagraham, providing a fully comprehensive range of accountancy. And tax services. If you would like simple but creative answers to your tax problems, called Champ Consultants your business partner on one double eighty three three four nine three hundred. Good morning and welcome to your business hour with Me Chantale, Me Matthew and today in our studio we are chatting to Leanne from Laura Lee, London.

Good morning, Leanne. Morning so. Leanne is a fashion designer. She has known from a very young age that she wanted to be a fashion designer.

She went locally to a school in Oxford and then went on to the London College of Fashion to study for her VA Honors degree in Designer Technology for the fashion industry. She's had very work experiences as she's worked as a placement year for Julian McDonald, during which time he became artistic director of Chavonci in Paris. She also herself worked for Chavanci, Hooktaw and also for Karen Millan and House of Fraser. And it's been quite funny here at the studio this morning because Matthew also worked at Karen Millan.

So for the last ten to fifteen minutes they've been reminiscing about Karen Millan, which was probably. Mostly about the staff and the gossip on the staff. But like you always do, we're talking like twenty five years ago here, so I'm surprised. Every we're not old enough twenty five years ago.

So yes. Anyway, So Leanne has started up her own business though now, and I'm going to let her explain how this all started. And her business is Laura Lee London and that is spelled l O R l e I London. Hope ive pronounced it correctly.

It is actually Laura and I Laura Lai. I wasn't going to correct you. I know I'm quite happy to be corrected. Laura Lai London.

There you go. So tell us your story, Leanne. How did it all start and what made you start your own business? So, as you said, I kind of always knew that this is what I wanted to do and work within the fashion industry from a really young age and worked for all of those years for various different businesses, different when I was at Julian.

It was an amazing experience and that kind of really ignited my passion for the future. And I worked within the press industry at that time, kind of met lots of the British press and found how the workings behind the scenes kind of you know, built the business and how it all ticked and so from there, obviously, once I graduated at London Conage of Fashion, I went on to work at Caramelon and working there was an amazing experience, as we've just been sharing, but it was it was one of the very few high street brands that had its own pattern room.

So so so for me, you know, that was a really big stepping stone because we went right through to second sample almost which is unheard of across the rest of the high streets. So it really kind of cut my teeth into. So what does that actually mean for me non fashion person, but maybe some fashion people who might be listening, But what does that actually mean in basic knowledge? So a lots of high street fashion brands, they go everything is SpecEd so designed and spect by the designers, then go straight out to the factories in the Far East mainly or Turkey or European factories.

But at Karen Millan, we had a whole pattern room basically like an Ittelie light you'd find in theirture houses in Paris, whereby there was a full sample sample room of pattern cutters, sample machinists. So you'd get your you'd do your design, it would go through to the first sample, we'd have our first fit session, whereby everybody would discuss, you know this, figure out placements for embroidery and embellishment designs, things like that. All of that was done with it house and then from that the pattern was made, which then went out to the factories and then obviously we went to you go to various stages coming back from from the factories three fittings, normally two or three fittings for high Street.

But yeah, to get to that first stage and sometime second stage of sampling within the house, that was a real eye opener and taught me a lot obviously about the way it works from conception through to completion of the garment. So from there I then went onto House a Phrase when I worked for their own brand label for quite a while and then within the business they designed to set up another own label brand that was aimed at twenty five to thirty five year olds, So that was my baby really before I had baby.

So I was given the opportunity to set this label up for them, which at the time we called Untold. I work with two other amazing designers and we kind of kind of brought that right through to the stages. I'm still very proud of the pieces that we created during that time. It was a very freeing experience, basically setting up a label for a brand but using their money.

Yeah, so I kind of had the knowledge that I needed to take that further at some point, so that in the back of my head that's always what I wanted to do. At that point, has a phrase then got bought out and there was a bit of a race to the bottom. Prime mark was kind of becoming a really big thing and everybody was just chasing that bottom line. So I've always been very passionate about the working with natural fibers and at Caramel, and we did that obviously at Julian.

Everything was beautiful. So once we were being pushed as designers to start using man made polyesters and just trying to get the cheapest shortcuts, I kind of lost interest and thought this isn't really where I'm sitting. I'd been married for a couple of years and we decided that was a good time for me to have my children, So I kind of left there at that point all the time. I then had my first daughter, and during that time afterwards, I kind of freelanced for various factories that i'd worked with, bosses that i'd worked with before, just that knew that I could do project work, get it done, and then move on.

