Balancing work and home life is never easy, but for business owner Tamsin Bradbury, it was her family who helped inspire her to launch her own brand, The Prairie People Co. Emily Moore reports
WITH three children under the age of five to look after, Tamsin Bradbury could be forgiven for having a less-than-perfectly-organised home, with toys strewn across various surfaces and batches of laundry constantly on the go.
However, just months after the birth of her third child, Florence, who turned one last week, Tamsin decided it was time to ‘Feng shui the house’.
And, as she started rearranging the furniture and decluttering, it was not only her living space which became clearer.
‘I had always wanted to run my own business, but I wasn’t entirely sure about the direction for that venture or what to call it,’ she said.
‘However, as I was clearing out the house, everything suddenly became clear in my mind and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.’
Accordingly, after a four-year career break to focus on bringing up her children – Olive (4), Bodhi (3) and Florence (1) – Tamsin threw herself not just back into work, with a part-time job in finance, but also into launching The Prairie People Co.
Having been brought up in The Wirral, Tamsin discovered a love of clothes from an early age, and it was this passion which shaped both her study and career aspirations.
‘As I grew older, that love of clothes developed into a love of fashion design, which led me to study the subject at the University of Central Lancashire, from where I graduated with a first-class honours degree,’ she explained.
It was while Tamsin was at university that her parents decided to return to Jersey where her mother had been born.
‘After graduating, I came to the Island to see them, intending just to stay for a short time,’ Tamsin said. ‘But then I met my now husband, Mark, and I’ve been here ever since.’
Drawing on her love of fashion, Tamsin’s early career was in retail, with a buying position at Axle, which later became Ashworth and Bird.
‘I spent many years working for the company and learnt a lot from the team about fashion and retail,’ she reflected.
‘While I focused predominantly on womenswear at that stage, there was a children’s side to the business, which was run by Lara Rogers, who now owns Little Star at Liberty Wharf.’
And the friendship which developed between Lara and Tamsin during those days has supported Tamsin with the launch of The Prairie People Co, a clothing brand designed for mums, children and babies.
‘The business is inspired by my own style and experiences as a busy mum of three, but also by the comments and feedback I’ve received from other parents,’ she explained.
‘While I tend to wear pieces which are quite colourful, eclectic and relaxed, the key is that I always wear something that makes me feel good because I strongly believe that if you feel good, you can be a better mum.
‘When I drop my children off at nursery, I often get compliments about my clothes from other parents, and I think that really comes down to dressing in a way which means that you still feel as you did before you had children.
‘Your clothes can really help you to retain that piece of you that makes you feel good, and that is what I’m trying to create through The Prairie People Co.
‘The offer is aimed at mums and children because that is the audience I know.
‘I understand what mums need, both for themselves and for their little ones, to suit their busy lifestyles, and I know that they want something different – but something which is practical and easy to look after – for their children to wear.’
With family central to Tamsin, she says that the business exemplifies these values.
‘The Prairie People Co is all about how things make you feel, so I want the brand to feel fun, contemporary and true to a modern-day prairie lifestyle,’ she said.
‘It’s all about feeling free and creating a place where you feel at home, safe, warm and comfortable.
‘That prairie lifestyle, which encapsulates that sense of being yourself, being relaxed in nature and spending time together with family, is everything that I want the brand to be.’
To bring this vision to life, Tamsin spent a lot of time identifying ‘ethical and sustainable’ suppliers from across the world and curating a collection of ‘mainly bright and colourful pieces in light and crisp cottons’, with her children’s range, which is available on her website and in Little Star, catering for those from six months to seven years. ‘That is the area I know, so it made sense to focus on that age range,’ she said.
‘As the business develops, I might look at extending the range for older children, but the market changes as they get older and start to form their own tastes and styles.’
And while the business is still very much in its infancy, having launched in May, Tamsin has several plans for its development.
‘The full collection is available on the website, while most of the children’s range is in Little Star and some of the womenswear is in Harriet and Rose,’ she said.
‘When I launched, I expected most of the sales to come through the website, so I’ve been surprised by how much business has come from the physical stores.
‘That has really demonstrated how much people still like to see clothes and feel the fabrics before choosing to shop from a particular brand.
‘As a result of that, I am keen to identify more stockists both in Jersey and Guernsey.
‘Further down the line, I would also love to set up a flagship store because I can see great potential for the brand to develop beyond clothing into several other areas of retail, including homewares and interiors.’
And, with her background in fashion design coming to the fore, it is no surprise that Tamsin is also keen to add some of her own pieces to the collection in the not-too-distant future.
‘Initially, I thought about going down the road of making my own clothes but that approach isn’t really scalable,’ she said.
‘However, I am definitely planning to design some pieces, which my suppliers can produce, and have already teamed up with a textile designer to develop a print, inspired by the Island, which I am in the process of having printed onto fabric ready to be made into a range of pieces.’
Between designing new pieces, sourcing her autumn collections and co-ordinating photo shoots in collaboration with Sophie Darwin, Tamsin admits that the past few months have been something of a whirlwind.
‘It’s been a great few months and the reaction has been amazing,’ she said.
‘In the beginning, it was quite hard to find the balance between looking after my children, returning to work and launching the business – and I couldn’t have done it without the incredible support from my parents and husband who have been my biggest cheerleaders and advisers – but because I love what I do, it doesn’t really feel like hard work.
‘There is a lot of juggling involved but it’s worth it and, as the children grow up, I hope that they will be proud of what I am doing and will take inspiration from it.
‘While there will always be challenges with running your own business, I would encourage anyone who has a really clear idea, and is confident in that idea, to go for it.
‘After all, if you’ve got a vision and can clearly see where you want to go, and how your brand can develop, that is half the battle.’
