myself to promote the brand and they were weighing me down. I wanted to design a liquid silicone version that I would incorporate into a bra.
I convinced Jack to give me the contact details of the chemist who had designed the Moniques. I was straight-talking – I told Jack that I’d still buy his breast enhancers but that I needed to earn more money, that I needed more products and I had this idea for a new bra. We had become really good friends and I’d earned Jack a lot of money in the space of a year so he was happy to help me out.
I’d gone from finding the store that had sold them to finding the guy that distributed them to finding the guy who had invented them – in a laboratory in Germany. I was now about to find out what it was like to design my own bra.
By now I’d also gone from the desk in my bedroom to my very first office, thanks to a grant I’d won from the Prince’s Trust. I was back in a rough area of Glasgow – Hollybrook Place, near Govanhill – but it was a start, and it was a five-minute drive from our house. The grant of £5,000 got me my first computer and some furniture for the office, a mezzanine over two floors. There were desks at the top and I stored all the boxes at the bottom. It was like a mini-warehouse down there.
After I spoke to the German scientist over the phone, he sent me sacks of silicone liquid gel to look at and over time refined the composition to my specifications. It took about a year to get the gel right and then I had to design the gel into the bra. I cut up old bras and sewed the gel sacks into the fabric but it wasn’t giving me much of a polished look. So what did I do? I applied for the job as the distributor for Elle Lingerie & Nightwear for the UK.
‘You’re nuts, you’re mad,’ Michael said. I guess he was enjoying the calm after the storm in our relationship and didn’t want us to do anything that might rock the boat. But I had to rock it if I wanted to take things to another level. I knew that I needed to find out more about manufacturing to make my invention a success. A job at Elle would open doors because getting distribution rights would mean I could get to know the manufacturers personally. And besides, I needed a job like this to fund my project.
‘No, I’m not mad. We need more turnover, we need to investigate more options,’ I reasoned.
Tons of people went for the Elle job but, bloody hell, I got it. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t mess around. I was quick to ask the bosses if I could visit the factories that were making their underwear. I explained my interest as ‘research’. The bosses said, ‘Okay, you can go and visit them.’
You beauty, I thought. I was in. I was going to find out exactly who was right to make my bra. Michael came along – he liked the trips! We flew out to Portugal and met up with factory owners. I kept asking, asking and asking, because if you don’t ask, you don’t get. I was constantly building relationships. I was networking like hell – networking at events staged for women in business. And all the while I was making incredible business for Elle. I was selling their bras and nightwear everywhere. I got them the best sales they had ever recorded in the UK. Again, I did above and beyond my job description – my role was just to sell rather than do their marketing or their PR but I helped with the photo shoots and the brochures.
I became really friendly with the owners of one particular factory in the north of Portugal. It wasn’t one of the largest factories, but it was big enough with lots of sewing machines and cutting rooms and all the rest of it. I turned up with my silicone gels and showed them what I wanted. My fingers came alive as I sketched the bra. It was the same magical feeling I’d had when I’d designed my wedding dress nearly five years earlier. I told them the shape I wanted. I picked out the microfibre fabric I wanted. It was good having Michael with me because I didn’t
I convinced Jack to give me the contact details of the chemist who had designed the Moniques. I was straight-talking – I told Jack that I’d still buy his breast enhancers but that I needed to earn more money, that I needed more products and I had this idea for a new bra. We had become really good friends and I’d earned Jack a lot of money in the space of a year so he was happy to help me out.
I’d gone from finding the store that had sold them to finding the guy that distributed them to finding the guy who had invented them – in a laboratory in Germany. I was now about to find out what it was like to design my own bra.
By now I’d also gone from the desk in my bedroom to my very first office, thanks to a grant I’d won from the Prince’s Trust. I was back in a rough area of Glasgow – Hollybrook Place, near Govanhill – but it was a start, and it was a five-minute drive from our house. The grant of £5,000 got me my first computer and some furniture for the office, a mezzanine over two floors. There were desks at the top and I stored all the boxes at the bottom. It was like a mini-warehouse down there.
After I spoke to the German scientist over the phone, he sent me sacks of silicone liquid gel to look at and over time refined the composition to my specifications. It took about a year to get the gel right and then I had to design the gel into the bra. I cut up old bras and sewed the gel sacks into the fabric but it wasn’t giving me much of a polished look. So what did I do? I applied for the job as the distributor for Elle Lingerie & Nightwear for the UK.
‘You’re nuts, you’re mad,’ Michael said. I guess he was enjoying the calm after the storm in our relationship and didn’t want us to do anything that might rock the boat. But I had to rock it if I wanted to take things to another level. I knew that I needed to find out more about manufacturing to make my invention a success. A job at Elle would open doors because getting distribution rights would mean I could get to know the manufacturers personally. And besides, I needed a job like this to fund my project.
‘No, I’m not mad. We need more turnover, we need to investigate more options,’ I reasoned.
Tons of people went for the Elle job but, bloody hell, I got it. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t mess around. I was quick to ask the bosses if I could visit the factories that were making their underwear. I explained my interest as ‘research’. The bosses said, ‘Okay, you can go and visit them.’
You beauty, I thought. I was in. I was going to find out exactly who was right to make my bra. Michael came along – he liked the trips! We flew out to Portugal and met up with factory owners. I kept asking, asking and asking, because if you don’t ask, you don’t get. I was constantly building relationships. I was networking like hell – networking at events staged for women in business. And all the while I was making incredible business for Elle. I was selling their bras and nightwear everywhere. I got them the best sales they had ever recorded in the UK. Again, I did above and beyond my job description – my role was just to sell rather than do their marketing or their PR but I helped with the photo shoots and the brochures.
I became really friendly with the owners of one particular factory in the north of Portugal. It wasn’t one of the largest factories, but it was big enough with lots of sewing machines and cutting rooms and all the rest of it. I turned up with my silicone gels and showed them what I wanted. My fingers came alive as I sketched the bra. It was the same magical feeling I’d had when I’d designed my wedding dress nearly five years earlier. I told them the shape I wanted. I picked out the microfibre fabric I wanted. It was good having Michael with me because I didn’t
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