Enterprising beauticians start
TWO Derby beauticians have set up their own clothing brand to keep going after lockdown forced their salon to temporarily close.
Alicia Clough and Lizzie Cawdron decided to create a new fashion business after their usual place of work, Lunula Nails and Beauty in Derwent Business Centre, had to shut its doors for the third lockdown.
The 27-year-olds launched Project Positivity at the start of the year, aiming to establish a line of clothing that uses sustainable resources to deliver important, aspirational messages.
Alicia admitted that finding out their salon would be closed once again at the end of December had rounded off a very challenging year for the pair. She said: “It was really difficult financially. We’re a team of eight and we all relied on the salon for our livelihoods.
“But it was mentally draining too. We love our clients and what we do, so it was tough not to be able to do that.
“We completely understand why each lockdown was brought in, but it ers has been a lack of interaction with those who use the store.
“I’ve been here for five years and Julie is in her 42nd year of business, so we definitely miss our customers who we’ve grown very close to,” she said.
“We really enjoy going to work and we haven’t been able to do that properly. We love the hustle and bustle and we know a lot of our regulars very well, so we’ve missed the community feel of the place.
“We also usually do alterations for independent businesses in Derby and we have long-standing relationships with many of them, so we miss working with those too.”
Despite the obstacles put in place by Covid, Leren and Julie have managed to keep Friargare Alterations strong by adapting to the new challenges.
They have used their spare time to freshen up the shop for when customers can return, and they have develAN always felt like the carpet had been snatched from under our feet. It’s definitely been tough.”
Rather than letting this get them down, Alicia and Lizzie tried to stay motivated, using their extra time to push on with new ideas.
After sending each other uplifting messages and gifts, the pair realised there was a lack of clothing with