So then I ended up having another two children. I've got three girls, two of which are teenagers now and then eleven year old. So yeah, during that time, I continued to work project work with people, but mainly people that knew me, trusted me, and knew that I could just get the job done and I could take that work around the family, which was brilliant. But it got to the point now where my kids are a bit older and I was looking to get back into part time or full time work, and I found it incredibly difficult to find anything around that did what I love doing, what I'm good at.

You know, I've got all this experience, but to find something flexible that I could still work around my family commitments. Was a real struggle. So I then kind of looked into myself what could I do. I'd been making handbags and doing prints for friends for quite a while that based on their wedding bouquets or flowers that I know they loved.

So I'd been making small handbags and things. I was getting good feedback from people, wheople saying why don't you do something with this? And at that time I did a webinar with a lady called Kate Hills, who is now what I perceive as the sort of savior of UK manufacturer. She's an amazing woman and she set up a thing called the British Brand Accelerator and also meet the manufacturer Sure out in London, which was a trade show that she'd set up.

But it was about putting people that want to make here in the UK in touch with suppliers, factories and manufacturers that can help them, you know, create what they need to create. So I sort of was in talks with her, obviously finding funding. I knew that if I was doing one on my own, there's a big price that you have to pay for that, so it was just for a year or so I kind of mulled around what I could potentially do, and then the opportunity came. We got a bit of funding, self funding, and I decided, right, can I bootstrap this?

We did a business plan kind of set everything out what we need to achieve and where we need to be and how we could possibly get there, and with Kate's help, yeah, I decided to bite the bullet and hit the button and go for it. So that's when Love Oflo London was created. And when was that then? So what year was that?

So twenty twenty three was when I'd started talking with Kate and then that it took me about a year and a half to completely set up the business from I was very clear that I wanted it to be a different business model to what's expected of a normal fashion brand. I wanted to make here in the UK. I wanted to use organic, natural fibers, and I wanted to create a brand that has real connection with people in the hope that they will treasure what we design for them. It becomes something that really means something to them and special that you know they want to hand down potentially as an heirloom within the family.

So yeah, so all of those things I also wanted to set up a circular business model. I'm aiming to go for be court business needs to grow a bit before I can do that. But the whole business was set out from the grounding to work in that direction. And so from a fashion point of view, you said that you sort of start you were doing handbags and stuff long time ago.

The fashion world is massive, isn't it. I mean everything is designed by something or other. What sorts of things do you design? So what is your labor?

What is it you sell? So Laurela London is at the moment we decided to launch with one style at a time, so it's just a different way of working. I thought, there's so many I've always worked on a collection basis, whereby everybody in the room kind of knew probably what the best sellers would be. There's always some surprises, but people know that a full collection is made, and the the old business model is that you then work towards ultimately some of that going into sale.

And I just thought, I don't want to build something that is based on that model, So how do I go about doing that? So I was like, right, I looked into my own wardrobe as part of my work when I worked at a house a phraser. Particularly when we were researching to build the brand for them, we got to do a lot of a lot of shopping trips abroad, basically whereby I went to vintage print archives, which are amazing source of just beautiful objects, books and books of one off designs created, you know, hundreds of years ago, and also vintage pieces.

Vintage dress shopping has always been a massive source of inspiration to me. So I kind of looked into my wardrobe, looked at vintage pieces that I've got that I love still. Now I've got this one particular dress for weddings or you know, any particular occasion, I think, yeah, that's you know, the old faithful she can come. And actually this dress that we've launched with is based on an old Parisian vintage tea dress that I bought from a private collector in Paris.

So it's just a very timeless piece, yeah, nineteen fifties styling, but brought into sort of the modern day. It's got pockets. Everybody loves a pocket. Yeah, everyone needs the pocket, loves it.

You need a pie nowadays. Don't exactly. I thought only US men had pockets in our clo No, no, we. Need a pocket.

It's just for the lips a pocket. But yeah, so it's just trying to bring that kind of that style that silhouette into into the modern age and create this piece that I'm very proud of. So for now we've got this one style. We've done it in.

We launched in two different prints. These prints are based. There's the Laurel I house print, which is sort of my print. I designed it painting in the garden with my girls, and then I kind of move I work in two ways with my prints.

They're either very littal floral designs mainly all inspired by the British countryside and florals, and I also work in a more kaleidoscopic way. They all come from my hand drawn paintings prints. I used lots of mixed media whatever I fancy. I'm not particularly a happy person if i'm not creating something, so say, yeah, I'm always doing some sort of drawings, and these prints came from that, the house print and also the Amanda's print, which was a climbing clematus from a really good friend of mine's garden.

