12 Reasons To Shop A ‘Small Business’ Like Ours!

I am often asked what inspired me to set up my business and I am always happy to share the milestones in our twenty-plus year history.

So what’s so good about our business? Here are my thoughts about what differentiates us from other childrenswear businesses out there:

 

• Our customers love that there is a real person behind the name of our business and I am excited to come to work each day to drive my company with passion and conviction. Many companies are named after their founder/owner, but not many turn up every day to look after every small detail, from design & fabric choices, to team-building, forecasting and of course, sales!

 

• My business is hugely personal to me and my family. So is my team with whom I work in close collaboration. We are a small tightly-knit team, and I have been working with many of my employees for over 10 years so we have become as close as family. We do not have a ‘Board of Directors’ or anonymous ‘Shareholders’ to answer to. We do not ‘design by committee’ and we are not required to compromise or water-down innovative and business-savvy ideas and innovation

• I enjoy speaking to our customers and collaborators, and knowing our business inside-and-out can talk sincerely about my motivation, from the early days when I set up the business, cutting patterns and making first-samples myself, to store openings, international expansion, royal and celebrity customers and plans for the future. I speak from personal experience, and can see that it is more sincere to ‘speak from the heart’

 

• Business is not just made up of successful mile-stones. There is also the hard slog, the long hours, the ‘learn by experience’ and overcoming adversity which is the part that makes entrepreneurs more adaptable, savvy, nimble-footed and wise. Real people like to see that business owners are real people too!

 

• We are appreciated for being an award-winning company and I am immensely proud of our achievements. But this is hard-work too!  My team and I have a pet phrase, ‘is this award-winning?’ If the answer is no, we need to try harder, find another way, be innovative, creative or otherwise persistent and determined enough to keep our standards as high as we possibly can. We know others are watching!

 

• Our international reputation, and being a multi award-winning company means that others view us as a bigger company than we actually are. I am conscious that we are as nimble and adaptable as a small company, but we have big ideas and high standards so we can stand alongside some of the bigger players in our field. I like that we can be trend-setting and innovative, and also stand confidentally on a global stage. I have always set our sights high, and don’t often accept no for an answer!

 

• Diana Vreeland said ‘ideas are like toadstools, the more you pick the more they grow’ and I love the creative energy whereby ‘ideas generate new ideas’ – that creative spark really does exist, and our company is small and agile enough to be able to act on new ideas if we think they will be of benefit. I love that we can think of an idea and quickly put it into action

 

• We are proud to action changes for sustainability and choose eco-friendly options. Last season we sourced biodegradable packaging and implemented it’s use in our next collection so we were able to make the switch from single-use plastic to an option that is better for the environment in a matter of months. It is very satisfying to be able to adapt so quickly and make the necessary changes for greener choices in a fast-changing world

 

• We live in times of uncertainty and there are many difficulties around us. One of my greatest pleasures working with babies and children is that we see joy around us every day. We do our best to spread this joy, creating uplifting designs, feel-good colours and using soft ‘huggable’ fabrics. As one of our customers in our Marylebone shop said recently, as she stood stock-still in front of one of our displays, ‘everything about what I see makes me happy!’

 

• Working in childrenswear means that we share the happy moments in the lives of the families that shop with us. As we all know, every parent wants the best for their child, and our customers are many and varied. We strive to give the best customer service that we can, and are always pleased to admire photos of little ones proudly wearing our designs

 

• Over the years we have been most fortunate to have many celebrity and royal customers. Of course, I love to see photos in the press of little ones wearing our clothes, but we also pride ourselves on looking after all our customers, whoever they are. Each one of our dear customers are special to us, unique and individual and we strive to ensure that the babies and children in our clothes are well dressed, happy and comfortable

 

• It is the little things that matter, and in an increasingly ‘anonymous’ world, small businesses really do look after their customers to keep them coming back for more. I hope you enjoy shopping with us, and will continue to support us. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for your loyalty!

Rachel