MY LIGHT BULB MOMENT
ALI HALL, 42, is the co-founder of fashion brand Sosandar. She lives in Cheshire with her six-year-old daughter. WHEN I was 18 I got a job in a bank. It was the best thing I ever did. They gave me a massive pile of papers and asked me to input the data into a spreadsheet and I thought, I cannot do this for the rest of my life!
After three days, I handed in my notice and went to university to do an English degree, before starting as a journalist — which was what I really wanted to do. I’d learned to follow my dreams.
I got my first magazine editor job at 25, before having my daughter six years ago. Coming back to work, I didn’t want to suddenly dress in a ‘mumsy’ way, but I struggled to find things that weren’t really short, or anything that had a sleeve.
I remember seeing a dress and thinking, I’ve found one that’s a little bit longer. But there was no back to it, so I couldn’t wear a bra. I realised that the fashion industry is obsessed with millennials, and there was a gap for clothes for women who’d graduated from younger brands, but were still fashionable and sexy.
At that time, I was editing Look, the fashion magazine I’d launched, working with the publishing director, Julie Lavington. We were asked by retailers to design clothing under the magazine’s name. I knew then that we could do this ourselves.
Julie and I went for dinner and by the time we’d left the restaurant we’d got a to-do list to launch our own clothing line, targeting women in their mid-30s and over. We spoke to investors and found we had a choice of who to pick — we’d run a business before, so I think that helped.
We packed in our jobs, put our houses on the market and came back to my home town, Wilmslow in Cheshire. Here we’ve our own photography studios, and everything is designed in-house.
Our focus is online, but one of the game-changers for us has been producing glossy brochures. Our customers absolutely love them. As soon as we send them out, we know the sales of the items featured will be phenomenal.
We’ve been trading for about a year and are valued at around £18 million.
The feedback we’ve had is amazing — women tell us: ‘At last there’s a brand that’s talking to me — not just to 29-year-olds.’