So those were the two prints we launched with, and then yeah, we've got another two prints that we worked on last year for Angelica Bell who she brought them to RHS Chelsea. So yeah, so that must have been amazing when you see someone because somebody like I don't know, I might come by one of your dresses or whatever and I wear it to a private venue. You don't actually see it see it. I mean, I might send you a photo and go and everyone loves the dress, thank you very much.

You know what I mean. You might do that, but when you actually see the dress on a public person, that must have been quite daunting and quite exciting. Yeah, really exciting. And I mean I've been a designer for all those years, so I've seen lots of people wearing my dresses when we were when I was with Junior at Don Diabe did a concert skirt for Kylie Molochilos.

So those moments never go going past without giving you a bit of a kick, you know. It's really exciting to see that and seeing people in the past that are walking down the street wearing my designs, you know, I love that feeling. It's great. But yeah, there's something really special.

Particularly last year, it was a real highlight because we'd worked, we'd been on the journey together and we kind of the design was created from her roses in her back garden. She wanted to stand out, not have the same dress as other people on the day because obviously she was opening it for the BBC. So it was just such a lovely journey to go on with her to get to the point where she was wearing that dress. And yeah, I've watched it with my mum and it was quite exciting.

And that must be quite like, that must be well, I suppose any business really the hardest thing that people find is getting those clients. Isn't it for you? Is it mainly contacts or I mean, how do you reach out to these people to get them to go, oh, okay, we're going to get Leanne to do that one. Yeah, I think it's so A lot of the a lot of the learning curve that I've been on with the business is that that marketing strategy.

You know, it's huge and obviously influencers, there's that whole route. But for a for a small bootstrap business, you know, there's only a certain amount of stuff you can give away. You need your clients to to be paying for their for their garments, and there's there's certainly A Yeah, there's like a give and take when people people wear your dresses. But it's it's a really it's a really interesting one and it's such a big part of the business that you know, you have to Yeah, you have to concentrate and just reach out and be brave.

Even a lot of the businesses that I collaborated with, I've just thought they probably will, they will, they want to talk to me. You know, you just have to try, don't you. And I think when you're in it on your own, and like I said, it's bootstrap self funded to this point, you just have to you have to be brave and you have to buy the bullet and you have to pick up the phone and you have to ask these people if they're going to do it, and you get certain you get different replies from people.

There's people that want things for nothing. There's people that are so generous with everything that they do. Angelica was certainly one of those issues with the total opposite. She was an amazing client.

And yeah, those those are the people. I think. You just find nice people along the way, don't you. That will help you.

Definitely, it's funny that marketing thing. I remember a story from Karen Millan. One day I got a phone call the Spice girls are in the Liverpool store and can they have these jumpers and what they can't afford one hundred quid jumper buy accounts team were like, we can't of them the jumpers. We'll let them have them because if they're photographed, we're in our jumper.

It's going to go bad and we're going to sell out. So when you're a small business, oh, it's so hard. Everyone wants a freebie. It's really hard.

And actually I've noticed this, and this is something I've been sort of talking to a lot of people in the industry about, is there's there's like two lanes of the fashion industry right now. There's the people that are their business model is the same business Ordel. It has always been. It's about growth on growth on growth, and they're going down that route and they're almost impossible to compete with because they give away everything to get people, you know, to get the visuals to be on Instagram.

And then you've got the people like my business, whereby it's people are making responsibly, trying to make sustainably. Obviously, margins are a lot tighter if you're doing that. If you're making in the UK, margins are a lot tighter all of these things. So it just feels I've been talking to our local p Claire and she was really really interesting to chat to about this, But it feels like somewhere there needs to be a prop up by government to help these small businesses because we're not in the same lane.

We're not the same businesses on. The big you know scheme of things. We're viewed and treated the same by the customer, but there needs to be some incentive, some help. It's like, if you know, Liberty London knocked on the door and wanted my pieces to be in there, the reality is I'd have to take a huge financial hit for that privilege, whereas other people have that within their budgets.

And that's you know, that's just considered the way it is. But it's not the same anymore. And if you really want to support you know, sustainable brands that are trying to bring business back into the UK economy by using these manufacturers that are amazing that are around and local. You know, our plan is to scale within our community.

That's within our five year plan to be able to open a small microfactory you know within the Oxyd area that could help the thought we could get you know, apprentices in from the local schools. You know, if you're thinking about building something within your community, there should be that support around and it's yeah, it's been. It's tough. So that brings me on to one of the questions in what do you think is one of the most challenging things you've had to overcome in starting the business.

