Wanderlust for life
Loft & Daughter is based in North Yorkshire but works with cooperatives in India to create beautiful jewellery and loungewear made from saris. Katherine Busby talks to founder Katie Sheehan.
IT was Katie Sheehan’s wanderlust and her love affair with India that inspired her to found Loft & Daughter, her beautiful fashion and lifestyle brand based just outside Malton. Katie’s first ambition was to be a contemporary dancer and she studied at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Once graduated, she went travelling but just a couple of months into her year-long adventure she was struck down with a mysterious illness. After a series of tests she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
The diagnosis and the symptoms were devastating and Katie had to move home, back to her parents, in Yorkshire. After a year of recovery, dancing was no longer an option and a new ambition was needed.
“I had been so focused on dance and, while after a year at my mum and dad’s I was physically a lot stronger, mentally I was pretty shattered. I needed a new path and focus. Fashion was always a passion and so I decided to make it my career,” she said.
“I researched and read anything I could find and absorbed myself in the industry. I got an entry level job at Republic and threw everything into it.”
After a couple of years the wanderlust was too strong to ignore and Katie moved to Australia to further her career and see more of the world.
“I was working for a large womenswear retailer who were very much in the fast fashion part of the industry. My work would take me to India regularly, where I fell in love with the culture and the people. I would say I learned how I didn’t want to do things, where fashion could support people living in India, and where it didn’t.”
After five years Katie and her now husband, Cathal, decided to take a year off together and travel the world. She knew she was ready to start her own brand, and that a slower, more meaningful and sustainable business was calling her.
At the end of their travels the pair got engaged and tied the knot and Katie went back to India to research partners for her new business.
“At this point I wasn’t completely clear what I was going to design or sell but I knew that the key to how I wanted the business to run was going to be building strong relationships with people and organisations I could trust.
“Fashion was supposed to be the focus but I met our jewellery supplier and they were just so passionate and uplifting and dedicated to alleviating poverty through ethical practices. They are also certified by the World Fair Trade Organisation. I drew our Triangle necklace and they got it straightaway. This was our first piece and is still a piece we sell.
“It was on another trip to India that the name came to me. I wanted us to be the antithesis of fast fashion, a collection of beautiful pieces that you enjoy and pass on.