Our company story
The Early Days 1983 - 1993
We started the company after Judy arrived at Vivienne’s flat for supper one night having spent an exhausting day looking for a pair of maternity jeans without success.
All Judy wanted to buy was the sort of jeans that she always wore but adapted for her expanding bump. To her horror the only pair she found was made from stiff, unwashed denim with what can only be described as a corset style waist.
Having chatted about it over supper we got together the following weekend to explore London to see whether there really was a gap in the market for good value maternity clothes that reflected the fashions of the time. Apart from Mothercare, which sold tent like dresses with white collars, there were a few very frumpy boutiques which sold very expensive and very old fashioned clothes.
We decided to do something about it and Blooming Marvellous was born.
At the time Judy was a documentary Director for Thames Television and Vivienne was a Director of an advertising agency. Financially, we both had to continue with these careers while we set up the business. Judy used her researching skills to find a pattern cutter, a small factory and some fabric suppliers. Vivienne used her marketing skills to produce a small brochure and place some advertising.
The company took off slowly and we would meet after work every day at Judy’s house to either send out brochures or fulfil the small trickle of orders we received in the post every day.
A year later we decided we needed some help and enlisted the services of a small distribution centre in Surrey. When that company decided to move away from the area, four of the women who worked for them approached us and said they would like to set up our own Blooming Marvellous warehouse if we wanted them to. We leapt at the opportunity and we took on our first property - a 1200sq.ft warehouse on a business park in Chessington, Surrey. Jan Milan was one of those women and we’re honoured to say that she is still with us 21 years later.
Over the next ten years we moved several times in the same business park and the size of the catalogue grew. In 1986 we started to design childrenswear too and took on a London Head Office. This was also the year that we both gave up our other jobs and threw ourselves into Blooming Marvellous full time.
In 1989 we won the prestigious ‘Women Mean Business’ Award, a national competition set up to encourage women to start and grow their own businesses.
By 1993 we had managed to squeeze in having six children between us and in 1996 we started a nursery essentials section which sells innovative and award winning baby products.
The Retail Years: 1993 – present
In 1993 we had a PA who worked for us both but who also owned a small shop in a housing estate in Cockfosters. She persuaded us that for the very small investment of £5000 per annum she would sell our maternity clothes. We were delighted with the sales and were amazed to turnover £200,000 in our first year!
As a result, we decided to open more shops and have averaged one a year since then and now have 14 around the country.
The Internet: 2000 – present
At the turn of the millennium we launched the Blooming Marvellous website which now accounts for approximately 33% of all our home shopping sales and has won many awards including Pregnancy & Birth Awards 2006 'best maternity fashion mail order company' & 'best company for maternity occasion wear'.
Mini Marvellous: 2003 – present
In 2003 we launched a separate brand called Mini Marvellous which caters for children aged 2 – 8 years. It is a natural follow on from the nursery section of Blooming Marvellous and sells educational and inspirational toys and games, themed bedroom accessories and practical products for parents. We now produce two 80 page catalogues a year and it continues to grow from strength to strength.
 back
|