Starting a small business is never easy, and mine kinda happened without planning or intention. When Liam was little the boys clothing sections in high street stores was just awful in my opinion, everything was dinosaur or character and bright bold colours. One night when I was laying awake in bed I thought to myself you know what, you have a degree in fashion why not use it and start making his outfits and this is where it all began.
I spent hours online looking for the perfect patterns and fabrics, dug out my sewing machine and started making him cute little outfits. A few friends at the time had asked where I’d bought them and couldn’t believe I’d made them myself. A few of them started asking me to make things for their little ones and I began posting my creations online. At the time I’d made an Instagram page where I would post pictures of the bits I was making and Liam wearing them just for me to be able to look back and remember them all. Well next thing I knew I was getting messages from strangers asking me if I sold any of the clothes I made and could they buy what he was wearing etc.
At this point I was kinda like okay well I have some spare material here, sure I can make a few bits and bobs. Without even realising I was building a following of people that all wanted to buy my designs. Next thing I knew I was ordering extra fabric cause I knew I’d have people asking for items the same as Liams and at this point I had gained customers that were purchasing off me regularly. I could no longer keep up on my little sewing machine so I bought myself an over locker to help me get things made quicker.
Fast forward a few months and I had close to 2000 followers on my little Instagram page and couldn’t keep up with how many messages i was getting, so at this point I thought to myself you know what this would be easier if I had a website for people to order on rather than all these messages back and forth so I created my first online store. It was at this point I realised that I had created my own business without even meaning to. I absolutely loved what I was doing and believed that I could make a real go of it so that’s what I did.
Since then all those years ago when Liam was just a little 1 year old we have grown more than I ever imagined we could. I say we at this point as Brian is also now employed by Talibri full time and well trained on the sewing machines. It took over the dining room so we built a studio, we outgrew the studio so we extended it and we have now outgrown it again and are looking for a unit. We’ve also moved on to industrial machines which are big old bulky things.
To this day I still absolutely love what I do, and I can’t thank everyone that has supported me along the way enough. We still hand make every single item we sell and couldn’t be prouder of our quality and attention to detail. I am excited to see what the future holds for our little brand, and even though this cost of living in scary and uncertain for businesses I believe we have what it takes to make it out the other side. COVID didn’t beat us and I am determined to be writing another blog in a couple of years time on how we made it through a pandemic and then a recession.