Off with mumsy
North Yorkshire brand Kit & Kaboodal has found success by offering women exactly what they want. Stephanie Smith talks to founder Helen Marsden.
What happens when your heart says “rock chick” but your head says “something nice and comfy, preferably with an elasticated waist”? Received wisdom has it that when some women, many women, get to what is euphemistically referred to as “a certain age”, they lose their way regarding fashion and personal style.
Step forward Kit & Kaboodal, a North Yorkshire fashion brand offering clothes that are striking and edgy, with oodles of attitude, yet easy, comfortable and flattering – ideal for those who refuse to step into the shadows of sartorial style, just because they are no longer as young or as narrow as they once were.
Kit & Kaboodal predominantly sells the Made in Italy brand. “Some items are made exclusively for us by Made in Italy to my design and template,” says Helen Marsden, founder and co-director, along with her husband, John Marsden, and daughters Laura Hogarth and Naomi Baines.
“We also manufacture some of our own items such as the best-selling Windsor net petticoat.” Helen herself shows how to style this on the Kit & Kaboodal website, wearing it under a swingy loose-fitting
are perfect for online shopping, and have the kind of edgy details you don’t find on the high street,” adds Helen. “Lots of our customers say our clothes have given them a new lease of life because they are not as young and slim as they used to be, but they still don’t want to dress safe and mumsy. Our clothes give them comfort and attitude.
“Our linen dresses are second-to-none – and I particularly love the Lanton linen dress which we have carried for years and is always a summer sellout.”
Customers are, in the main, aged 35 to 80, and from across the UK, as well as France, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and the US.
Part of the continuing success is down to the Kit & Kaboodal community via the Facebook members’ club, which has 1,600 participants, many posting pictures of themselves wearing the clothes in their own way. “In our Facebook Live videos, we interact every week with our customers,” adds Helen.
Daughters Laura and Naomi initially
It’s very much a four-way company. We all have our different parts to play.
joined the family firm to help with the website. “It’s very much a four-way company. We all have our different parts to play,” says Helen. Including the directors, there are 10 staff in Boroughbridge, plus the backing of an add-on technical team. Earlier this year retail veteran Richard Jackson, Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire and formerly of Centaur Clothes and Nidd Vale Motors, joined as chairman.
Helen says: “Having continued to grow year on year, even through lockdown, our next step will be to larger premises combining our two existing warehouses and creating a state-of-the art video and photography studio.”
Lockdown, it seems, has not proved to be a hindrance to growth. Helen says: “When it first struck, like everybody, we thought, well, that’s it, we’re going to lose the business. But then we started to realise, if you think about it, if everybody is going to be at home, they are going to need loungewear and comfortable clothes.”
■ www.kitandkaboodal.co.uk
1: Grey slim-fit single-breasted suit jacket, £90, at River Island. / 2: Ted Baker Oxal check blazer, £329, at Ted Baker and John Lewis. / 3: Ted Baker Clncere straight navy classic-fit chinos, £62, in sale at Ted Baker and John Lewis. / 4: John Lewis & Partners silk tie, £30, at John Lewis. / 5: Striped IK Collections bespoke suit jacket and trousers, £695, for a two-piece.