SEAMSTRESS BUILDS MATURE FASHIONS EMPIRE
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A NETWORK of mobile shops selling clothes to mature women has been set up in the UK and Ireland.
Clothes by Pauline May, Britain’s only brand dedicated to mature fashions, are sold in care homes, direct to people’s homes, via an international mail order catalogue business – and now through a new online shop at www.paulinemay.com
Twenty-six franchisees are holding fashion parties at thousands of nursing homes and residential across England, Scotland and now in Dublin. Expansion plans for the all UK-made range include opening a further 20 franchises by autumn and another 75 next year.
Pauline May is the success story of West Yorkshire designer Pauline Sargeant, 55, who created the company in 1991 to give a service to the “forgotten people.”
The ranges, for women of all sizes, with 80 per cent of ladieswear manufactured in-house, also include specialist outfits for wheelchair-users, stroke patients and other people with special needs, along with footwear and accessories. All come with a 100 per cent money-back guarantee.
Some of the garments feature a back yoke and wrap-over panel at the rear to help with dressing. A new range of “easy access” clothing for people who have had strokes or have special needs is soon to be launched.
Pauline said: “I had for a long time realised that clothes for older people were not as easy to find as readily available younger fashions, and that elderly or infirm people have difficulty in getting to the shops to buy them
“They were the forgotten people and I recognised that there was a whole new market place out there – that we could provide a service that would make a real difference to people’s lives.
“Over the years, we have received countless letters from customers saying: ‘At last someone is doing something for us.’ That makes us feel good, that we are doing things right.
“We’ve come from garage to world market.”