Member Article

Entrepreneurial female fashionistas to launch new womenswear brand from Sunderland

Two aspiring female fashion entrepreneurs have come together to launch What About This, a new online womenswear brand.

The business will go live later this month on April 26th where an initial collection of 40 items will be available via the www.whataboutthis.co.uk website.

The brainchild of Lyndsay Lowes, 35, and Amy Goodall, 24, (pictured together below) the duo currently work together at Sunderland-based CiA Training, which provides print and digital resources to the educational sector.

The ladies, both graduates of Sunderland University, say they quickly realised they shared a mutual passion and flair for online womenswear.

“The business idea came when they identified a gap in the fast fashion market for affordable womenswear aimed at 24-35 year olds who still like to keep up to date with latest styles and trends but don’t feel they fit with a lot of online brands in the market”, explains Amy.

“It was a chance conversation between us that we realised we both had the same ambition to do this and that sparked the idea to take it further.”

The enterprising duo initially dedicated a day to brainstorming ideas and set each other areas to research, with the eventual goal of bringing their ideas to life.

Amy, who hails from a fashion and retail background, says she has always dreamed about creating an online womenswear website.

Combined with Lyndsay’s business acumen, the pair are building the new venture whilst balancing the demands of working for CiA.

“What About This is a brand which sets out to empower and inspire women, whilst fitting in with the fast fashion ethos and current trends”, says Amy.

“Our brand has a really strong focus on customer service, and we’re very set on having ‘faces’ and ‘voices’ behind our brand. We want to be personal and relatable.”

Amy continued: “We don’t feel the world of fast fashion has a large focus on the customer service side of things. We’d like to create a community rather than just another fashion website.”

In what is a highly competitive marketplace, the pair believe their hard work and passion will help them to make their mark on the industry, whilst their savvy use of social media has already proved effective in raising brand awareness.

Amy added: “We are already receiving positive feedback from our pre-launch social campaigns so that’s really encouraging as we approach the launch.”

What About This will launch with a capsule collection of 40 items with the website going live on April 26.