Bridal Buyer catches up with the super-talented Sinclair Sellars of Maids To Measure after the brand’s successful display at White Gallery.
Together with my sister India, we felt that there were no British bridesmaid brands that offered anything different – so what started as a small idea, suddenly snowballed into what it is today! The retail market is very tough and we are proud that we are now the number one specialist British bridesmaid retailer.
We started the brand just supplying a friend’s wedding – so the brand started via word of mouth and then went crazy! We started very small, working from home and we now have a shop on the Kings Road in Chelsea, an account with John Lewis and Harvey Nichols, as well as all our independent stockists.
One of our turning points was getting investment from Touker Suleyman from BBC Dragons’ Den, this gave us the support and backing to transition into a much bigger operation.
Read More: Maids to Measure receives funding from BBC Dragon
I think Maids to Measure is classic but with a twist. Brides and stockists love the versatility and simplicity of our dresses.
Soulmaids is our latest collection and targets fashion-focused brides as well as destination weddings. The dresses are made from a light crepe fabric and have more split detailing.
Girls are becoming more and more aware of their individuality and so it’s harder to have a ‘one dress suits all’ approach. It’s becoming the norm that the bride picks the colour and the girls pick their dresses.
Every group of girls is so different; there is no set pattern of what brides want when it comes to bridesmaids, hence we always try to add to our popular collections, rather than discontinue.
Read More: A Q&A with Maids to Measure
Roughly two, but if we feel we’re missing something, this can increase. We make all our own dresses, so we can move quickly.
We now have over 30 stockists in the UK. We love having individual relationships with each and it has been wonderful growing together. It’s been a real journey with many of them and it is special supporting each other as bridal fashion evolves.
Communication is key – and this is not always easy when you are a super busy, small business! We really want to start doing more trunk shows and road trips, so we can get a better understanding of our stockists needs and their clients’ requirements.
One of the reasons our stockists love working with us, is we hold a small amount of stock on all our styles, so dresses can be delivered in two to three days and exchanges can be easily made. We work in a simple way and don’t overcomplicate things.
Read More: Five Suppliers Share their Relationships with Stockists
We showed our new Soulmaids collection but also gave a sneak peek of our Autumn collections which has plenty of sleeves that people loved. Our new Ivy dress is a real winner – it is so easy to wear and looks incredible on. It comes in all our colours and is light chiffon with jersey lining, making it easy to fit.
We would love to continue what we’re doing! We have some new designs and colours coming out soon, so watch this space!
For more information about White Gallery 2019 take a look at your testimonials from the event.