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It’s the kids’ beachwear label Kate picks for Prince George, and it all started poolside . . .
With six children between them and a shared love of holidays, Emily Cohen and Sabrina Naggar had plenty of experience making sure their children were protected from the sun. that, in fact, would be the germ of their business idea.
So it’s fitting that their path to success came not through a networking meeting in the City, but a friendly poolside chat after they were brought together by their toddler sons.
the two London-based mums are the founders of Sunuva, the fashionable children’s swimwear and beachwear brand worn by Prince George, who, dressed in a stripey t-shirt of theirs for his official third birthday portrait in 2016, put the brand firmly on the map.
Crucially, their swimwear and suntops are not only appealing, but functional, made from a special material that means children’s delicate skin can’t burn through the fabric.
today, we are sitting in Emily and Sabrina’s studio in London’s Maida Vale, surrounded by rails of hot pink UV protection vests, printed cotton kaftans, jungle swim shorts and pom pom-adorned beach bags.
the pair met while on holiday in israel in May 2007, after their then two- year- old sons recognised each other from nursery.
‘My son Ethan and Sabrina’s son Joshi were in the baby pool and they were chatting like they knew each other.’ Eventually, the children explained to their mothers that: ‘We go to Mrs Wolf’ — their shared nursery.
And that wasn’t all the two women had in common. they discovered they lived on the same street in North London.
BACK home, the friendship continued. At that point in their lives, both women were looking for a new challenge.
Emily, 48, a mother of two, who is married to a former banker and entrepreneur, Roy, had recently sold Pout, the successful make-up brand she had founded, to lingerie giant Victoria’s Secret.
Meanwhile, Sabrina, 47, a trained accountant married to Johnny, also an entrepreneur, had had ‘four children in four years’.
She had given up her costume jewellery business because it involved too much travel while she was caring for her young family, and was managing a small portfolio of properties. When she met Emily, she was champing at the bit to become more engaged in work. But what to do?
the eureka moment came when, a few months after they first met, Emily was away in Greece. her son was clad in a garish Mickey Mouse ‘rash vest’ — a protective Lycra swimming top made of tightly knitted fabric that blocks almost 100 per cent of the sun’s rays. Looking at his outfit, she saw a gap in the market. She texted Sabrina: ‘ how about creating a chic children’s swimwear brand?’
Giving themselves six months to research what was available, they confirmed that while protective swim and beachwear was increasingly in demand as parents became more aware of the risks of sun exposure, it tended to be available only in lurid colours and emblazoned with kids film and tV characters.
they decided to offer something different. they came up with the name Sunuva, a play on the words ‘sun’ and ‘UVA’.
From her jewellery business days, Sabrina knew clothing designer Nicole Farhi, who recommended a swimwear factory in tunisia.
Armed with Sabrina’s patchy A-level italian, the pair flew to italy to visit its sales office.
‘We were trying to describe a rash vest and they had no idea what we were talking about,’ says Emily. ‘the italians just don’t put their kids in rash vests. But they decided to give us a whirl.’
Meanwhile, they had secured a cotton factory in india for the dresses, kaftans and t-shirts they also planned to make alongside their protective swimwear.
they each invested £30,000 of their own money into the business and set about designing their first 15-item collection, each piece priced at £30 to £38.
Next, two friends hosted a party to showcase the Sunuva collection. ‘We brought two order books in case someone wanted to take an order,’ says Sabrina. ‘ But there were so many, we ended up taking orders on napkins and scraps of paper.’
‘We did £10,000 in two hours,’ adds Emily. ‘So we knew we were on to something.’
Unbeknown to them, one of the women there was a friend of the children’s clothing buyer at harrods. the buyer called them to arrange a meeting and harrods placed an order on the spot.
Soon, the women were able to hire their first employee — an expert in wholesale — and move their base out of Emily’s house into a tiny office in Primrose hill. ‘it could just about accommodate three people,’ laughs Emily.
in the first few years, both women were raising the company and their young children. today, Sabrina’s children (three boys and a girl) range in age from 12 to 16, while Emily’s son and daughter are 13 and 11 respectively.
But in the early days, they had to adapt their schedules to family routines. ‘i could not go to the office at 9am and come home at 6pm,’ says Sabrina. ‘ We had to work around the school run.’
they were eligible for a government scheme, which encourages investment in earlystage businesses through tax relief. through this, they raised £1 million from private investors to build their team, fund their stock and develop as an e-commerce business.
the next step came, fittingly enough, from a holiday.
Emily was in Puglia when she spotted some children decked out head-to-toe in Sunuva. the father turned out to be former Manchester United and Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon. Emily persuaded him to join Sunuva as chairman.
the company grew to ten people and that was the status quo until 2015. ‘it was too much,’ recalls Emily. ‘We were trying to build the company, design a collection, be creative and manage a team.’
More importantly, they were not yet profitable, so the women made the decision to hire a managing director, which would allow them to focus on designing.
THEN came Prince George’s endorsement. ‘it catapulted us into international awareness,’ says Emily, who heard the news from a journalist.
‘She said: “is Prince George wearing a Sunuva t- shirt?” Obviously the first thing i did was grab my phone and go to dailymail.co.uk.’
Sure enough, there was a massive picture of Prince George, in his official third birthday pictures, in one of their t-shirts.
the company received 700 orders within 48 hours. No surprise, then, that they turned profitable last year. they are on track to have a turnover of £5 million this year.
these days, with three annual collections, the range extends to close to 300 items and continues to expand. Expect to see the new matching father-and-son trunks and coordinating mother-and-daughter kaftans on glamorous beaches this year.
A look for the whole Cambridge family, perhaps?