After the birth of her son, Guy, Donna Baker found that, unlike buying clothes for her daughter, Hannah, as Guy grew older it became increasingly difficult to find the sort of clothes she wanted him to wear. “The colours were often so dull and the designs very street or gang orientated, that I often returned home empty-handed or, worse, with an item I didn’t really like,” she says.

Despite having no previous fashion or textile experience, when her husband Mark decided to sell his funeral services business in 2007, Baker took the opportunity to use the family savings to fund the start-up of her online boys’ clothing company, Guy, named after her son.

Having found a designer, Baker aimed to get an autumn/winter collection of clothing for boys to market by the end of summer 2007, but at the 11th hour decided to wait and launch a new collection the following spring.

The delay stretched the Bakers financially, but the extra time allowed them to iron out any design and supply issues with their collection, refine the feel of their website and have a professionally produced catalogue printed to complement the company’s internet launch.

“We had put too much into Guy to risk it on something we weren’t entirely happy with and we were pleased that we did, as our spring collection is something we are particularly proud of,” she says.

Having bought a bespoke mailing list and posted 37,000 catalogues, Guy officially launched in March. The response was instant, albeit the first order was from her brother. Since then the volume of orders has grown, with Baker now dispatching 120-140 items a week with one order in six as a result of repeat business.

However, the “boys only” tag is to be short lived, with Baker planning a range for girls in the autumn collection in response to customer demand.

www.guycollection.co.uk

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