A mother and daughter Wales have turned down high street interest in their successful independent fashion business. Lettie and Sally Pattinson are the brains behind The Design Studio or TDS - where they create unique and "one of a kind" jackets.
Each jacket is made as uniquely as possible, and has proven to be an enormously popular signature of theirs. Celebrities such as model Suki Waterhouse and Game of Thrones' Sophie Turner have both been pictured wearing the pairs jackets.
According to the duo from Hawarden, Flintshire, the secret to their success has been "staying true" to themselves and not being enticed by big corporations at the expense of selling their soul. Daughter Lettie also believes it is down to their appeal of being a mother and daughter team who hand design everything themselves.
Sally, who was previously a fashion design lecturer, started making cardigans for Lettie while she was at university. Soon the envy of all her friends, Lettie quickly realised that her mums homemade cardie had huge potential.
Read more: The Porthcawl designer who is taking London and Paris by storm with her handbags made from fish
Speaking to North Wales Live, Lettie said: "People would pull me to one side after lectures, and even stop me in the streets to ask about THE cardigan. People couldn’t believe it when I told them “my mum made it!” - from this, we decided to join forces. Combining our love of fashion and unique skill sets, Sally being able to design and make garments, and myself using photography and marketing skills to create TDS.
"The demand became so big for our designs that it all happened very quickly and organically! I was still at university so found it quite challenging to balance a degree and a business, but I always had in my head that I wanted to pursue TDS as I was so proud of all we had achieved, and wanted it to continue. Luckily Mum had decided to retire from lecturing, but she never wanted to give up her world of sewing and design. So it was a perfect career avenue for the both of us."
Soon, Lettie's friends weren't the only ones taking notice of the unique clothes. High street retailers saw the potential in The Design Studio, which led to Lettie and Sally getting approached with offers to expand their brand.
"There have been many times where we could have been stocked in Selfridges but we have always loved the way we work, in small exclusive collections which is what our customers love about us too," Lettie explained.
"I think our work relationship, the dynamic has been a great success. People love that we are mother and daughter, based in north Wales who handmake everything. It makes our designs that extra bit special as they are really made with love!"
As well as staying true to themselves, sustainability is another important factor to the family business. Over recent years, fast fashion has blighted small independent businesses and has come under fire for their cheap and easy means of mass production, which TDS could have easily fell victim to this commodity, but Lettie feels this is not the answer.
Lettie said: "We like to use Abakhan fabrics, based in north Wales and there’s one in Liverpool too. We love how everything is locally sourced and we are able to hand select each piece of fabric. As we’ve grown we have definitely increased some of our prices. We did introduce a TDS LUXE range where the materials were a lot more expensive and the design is more intricate.
"Fast fashion really is not the solution, but it’s not the consumers issue - I am all for people buying a product to feel confident not feel on trend and to have something which costs £20, as opposed to £200 from the runway, for the same look. The problem is the cheap materials used, affecting climate change and of course the extremely unfair and poorly paid wages. Sustainable fashion costs a higher price point due to how the garments are made and of course the ethical wages that are paid."
You can follow TDS on Instagram here or visit their online site by following this link.
