Shropshire clothes business proves online hit

Just 12 months later her business, which involves designing clothes for mums and children, has taken off and she now boasts over 6,000 followers on Instagram and has started to sell overseas.

The 38-year-old, who sells products such sweatshirts, dungarees and hoodies through her business, stripe&wild, has now set her sights on the brand becoming a household name.

Sarah, who lives in Shifnal, said: “I design and make bold, unisex children’s clothing and ‘mama merch’ using fun monochrome vinyls which are printed for me by a local Telford company.

“I started this venture last year on my second maternity leave, worrying about returning to work with escalating childcare costs and also wanting to do a little something for myself that didn’t necessarily involve the children all the time. It was also fuelled by a love of dressing my kids in cool, original and affordable clothes.

“I wanted to create something that was gender neutral and makes a statement – mixing in my love of leopard and stripes – and so stripe&wild was born.”

Sarah previously spent 12 years in London working for Topshop and Debenhams in women’s fashion.

“Having over 12 years experience in the fashion and buying world for some of the UK’s major retailers, I design, create and make everything myself, working at home around naptimes, bedtimes and wine times,” she said.

“One of our most popular products are our ‘supermama’ slogan T-shirts and sweatshirts. This design was inspired by my own experience of being a new mum to young children and often finding myself worrying about whether I was doing a good job, and the struggles of the difficult days when it seems like nothing it going right. Supermama is meant to empower and remind us mums that we are doing a fantastic job just being a mum and to celebrate the small wins as well as the big.”

With her products set to be stocked in a shop for the first time in May, Sarah said she would love to eventually own her own store one day. “Stripe&wild is growing at a phenomenal rate – we’ve got over 6,000 followers on Instagram and gaining more every day. We’re also participating in major hand-made small business events and featuring our products in pop-up shops across the county.

“We have recently launched worldwide shipping and have already taken orders outside the UK.

“As I started off doing this as a bit of extra pocket money whilst on maternity leave, I’d love to see the business grow over the next few years to a place where I can take more of a regular wage. Seeing my product on the rails would be a dream and maybe even having my own little shop one day.” when the kids are a bit older and at school!

“I hope I can inspire other mums or anyone really with a dream or an idea to go for it because it is absolutely possible. Yes it’s hard work, I juggle three kids under five, running a household and the business on top, but being my own boss means I can work around the children and still have plenty of quality time with them whilst they’re so young,” she added.

For more details visit stripeandwild.com