I think it's that. I think what the initial bit was all very exciting. We kind of went through so even the you know, packaging everything, there's not been one bit that hasn't been considered to make sure we're sustainable and making sure that the environmental impact is our biggest consideration, to the point where so our dress is aligned in organic natural cotton. We make with natural cotton.

Lots of people make with polyester because that you know, there's less breakage. But actually, if you're making a dress out of an organic natural fiber and you're sewing it with polyester or you're using a polyester thread, you're creating these you know, impossibilities to be able to recycle it. So every part we use cotton tapes that are printed in West Wales. We use natural cotton thread.

We use organic cotton wild that's certified by GOTS, the Global Organic Textiles Standard. We also our printed fabric is also organic GOTTS fabric. We print using digital print in London in our London factory, which is all there's no water involved in the process. It's all run on sustainable energy.

The factory. You know, just every single last thing, all of our packaging is made in Sussex. It's all biodegradable. Our swing tickets, even the ribbons that we tie things with that made from ten cell, which is you know, a wooden pulp.

So just every single last detail that we've considered has created this brand. And we also work with a rec partner, the Circle in London, which are one of the biggest startups top fifty startups in the last year. We also work with Sojo for repair and alterations. So we've considered the longevity of our garments.

You know, at the point that possibly they might need an alteration, they want to make it shorter, or you know, something were to happen to it in the future, they can go and get their alterations done with this company that we've partnered with. So creating that circular brand. Doing all of that was obviously time consuming, but we did it all. We've now got to the point where brand awareness is growing and actually our biggest challenge that we're facing is to now get funding into the business.

And I've found, you know, hurdles being a woman over forty within this industry. Just trying to get that money into a business that is not based on a normal business model is not business as usual. It can't be if we're talking about sustainability because things you have to change. But you need you need government, you need these funding and there's a there's a funding gap for my demographics.

Specifically, if you're under thirty five, you're in with a chance of getting some really good help with some amazing things out there. The King's trust is brilliant, you know, but above that and in this section that I'm in, that's that's my biggest challenge. And there's everybody that I speak to is totally behind this and they want it to work. I've been chatting to Mary Porters that we've been in touch with her.

She's got one of our neck ties. She loves the whole concept of it. She's very supportive. I've been talking to Kirsty McGregor from Vogue Business.

She left there about a month ago, but she's working with now UK brands that are working in the sustainable sex of sex are trying to push things forward. So there's all these amazing people that are on board. But yeah, our biggest, biggest challenge now is to just get funding in, to get capital to say, look, we've got a we've got a viable, scalable business. I've been helped this last year by Innovate UK who are trying to get the business to a point of scaling, so so there is help out there.

But yeah, it's just there's a there's a. Gap for my certain demographic. That's a struggle. So that you're obviously running any business comes with challenges and you've given us some of yours, but it also comes with a rewarding aspects.

You mentioned some as we've been chatting so far, But is there anything turnding down to you that's like, no, that has to be the most rewarding thing for me. I think it's I think it's seeing people's faces when they try on our garments. I think it's seeing there's something that I call the bounce that people get in the mirror when they put on a dress that is totally flattering. You know, people, you can tell when someone is feeling it in that you know, in that dress.

And that's why I became a designer, because I love seeing people feel confident by you know, what they're wearing and everything. Every choice that people make every day you can you can you can make a choice and wear something and people know the impact it can have any day if you're not comfortable or you know, it doesn't do what you want it to do. So I think, yeah, creating really flattering, you know, silhouettes for people that they that they love, and I think it builds a confidence, doesn't it.

There's not And so my question is as a fashion person, yeah, you and obviously I sort of know a bit about it because of obviously Matthew, working in a fashion houses, you have to almost like plan next seasons before you even finished this season. So you're almost like planning a head what people are going to be wearing or what colors might be in fashion, But yours is a slightly different concept because you are more timeless exactly. Yeah, so your pieces you don't have to plan that sort of seasonal business thing, do you.

Know, And that in itself is challenge because people, customers are expectant of change, and there's everybody knows that newness brings an excitement, but it's it's trying to create something that, like I say, is timeless, it's something that you will love forever. And actually within. This one style that we've currently got that we also offer, we do all hand drawn prints basically, so so I can work with a client, I can create a hand drawn print based on anything that inspires them.

