Retro apron designer broadens horizons with expansion
A MIDLANDS textile designer who creates retro-style aprons using her own hand-drawn fabric designs is expanding, selling her quirky pinnies abroad, designing a new collection and even adding dresses to her list of wares.
Gaena Martin launched The SundayGirl Company from her home in Kidderminster nearly three years ago and has been working with the Department for International Trade (DIT) team in Worcestershire.
Nearly half of the company’s sales are now being shipped overseas – mainly to online customers but also via stockists in Europe and a distributor in New Zealand.
Gaena said: “If you’ve got really unusual designs, people will be looking for the next design you’re doing. We’ve got some really loyal customers both in this country and abroad. We’ve got some absolutely great customers in Canada who literally, as soon as we bring out another design, will pick them up straight away.
“It’s really exciting, it feels a bit surreal as well. You’re just drawing one day, then you see your designs on a fabric and then it’s on the other side of the world – it’s just bizarre.”
Each of Gaena’s designs are hand-drawn, screen printed onto fabric made from its raw state, cut to measure and sewn before being sold online. It can take up to six weeks before Gaena sees her designs materialise into the form of an apron.
As well as women’s aprons, oven mitts, tea towels and hob pads, The SundayGirl company sells children’s pinnies in various designs and sizes.
Gaena has also started designing and sampling “classic dresses with quirky prints” as part of the company’s expansion.
Though Gaena has always planned to use her textile background to get into dress design, she wanted to first find a niche way to get herself known.
She said: “It’s quite difficult to start a brand and get your name out there, so I tried to find a different angle and we went for more of a niche product with our aprons.
“I really saw it as a route to getting into dress design and I thought it would be more about getting our name known, but it’s really taken off – especially in the last year with our exporting.”
The dress collection will be keeping with the retro 1950s theme and is set to launch next spring. This side of Christmas, however, customers can look forward to three new fabrics from the designer – poppies, a British iconic design and a retro Christmas apron.
Due to increasing demand for Gaena’s designs, The SundayGirl Company – which got its name from Gaena’s childhood nickname, SundayGirl – has plans to move into a warehouse early next year.
