'Boss the look and love the planet!' - A Q&A with Hannah Prowse
- up2157863
- May 1, 2023
- 2 min read
Hannah Prowse is the founder of HannahSouthsea, a fashion brand that specialises in reworking and up-working clothing giving them a new lease of life. Hannah discusses her business and the importance of sustainability in today’s fashion market.
What motivated you to start a business and to keep going?
I have always made or altered my own clothes. Even in the school playground, my younger brother used to sell skirts I made from sari fabrics. I literally sold one, made two more, sold those, made four more etc and built it up. There are weeks when lack of sales can be quite crushing (Jan and Feb this year - lesson learned!). But when it’s good, Depop comes through, a great market and good feedback from customers, then nothing beats it!
What has been the challenge of running a business, especially during the cost of living crisis?
People think that anyone running a small business is loaded! And that sewing is as fast in real life as people’s reels. Good sewing takes ages, let alone all the prep, and unpicking. Because we are so used to fast fashion prices in this country, not everyone wants to pay realistic prices for the time that has gone into making.
The cost of living crisis is a very real thing, I’m shopping more sensibly myself etc but, people will adapt. Things will settle down again, everything goes in cycles - or at least, that’s what I tell myself to keep going!
How challenging was it starting your business?
Doing what I do today, as an actual business, is only possible for me through the love and support of my husband. I’ve started with very little capital, but have built up a good stock base. With the financial support of my husband, I have been able to give up work and concentrate full time on HannahSouthsea, putting most of the money back into the business.
Do you have any advice for those wishing to start their own clothing business?
Just do it! Trust your intuition and try everything that comes along. And be prepared to be skint.
What makes your clothing enticing for present and future buyers?
The fast fashion industry has to be challenged. If it were a country, fast fashion would be the third most polluting in the world after China and the USA.
Each statement piece is a one-off individual reworked item, that you can wear with pride, guilt-free! I’m not happy until I’ve added to every available cuff, pocket, lining etc - if there’s an opportunity to rework, I’m gonna take it! I won’t put anything out that I wouldn’t wear myself, both in design and quality.
And, I love to mix the pretty with the edgy. Most of my designs can and are worn by all genders and all ages!
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