You know, we can even base it on broaches or something that they've nurtured in their garden and they've got this beautiful I don't know, rhododendron or something like that, or it can be a granny's wedding bouquet or some way of getting you know, these people involved in your wedding, or there's. You know, some reference to them. So it's it's a really interesting thing to be able to create new prints for people because they can obviously change. And the more all that we've set up is this dress can be created in any in any print.

The plan within the business over the next year, we've got another three styles that we want to add into the archive. So the ultimate goal is to have a baseline of silhouettes that people can then refabricate and change into whatever print, design, pattern fabrication that they would like to have. And the next three are quite different to this one. This style is very lady like, you know, she's that kind of genre.

The next address is called the Party and it's got a beautiful cape and you know, it's just very different. It's a very slim fitting kind of she dress, so it's yeah, and then we've got another one coming which is called the Laurelei, which is sort of very fifties screen siren type thing. And we end on the Whimsy, which is a very long, sort of nineteen thirties real showstopper red carpet number. So those are the silhouettes that we want to work up to.

But yeah, it's just getting people to think about things differently and just really treasure the things that they have. And like I say, I've got this dress that I pull out of my wardrobe whenever I want to feel that certain way. On our labels, it says we're here for you whenever you want to dress like a lourel eye lady. You know that's The first dress is called the Lady just because it kind of suits that, you know, Royal Ascot, Mother of the Bride or you know, it's kind of that, it's that sort of styling.

So I think it's just trying to get people to look at the model differently. We all know that people love a bit of newness, and we'll continue to add that into through different prints that we do. And I think, like you say about you having that dress, I think we've all got one. I think when you're saying it, I'm sitting there thinking, yeah, I know the exact dress that I've got in the Waterdrobe as well, and we've all got one dress that we might have had for like ten, fifteen, twenty years even.

Yeah, But when it is a timeless peace that they do, they are timeless because you could bring it out today and anyone would think you went out and bought it today, or you could have bringing it out fifteen years ago and anyone would think you just bought it brand new as well, exactly. And those timeless pieces, yes, we probably pay more for them than we might just go out and buy a normal dress for the high street, but like you say, they last forever. Yeah, and I think that's it, and that's so it's people are capable of thinking in that way.

It's just that the way, you know, over consumption has kind of led us down this road whereby it feels like if you don't get that dopamine hit of actually you sort of need to shop your own wardrobe and go, well, you know, oh that's kind of you know, you haven't worn that for a while. And I love that. And it's the same way the. Mentality of some people buy the same dress but in different colors.

You know, that's that people do that, don't they. If you love something, you find a silhouette or something that fits you is super flattering. Yes, I'd like that in you know, five different colors or so, it's just trying to tap into the psyche of just just looking at things slightly differently. I've just been on your Facebook page looking at something and the lady is on there and there's another one called the Shorty I found and yeah, so there's they look very classic dresses.

So yeah, this is for any of our listeners. If you go to laural A London on Facebook, all the all the dresses are there. So Champ Consultants is an award winning independent firm of highly experienced, qualified accountants and tax advisors based in providing a fully comprehensive range of accountancy and tax services. If you would like simple but creative answers to your tax problems, called Champ Consultants your business partner on one double eighty three three four ninety three hundred and.

Welcome back to your business now with me chantal and we're talking to Leanne from Laura Lai, London. I've said it right that time, haven't I thank you? And whilst we were off their I'm reminiscing like I'm in the expert on fashion industry, but of course I was just the accountant for. Caramels, exactly.

Like me saying that Matthew works at fashion houses. He just was always just like the finance director or whatever else at the various places, never really anything to do with fashion. As my remit was the build of the shops, paying the bill, pay the rent. So shocking truth.

You know, one part of the business didn't exist without the. Other part, exactly right. So if you want to do find out a bit more about what Leanne's business does, she is on Instagram and it is spelt l o r E l e I London limit head in full l I M I t D. And that's on Instagram and her website is l O r E l e I London dot com as well, so you can catch her all about that.

And also if you are thinking to yourself, were I really would love to get in contact with her, love her idea, love her concept and everything else, then please do? You can get in contact her via her Instagram and just send her a message as well. And I think it's on She's on Facebook as well, but probably Instagram or her website's the best place. So right, that's that's that bit done.

Get you you work from your studio at home. I believe it is, isn't it. So you don't really have a high street brand. You don't have like a shop like I'm having to go to blue Water tomorrow and so I might go walk down blue Water and see if you and then pop in.

So you don't have that sort of thing where people can see your products and stuff like that. So how do you get your products seen by people? What is it your what is what is it you do? How do you do it?

