SISTERS’ FASHION SUCCESS STORY
BRAND STARTED IN GARDEN SHED NOW WORTH MILLIONS:
TWO sisters who started their fashion brand in a garden shed at home now employ 15 staff and hit turnover of £3m last year.
Alice, 25, and Maisie Jones, 22, started Sisters & Seekers in their shed in Hope, Flintshire, in 2017 – fuelled by £2,000 of savings from selling vintage clothes on eBay and Depop on the weekends.
Prior to starting the company, Alice was working as a junior design engineer and starting a degree in architecture design and technology, while Maisie was finishing sixth form and embarking on her degree in business management.
They started to create “athleisure”style clothing aimed at 18 to 30-yearolds and every year since the launch they’ve had to relocate to larger premises – growing to a team of 15 at a site in Llay near Wrexham.
They said: “We lived and breathed the business 24/7.
“Up until the end of year two, we were consistently working at least 16-hour days to make sure we were perfecting all areas as best as we could, especially as we didn’t start to take any staff on until after our first birthday, so workload was heavy.
“The team we have now built work tirelessly and are as passionate about the brand and seeing it succeed as we are, and we truly couldn’t ask for anything better than that.
“That’s definitely been the key to our continued growth, plus the ongoing support of our loyal customers.”
As well as selling online they have also had goods stocked at select Topshop stores. During the whole of 2020, Sisters & Seekers saw huge success and on Black Friday they hit the total sales target for the day (£100k) within one hour of launch at midnight.
Alice said: “It was so unexpected and overwhelming, we couldn’t
believe our eyes as the orders came in, everyone thought it was a website glitch!”
Revenue has doubled over the year to £3m and they have had remarkable success on social media, with their Instagram following now standing at over 250,000. They also created a menswear “brother brand” called Brother + Kin at the height of the pandemic.
They said: “There has been a lot of proud and pivotal moments on the company’s journey so far, from moving out of the garden shed to the first premises, hiring the first employee, hitting milestones on social media accounts and smashing financial targets as a team.
“These have all been equally emotional and memorable highlights.”
“We have some big things lined up for 2021 so watch this space,” they added.