‘I FEEL SO PROUD WHEN I SEE MY PRODUCT’
Julia Minchin, 53, lives in Somerset, with her husband, Jeremy, 53, and has three children, Tom, 20, Olly, 18, and Sophie, 15.
Like most new parents, when I found out I was expecting my first baby in 1997, I filled my house with a long list of ‘essentials’. I vividly remember my first trip out with Tom. It was so tricky trying to navigate my heavy pram. As Tom got older, I stopped relying on the pushchair, and started carrying him on my hip. It was quicker and easier, but it meant I’d get shooting pains in my back if I stood for too long with his weight on my side.
So when a friend came to stay at the end of 1998, and bought this unusual hip belt with a foam ledge attached to the side where you could sit your baby, I was fascinated. ‘Where did you get that?’ I asked her. ‘From a shop in Germany,’ she said. ‘But I’m sure they’ve got something similar on the high street here.’
Only, I couldn’t find one. That’s when it hit me – I could create my own version of the hip seat.
With the help of a friend who worked in manufacturing, we drew up some designs and approached a manufacturer’s workshop to discuss making it. In January 1999, I applied for a loan, set up a website and chose the name Hippychick for my company. I then approached local retailers to see if they’d be interested in supplying my product. But it wasn’t until I went to my first baby show in August 1999, that the Hippychick Hip Seat really took off. That weekend, we sold out of our entire supply of 300 hip belts.
Twenty years on, I still feel a swell of pride when I see my product in the high street shops. Who’d have thought becoming a mum would be the best thing to happen to my career!
hippychick.com
‘i’d get pains in my back’