‘I’m continuing Yorkshire’s great textiles tradition’
Claire gelder, 45, is married with two children. she lives in Barnsley, south Yorkshire, and is the founder of Wool Couture, a company selling chunky wool spun and dyed in the UK as well as products and kits.
✢ THE IDEA i worked as a transformation director for the nhs for 15 years, then an opportunity came to take redundancy. i was feeling burnt out and wanted to do something less pressured. i felt quite panicked when i left, though, and wondered if i’d done the right thing. i’ve always knitted from being a child – i find it very therapeutic – so i turned to that to keep me calm. the result, however, was hundreds of scarves, hats and blankets that i just didn’t know what to do with! a friend suggested i sold them on the craft portal etsy. they went like hot cakes, which was a bit of a revelation. i started to wonder if this was something i could do for a living. i loved making things in really chunky wool, mainly because the results are so quick. customers on etsy got in touch and wanted to know where i sourced my wool, big wooden needles and patterns – the answer was a local mill and i made the needles – so i started making up kits with knitting patterns to sell as well.
✢ WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
things went a bit mad and i could hardly keep up with demand. then one day i got emails from both John lewis and urban outfitters – completely by coincidence – asking if they could sell my products. i thought it was a windup! i couldn’t believe both of these amazing retailers wanted to buy from my little business. i decided i had to become a proper business and not just sell on etsy. i called it Wool couture, because i wanted it to feel upmarket and stylish.
✢ BREAKTHROUGH
MOMENT hearing from John lewis. they invited me to london to show them the products. i had serious imposter syndrome, turning up with my suitcase full of knitting and wool. i thought they’d just laugh and tell me they were joking. i told them i was still working out of my kitchen at that stage and they’d have to treat me gently, but they were hugely supportive.
✢ STEEPEST LEARNING
CURVE i went on Dragons’ Den two years ago to ask for £50,000 worth of funding. touker suleyman and tej lalvani invested in exchange for 30% of the business. they were fantastic and have really boosted me, but during the due diligence process – where they check that your business is in order – i found my accountants had made mistakes and actually made the business look less profitable than it was. i learned that even when you outsource things like finance, you must understand all the figures.
✢ WHERE I AM NOW i have six full-time staff and export all over the world. We’ve just converted a large pub into our new premises in brierley, barnsley, where we also have a shop and café. We’re careful that all our wool is processed in yorkshire and our knitting needles are also crafted here. w&h
BUSINESS IN FIGURES start-up costs: £20,500 Comprising… stock: £8,000
Woodcutting: £2,000
Website: £500
Postage and packing: £6,000 sundries: £4,000
Current turnover: £680,000 Website: woolcouturecompany.com