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'Straight from the horses mouth' is a recently new aspect to The Girl in Green , allowing you to find out all about your favourite brands in an interview style blog with the owners/staff themselves. You can't get much more personal than that right? The brains behind the business often get lost and never get to share who they are , what their visions are or how their business was born. This blog gives them a chance in the spotlight and I can't wait to share more interviews with you!
Today we have the lovely Touch of Tweed with us who are a gorgeous British clothing brand, combining the coast with the country! Sound good? Launching this Sunday is the pre order of a super snuggly and stunning sweatshirt so don't miss out! (links below).
Tell me a little bit more about yourself and your business:
There are two faces to Touch of Tweed, myself (Catherine) and my partner James. I grew up in a small Kentish village around country pursuits, and tweed and James grew up on the South coast around water sports and bright colours. James and I met a number of years ago in sunny Somerset, but started dating in 2013 and spotted a niche in the market to create a new brand that combined both our upbringings and styles, staying true to who we are.
Touch of Tweed clothing is dedicated to developing clean line country and coastal wear that reflects everything we live for in providing quality British made garments. Understated detailing and Great British craftsmanship run through all our products, whether it’s a subtle hint of tweed on the cuff of a sweatshirt, or a bolder colour inside the hood of a cosy hoody, all our garments are designed and made with love, care and attention to embrace all your country and coastal needs.
What made you start your business?
We wanted something different and spotted a gap in the market that we feel hasn’t been filled. We have created our very first designs; one male and one female sweatshirt that combines the fashions of both country and coast and are high quality, comfortable, durable and made sustainablity right here in the UK.
Our mission is to create that go to item in your wardrobe. Somewhere in everyone’s wardrobe there’s an item of clothing, you know the one, you've owned it for years, but it just keeps on giving... We are that go to brand, perfect for long country walks, a day on the beach, an evening BBQ, or indeed any occasion - made to last and journey with you. We are unique, fresh and made in Britain, we are Touch of Tweed.
Favourite moment of owning a business so far:
I don’t really know where to start with this one, there have been some great moments, from networking and meeting amazing people, to starting our social media campaign and forming close virtual relations with other small brands and bloggers.
We have been headhunted by a few bloggers, which feels great. When you are a small business you assume that you won’t necessary be noticed, but those followers who take the time to send you a message to say they like your ethos, or can’t wait to see your products, really do mean the world to us and make it all worthwhile.
But I think the greatest moment to date has to be making the journey to Sheffield (just last week) to get our first set of factory made samples. We couldn’t have been any more nervous and felt physically sick. Seeing all your hard work, late nights and determination made into real life garments was amazing though. Our fantastic filmmaker, @Barbster360, and photographer, @holliebdavey, made the journey with us and to see them come into their own and capture our pieces brought it all to life. I don’t mind sharing this with you, but James and I were so pleased that it had all come together that we took a minute to just breathe and embraced each other on the stairs of the factory hallway! We can’t thank either of them enough for their hard work and help. A huge thank is also owed to all the team at Hall UK Manufacturing for making the samples and helping to bring our dreams to life.
Have you faced a lot of hurdles in getting to where you are today? And how did you overcome them?
The biggest hurdles for us have been capital, confidence and time. Time, due to both James and I having full time jobs outside of Touch of Tweed, so there are lots of late nights and weekends spent working. Confidence, this is an interesting one, you know your brand inside out and why you did it, but having to explain/ express that to someone else, face to face or into a camera (as we found out in our Indiegogo filming), is not easy, but we are learning more and building confidence every day.
Capital has been hard; we unfortunately learnt a very hard lesson and lost quite a bit of money by naively trusting someone to help us, but they let us down big time. Lessons were learnt and we are back fighting and will be launching our Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign on Sunday 3rd December. This gives you the chance to pre-order your very own sweatshirt, our first original design. You can help us take our brand to production and there are special discounts available, but only for the early birds, so be quick!
How are you different from others?
We will be honest and say that you could buy sweatshirts from other brands, but our sweatshirts are not mass-produced overseas, they are made right here in the UK. We are proud that we can trace the steps our garments take from design to production. Our sweatshirts were designed by us and made by Hall UK Manufacturing in Sheffield… Nicola created the pattern, John cut the fabric and Bev and Emma sewed them together.
We also pride ourselves in quality and that is why our sweatshirts are made from 100% organic cotton with brushed-back fleece lining to keep you warm and comfortable. The tweed is supplied by a leading heritage tweed manufacturer based here in the UK, who supply the most beautifully coloured tweeds. Our garments use small elements of refreshingly coloured country-style tweed combined with comfortable and versatile coastal designs, giving you a unique and fresh garment that you can be proud to wear.
We also seek to look after the environment and monitor our carbon footprint, not only through manufacturing in the UK, but by actively seeking to package the garments in recyclable materials or materials that are made from recycled elements. It drives us nuts every time we do a food shop and see fruit and veg in endless wraps of plastic that cannot be recycled. It is important for brands to do what they can for the environment, as the carbon footprint of garments made overseas can be huge! Here at Touch of Tweed we care about our Planet and we will do all we can to promote sustainability and recycling.
What is your biggest dream, and why:
We would love to become the next go to brand, the brand people know, love and trust and come to time and time again for themselves and others. We would love to expand and offer a range of designs – let us know if there is anything you would like to see in the range. We are starting with sweatshirts but will be moving to cosy jumpers and practical hoodies. However the ultimate goal is to sell through our own website and travel around the markets and fayres with our own Touch of Tweed VW camper (we are both obsessed with VW campers!) and black labrador (we are also obsessed by dogs!).
Do you have a few words for anyone who may be thinking of setting up a business?
Yes – you don’t know unless you try. This is exactly where we are at this current time, we don’t know if our brand will be successful, we can hope, wish and pray as much as we like. We can network, socialise and do what we can, but you never know and you really won’t know unless you give it your best shot.
What has been your favourite moment of 2017 so far?
This is a tough one! There have been lots, if you mean the business, then collecting the samples and having them filmed and photographed. If you mean personal, then we climbed Snowdon in July on the best of clear days and the views were just stunning, we have had numerous trips to Cornwall to see our close friends and they are always great times. Glastonbury festival for the third year in a row, where the sun shone pretty much the whole time and perhaps the wing walk I did for charity in May – I really am not the best flyer and I can’t say I enjoyed it, but I raised vital funds for a charity very close to my heart and felt a huge sense of achievement, once my legs stopped shaking that is!
If you like the sound of Touch of Tweed please give us a like on Facebook, a follow on Instagram(@touchoftweed), or if you would like to support our journey and be a part of it, please help us get to production and sign up to our Indiegogo campaign.
Thank you so much. Touch of Tweed xx
Thank you for reading and thank you so much for this amazing contribution Touch of Tweed! I can't wait for the launch and Im glad all the readers now have a chance to find out more about you!
Meg xxx