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About Pretty Pink Pearl
Pretty Pink Pearl 'the brand' so what is it all about?
Teresa Millward (30) and Helen Brearley (43) currently live in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire. They hope their new brand of lesbian identified clothing will be the next best thing since FCUK and Levi jeans!
Helen on the left and Teresa on the right
Why… what… when…and how did it all come about?
Teresa and Helen were fed up of where they were in life. They had good jobs; both owned their own homes, had found each other and had everything going for them. But there was a yearning for more – for something different. It started as scribbles on a napkin and thinking about what they really wanted out of life. They decided to take a year out to travel the world. They wanted to do something totally different, for themselves. That was the start of Pretty Pink Pearl on a wet November evening back in 2003.
They re-mortgaged the house and set off around the world for 12 months (Aug 2004) looking for inspiration. Seven months into the trip while on the south island of New Zealand, they came up against their 1st hurdle. Teresa had sustained a spinal injury and was flown by air ambulance to Christchurch where they were stranded for almost 3 months. Teresa and Helen returned home in June 2005 accompanied by a wheelchair. The last thing they were thinking about was starting a business.
By May 2006 after the wheelchair was swapped for sticks the inspiration finally arrived. Teresa and Helen, both artists in their previous jobs, decided they were going to design and be artists for themselves. But more than that, they wanted to make a statement about who they were and support the community they were part of. They wanted to do more than the standard slogan and logo t-shirts, they wanted to create something that made the wearer proud and identified them subtly.
It seemed a simple enough idea at the time. But it took a year to get to the launch. The name was easy Pretty Pink Pearl came in about 20 minutes after and episode of the L word where they sat discussing names for the lady garden. The logo seemed to take forever.
About 60 designs and 8 months later they had it. The logo is an amalgamation of the letters H for Helen T for Teresa with a woman's symbol, joining them to make the logo read Hot Woman. Their intention is wearable artwork with subliminal messaging and a logo recognisable to the lesbian community.
After a long time sampling pre made garments that didn’t measure up to their expectations Teresa and Helen decided that the quality just wasn’t there. They wanted something that made them feel special, that had been made with them in mind. So they headed out to YLAF in York with their trusted tape measures and clipboards, louring women with fridge magnets and chocolates. They completed 370 surveys gathering data on sizes, styles, colour, preferences etc and had a real blast. They wanted to see if other lesbians felt the same way they did about what was currently available. And they did. T-shirts that existed were standard, generic and weren’t made for the larger woman. So they decided they would try to make their brand overcome some of these issues.
They have several styles of T-shirt and are made as either women's fit or loose fit. The women's fit is shaped to the woman's body and starts at a realistic size 12-14 and goes up to an 20-22(loose fit) currently, but there are plans to make larger sizes if the women let us know they want them larger. The loose fit is similar to the Unisex style t-shirts but rather than being cut to a mans frame they have been cut from a woman's pattern and have been graded in at the waist so there is a small shape to them that makes it sit better on a woman. Also the arms are the right length!
The girls are selling the garments over the internet through their website, www.prettypinkpearl.co.uk which they hope will become an online community and the lesbian alternative to myspace (eventually) and have already gathered a loyal following on their myspace page www.myspace.com/prettypinkpearldesign.
"What we want most is to ensure that people who buy from us feel part of this whole project. We want them to help us decided which designs will go onto the t-shirts and shirt and we want them to vote on our next styles and designs. We want them to be a part of the Pretty Pink Pearl community and feel that they are listened to. Without the lesbian community we wouldn’t have a business and we really want them to know that."
"We want to reward people who are loyal, allow members to upload pictures of themselves wearing our t's and link them to products, design our next ranges and even talk to other people who have bought through us. We want to be the 1st lesbian e-commerce online community!"
Other than that Teresa and Helen plan to set up at pride events here and abroad and sell direct to the community. "This is the best way to get feedback and pick up on what people want. Tell us, we can't promise to deliver it but we can promise to listen.
Our brand is about you and is for you.
The Legal Stuff
Business name: Pretty Pink Pearl. Pretty Pink Pearl is a trading name of Pretty Pink Pearl Limited whose registered office is, 50 Gramfield Rd, Huddersfield, W. Yorkshire HD4 5QD (Company No. 06232176). Company registered in England and Wales.
Business address: 50 Gramfield Road, Crosland Moor, Huddersfield, W.Yorkshire HD4 5QD
We do hope you find what you are looking for through this site, if you don’t please feel free to contact us. Our friendly customer service team will be able to provide advice on any query you may have, and will help you choose the prefect product.
Please contact us as follows:
By post: Customer Services, Pretty Pink Pearl Limited, 50 Gramfield Road, Crosland Moor, Huddersfield, W.Yorkshire HD4 5QD
By telephone: 08456 52 69 52
By email: info@prettypinkpearl.co.uk
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