Violinist finds new string to bow – thanks to her pooches
Start-up dog clothing firm thriving
AVIOLINIST who lost all her work when the pandemic struck has now found a new string to her bow – thanks to her beloved pet dogs.
When Covid struck, Charlotte Moseley saw all her concerts and gigs for the next two years cancelled and thought her career had come to an end.
But her fortunes changed when one of her two adored dogs jumped into a pond, got muddy and ruined the little coat he was wearing.
Instead of going out and buying him a new one, she decided to make one herself – and that was when the classical violinist pivoted and found herself embarking on a lucrative new career.
She set up Hugo and Ted – named after her two pooches – which makes clothes for dogs and has just completed her 1,000th order, with hundreds more flooding in every day. Ms Moseley, aged 28, from Redditch, is a former leader of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s youth wing and trained at the highlyregarded Chathams music school in Manchester and then the Royal College of Music in London.
After graduating in 2018, she was enjoying a successful fledgling career, with concerts and solo gigs booked right through until 2022, including with the Worcester-based English Symphony Orchestra. But then the pandemic struck and her world was turned upside down.
Maybe it’s just a phase, but at the moment people can’t enough of these things. Charlotte Moseley
“I did my last concert on March 17 and then everything was cancelled in just one day I lost all my work for the next six months,” she said.
“At the time I felt disbelief, but I carried on with my practising as I thought it would soon be over, but then days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months.”
But then last October, fate intervened in the form of one of her two long-haired miniature dachshunds, Teddy.
“Teddy fell into a muddy pond and completely ruined his jumper, so I thought right, rather than buy a new one I’ll make one,” she said.
“I already had the set-up because, as a hobby, I’d been making concert clothes for classical musicians.
“I made Teddy a new coat, thought it was cute, so put a picture of him wearing it on my Facebook page and people started messaging me, asking me to make them one.”
She accepted all the requests and was soon making coats, jumpers and other clothes for dogs. She then decided to go one step further and start selling them on the online store Etsy and notched up 150 orders.
“It just expanded from there – I had lots of people messaging asking if I made things other than dog
clothes,” she said. “My dad then suggested I launch it as a limited company and a legal brand. I didn’t do any advertising, it was just word of mouth, and it went from 150 sales in December to completing my 1,000th order in February. Maybe it’s just a phase, but at the moment people can’t enough of these things.”
Business is booming so much that Ms Moseley has had to rent units in Bordesley Hall Farm Barns, Alvechurch, and employs three local seamstresses who lost their work during the pandemic.
Although Ms Moseley initially started making coats because she struggled to find clothes which fitted her two dogs’ long sausage bodies, she now makes clothes for dogs of all shapes and sizes.
Customers send in detailed measurements of their pooch, choose the
colour and design, and then order it all online from the website.
Prices start at £20 for a puppy coat, £36 for a quilted coat for a larger dog and £25 for a polo neck jumper.
Ms Moseley is completely selftaught – her only qualifications are a GCSE in textiles. She even built her own website by following YouTube videos. With lockdown restrictions easing and the likely return of concerts, Ms Moseley is uncertain about her own future.
“I would like to get back to being a violinist in the future, but maybe be a bit more choosy about what work I do,” she said. “I’m loving running Hugo and Ted and while it’s going so well, it would be crazy not to make the most of that. And I’d like to give money back from the business to artists and musicians who are struggling during these times.”