It's a really tricky conundrum actually because we're obviously direct to customer brand, so from the website you can go on there and order. We've got we've got all of the size specs, you know, all of those things is in depth detail of how you can measure yourself and work out how to buy the best garment. We can also meet for fittings locally, but in the main we concentrate on pop ups that we do every now and again. So yeah, if people really want to know about the brand, they want to try on address, then they can get in touch and we can arrange it a fitting somewhere that's convenient.

But yeah, So we've got a pop up coming up actually, which is at the Collective in Westroom on Thursday, the nineteenth of March. So Catherine runs that business. It's a really lovely shop that brings in local brands, some things that are handmade and just a really lovely edit of interiors and homewear and gifts. So we're doing a showcase event there between two and.

Eight on for those of our listeners that are local and know wester whereabout some Westroom So it's. The Pheasantry, which is basically opposite the opposite the Green So so yeah, it's called the Collective. It's a lovely little. Shop there and for those don't know, there's a big green in the middle with the Winston churchie.

But we'll be that day. That will be there that day and have all of the products there. We'll have all of the hand drawn prints and things that we do. And yeah, so if you want to come along.

And how often do you do your PLoP up? Do you sort of put pop ups all different locations or we. Did a couple before Christmas we went to the Bull in Limpsfield in the little grain store there. It's it's a really tricky thing and actually I've been talking to our local council about visibility because that's a massive you know, that's one of our challenges as a direct customer brand.

And it feels like, you know, to get it costs to sell, you know, everybody knows that. But when when you need to be able to wholesale and you can't because the margin is is too tight because you're making all of these improvements to how things are made and made ethically and responsibly and sustainably within the UK, that kind of that kind of puts you out of the wholesale market. So it's just we rely really heavily on collaborations with people. And that's why we found through networking and chatting to different people, you know, going on different things like this, that normally we end up having a really interesting chat with another business that is, you know, we're like minded, our ethos is aligne and that's a really great way that we can work.

We can work with people and just get gain that visibility that we desperately need. I work with an amazing milliner's over in Tunbridge Wells. She's got a shop on Mount Ephraim. It's called Meal Flur.

Jill Stratton is the is the milliner there. But we do lots of collaborations together. So I think just small business needs needs that it's the only way that we can possibly survive is by working together and helping each other out. And I've learned that more and more actually on this journey.

Well that seems quite a good way to sell dresses because everyone goes get a hat for that special occasion, like ascot already, and then if they see some of your dresses in the in the shop, there might be. A cross cell. The of course, that's totally it. We were in their windows for the last three weeks actually over at Tunbridge Wells.

So yeah, we kind of work together. I've done them a print and various things. We went to Ascot, which is where we actually launched the brand initially on the day that we went live, I say, launched the website went live. That's all that really happened on that day.

But we took our model and a really good friend of ours, who's Amanda actually who's print with hers, So we took them up to Ladies Day at Royal Ascot and itv kind of interviews. This seeks really exciting, you know, it's that cross collaboration, and I'm looking to work with sort of local vineyards, you know, just all all these different places hotels. I've been contacting local hotels to potentially do showcase events or little pop ups, you know, within receptions. I think you just have to you just have to be bold and to think about business differently.

When I'm basically hustling my way to get. In front of people, and it's almost like finding like where your customers are. So if your customers might be like a mother of the bride sort of thing, then it's like, okay, what if I did a pop up store at a wedding venue sort of thing, like I know the Surrey National Wedding shows, don't they. So it's almost it's thinking outside the box, isn't.

It really totally? And I think as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, that's what you have to do. I mean, that's the bit that excites me. I think anything outside your comfort zone is really where the magic happens, isn't it.

Always. It's so hard for small businesses to get their product into the big stores because the big stores they almost charge they call it a listing fee, but it's you're effectually renting space in their shops, so you have to pay them up front and then you sell them wholesale and they'll only pay let's say a third of the retail price. So you've got to be able to make a profit on just a third of the retail price because they've got all their overheads to cover. So you know, yes, you can sell lower volume full retail price, or you can sell a high volume, but the margin's just not there.

And it's that chicken and egg for the smaller brands right at the beginning. But if you crack that then great, But yeah, it's hard to get to that point. It is. It's a real it's an uphill battle.

And actually we were talking to Innovate UK and they describe it as the valley of death. I mean, you can do all of this, you can build this brand, you can create something amazing that everybody is behind, but without that investment, you know, that capital at that point to gain visibility. And I was on Amazing. I was on a webinar a couple of weeks ago with Andrew's Andy, who runs Nobody's Child, and he said that he got to the point where capital and reach he realized we're the same thing.

