A fashion designer has launched her own range of organic cotton babywear and childrenswear featuring her own hand-designed prints.
Rachel Pritchard came up with the idea for the baby grows and t-shirts – for children up to the age of seven or eight – to give mums and dads a gift for their kids that they can cherish for years to come.
Parents can have their child’s name printed on them and as well as using organic material, the clothes are sourced from ethical, Fair Wear suppliers in India.
The mum-of-three from the village of Osbaston, in rural west Leicestershire, also designs personalised wall art for kids’ bedrooms featuring images of rockets, dragons, fairies and even aliens.
Rachel has 25 years experience as a designer, including 20 years at the Next head office in Enderby, Leicestershire.
After leaving Next she said she found it hard to fit part-time work around childcare, so decided to go it alone with her own brand which she called Luna & Folly.
She said: “The clothes and the wall art were launched at the start of September.
“I started drawing at home, doing stuff that I think kids are interested in – after 25 years in the business it’s nothing to do with fashion really because I just wanted to do childhood things.
“It’s all very wholesome and inspired by things like Hans Christian Andersen.
“The clothes are Fair Wear and totally sustainable.”
Rachel said she had invested around £15,000 in the start-up and has a website at www.lunaandfolly.co.uk. She also sells her products through word-of-mouth and is stocking them at two boutiques - The Growing Tree in Market Harborough and Just Fair Trade in Leicester.
She said: “I try to use local businesses, so have a local guy printing the posters for me in Market Bosworth.
“I spent a lot of time deciding how to print the garments. Initially I did go to a few local t-shirt printers but they were unable to produce the original watercolour artworks well – they were interested in quick production and what they produced looked too flat.
“Eventually I came around to the idea that the only way to replicate the original artworks was to buy a top-of-the-range direct-to-garment printer that has a very high print resolution and has a ‘print slow’ setting that releases more ink per inch which means it could replicate the watercolour detail exactly, creating a really beautiful print.
“It is that quality that makes them unique.
“Everything I do is on-demand, because it is all personalised and I can hand print the child’s name on each item.
“We are really creating keepsakes rather than things for a throw-away society.
“These are things a parent would want to keep in their drawer for ever.
“They are beautiful gifts that I want to be meaningful and, hopefully, treasured.
Rachel said she makes a donation from each sale to the national Children’s HIV Association which helps children, young people and families living with HIV to become “healthier, happier and more in control of their own futures”.
She said: “I heard an article about the charity on the radio a couple of years ago and some stories just stay with you so we wanted them to be a part of our story from the beginning.
“Although we are a tiny brand we do want to make a big difference, and we do this through the choices we make regarding using sustainable organic cotton, Fair Wear, water-based inks, recycled packaging and by the nature of our product being a keepsake.”
She said the wall art sells for between £10-£20, while the clothing costs £18-£20.