And I was like, of course they are, because you can't reach your customers without the capital, and you can't get capital without the reach. So that's the. Really tricky bit for small businesses like mine that are trying to do things differently and responsibly. And that's where it feels like there needs to be an injection of help from government or local councils to be able to push those kind of businesses forward for the greater good of your local communities.

And I think that we don't. Generally, people don't realize how many small businesses actually support the whole of the UK effectively, because we have like big organizations and big companies and whatever else, but those are very international and they have head offices all over the world and whatever else. But you have your local independent people who like yourself, work from home. But your plan is to expand and then have potentially that factory in Oxtead that they brings on more people, and I know you've got other plans as well.

So all of that sort of stuff is you want somebody to come and say you're really what you're doing is really really good, because in five years time you will be hopefully a different business to where you are now, employing lots of people and helping other people as well. But without that support and without that help, that might never happen as well. Exactly, it's really cool. And of course it's the case that if your child plays for the local football team or is involved in some local carnival or event, when you go looking for sponsors, you're going to ask the local businesses.

You're not going to ask Amazon. You've got to support those local businesses. Yeah, definitely, And actually they're all supporting each other because the help isn't there for them. So you know, there's this whole network of amazing people doing amazing things, but it's just I think it's recognition that's needed, and obviously a little bit of a prop or incentive to just help with visibility even you know, incentivizing bigger businesses allowing visibility for these small businesses.

You know, some kind of tax bike or something like that that came from somewhere higher that incentivizes these bigger brands to make space for for the ones that are doing it, you know, as I am, Yeah, definitely so yeah. So Frondoy point of view of running your own business, what would your advice be to somebody who's thinking I something that like yourself, who's got a real passion, maybe gave up work now wants to get back into it. And what would your advice to them be? You've got to love it.

You're really gonna love it. And all the disciplines because you're not just fashion design. And that is that is it. And I think you need to have done everything that I've done to this point.

You know, websites, legal, all of these things that are not my happy place, you know, financial is not my not my happy place, but you have to address them and if you're bootstrapping it and you're doing it self funded. To get to the point that we have, Yeah, you kind of have to be the master of everything to a certain point until you can get people in to fill in those gaps. And actually when I worked with Kate, she filled in a huge gap that I was missing working within UK manufactured because I always worked fully factored out of the Far East, so it was a very different process where in the UK CMT, so every every raw material has to be handed over, so obviously sourcing all of those things, which was not something I'd tell people I wanted rather than sourcing them myself.

So yeah, all of these different disciplines that I've gained to get to this point. You just have to love it. You have to have the passion that keeps you going. And I think, yeah, just enjoy the winds when they come now.

And then they do come as well, so it's not like and say, oh, you never end up with the win, but you do get the win as well, and and there are downs, definitely. It's a it's a total roller coaster. And I was always very cautious of enjoying, you know, the winds and making a fuss of those. But actually, what I've learned is you have to take those because inevitably that roller.

Coaster is going to take you a little down to her next week. And that's just the way it is. That's the way businesses, and you just have to ride the wave, as my mum says. But there's no looking back, though, is there.

I mean, you wouldn't change it. I wouldn't change it. And I always wanted to do it. And you know, whatever happens within this business, my plan is for it to become a heritage brand of the future.

That is my goal and still my aim. And yeah, and. I've loved doing and I've always wanted to do it. And I look at my kids looking at how I've created this business and I'm like, yeah, you know, that's it's really important to me that they've they've seen that journey.

And yeah, So what's what's next for the business now? Because you have a select number of dressers that you currently do, so is it just gradually increasing that range or men on the sports? Yeah, well, we can certainly go into ties. We've been doing ties, but I think that ultimately the aim is to scale the business responsibly.

We found a way to do that going into the interiors market doing bespoke designs for people. We can do wallpapers, We've got a small selection of luxury table in ins coming up soon and working in the manufacturer to get those sorted. So it's just trying to find ways that are more accessible for people to get into our brand. Obviously, our addresses are a high price point, and they're that for a reason.

You know, the works there, the ethics are there, is buying into a sort of conscious consumerism, and we want to be able to to for our brand to scale whereby people that want to, you know, want to take a piece of what we do, but a more accessible price. And I think we can potentially do that at now through a small range of interior projects and we can work bespoke and work with clients to create anything. Really we did an interiors project where we did wallpapers for a new build and you know, we can make furnishing fabrics for sofas, upholsterry.

You know, that's kind of what I want to go into because that feels like something I'm still creating beautiful things that people will treasure. It's there's that connection and community that you get from doing something that you know people are going to love, which is really important to me, and that's the side of the business that I want to that I want to concentrate on, and as I say, heritage brand of the future. So it's a heritage brand of the future. To your girls, are they very much into fashion as well?

They all like bits and bobs of it. My oldest is into photography, my middle ones a bookworm, and my youngest, yeah, she's got her fingers into everything. She likes creating, design, doing all sorts of stuff. So who knows where they'll end up, but it's I'm excited watching their journeys and them to see a bit of mine.

Isn't just definitely? And where did the name come from? Then? So Loureli London was actually lorell I was the It was the name of my final collection when I was at Under College of Fashion and it was a collection that was sort of looking at at the time, kind of a seductress.

Laurel Lee was the name of Marilyn Monroe and gentlemen preferred blondes and I always found I thought her dresses were amazing, but I found her fascinating as a woman as a human because she was obviously clearly very underestimated all through her career, and there was just levels of depth to her that people didn't really realize until after, you know, she'd gone. And so I don't know, there's just something about that women being underestimated that tapped into something I'm interested in.

So, yeah, that's where Laura came about. Because I always find it interesting, like when people decide, because, like yourself, you're wanting a name that can be there for years to come and in the future, you're not going to call it Leanne's Fashion House, so you want it to be something that's completely different. And I always find it really interesting when people say, well, how did you come up with that name? And what did you do?

And I always find it really really interesting. I just find that that's just one of those things I enjoy asking. So, is there anything that you think your listeners or anybody listening to this should know about you? When we've talked a lot about your sustainability, about what your beliefs are and everything else, But is there anything that we haven't touched on that we think because obviously we've only got a little bit left that we think somebody must know about you?

Because otherwise because like you say, your pieces are not We're not going to compare your prices against Next or Mark suspenses because we're not talking about those prizes. You are more of a bespoke fashion disease. Yeah, it's effectively a luxury luxury dress is exactly. So is there anything that we should be like telling people about you that we need to plug the ure?

I think that there's I think that I want to work in the future with them. I want to work with women who've kind of taken on that caring role within there, within their family, that had careers prior, that are desperately trying to get back into what they love because I think often going back into the work environment, it's really tricky because you've still got to work around family responsibilities. This is ultimately why I set up the brand, because I couldn't find what I needed to find elsewhere.

You know, they still need me. There's a lot going on, lots of logistics still even with you know, eighteen fifteen and eleven year old, there's lots that I'm expected to be doing and so yeah, I'm just really interested in finding those women locally that want to be able to work around you know those responsibilities, but have a knowledge or skill set in the sorts of things that might help my business. I'm totally up for talking to anyone that's around, yeah that's from a fashion background or any of those, any of those things, marketing, just things they whereby they could work, you know, project wise, help out with things, just you know, I'm totally flexible to work with women that find themselves in that space currently because it's a tricky one and it's a really tricky one to be able to get back into.

And why shouldn't people get back into industries that they love, you know, that they've got all this experience in and I think it's just finding space for those people to be able to do that. And you know, right, so I think probably we have come to the end of our chat. Thank you very much. Thank you.

As I said earlier on, I'll repeat it again. So you can check out Leanne's website and it's Laura Li London l O R E l eilndon dot com and on Instagram Laura Li London Limited. And I think it's the same on Facebook, is it not good? Brilliant?

So you can catch her there and obviously, as she said, she is around at her pop up which is in westrom on the nineteenth of March, and all the details on that are actually on her Instagram page, so you can find out more about that, where it is, what time, and everything else on her Instagram and do follow her. And as she said, if you are interested in finding out more or working or collaborating with Leanne, then please do get in contact with her on any of these things. I mean, as a bit business, we need to really really support each other.

And it's International Women's Day on the eighth of March, so this is our closest Friday to International Women's Day. So we need to be supporting all our women out there, especially those who want to try and give it their own shot, because it's it's not easy out there, but it's fun once you do it. It's fun once you do it. I can assure you, and so canly Am.

We're here to vouch for that. So that's it from me and Matthew this week. Got nothing else to say. Man, i'misce in the fashion industry.

You wouldn't know. Most of my friends would have no idea. So long ago, very very long ago, definitely was all right. That's it.

From Matthew and myself, wishing you an amazing weekend and an amazing day, and we look forward to catching up with you again very very soon. That's it from us and we'll see you soon. Thanks. What listen.

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