This Friday Underlines interviews Heather Glover and Kate Maurice, the women behind Skarlette, the brand for flat or small-chested women that inspires body confidence with the same beautiful fabrics and laces employed in the mainstream market. We find out what inspired this unique business and its beginnings in design for women who have undergone breast surgery.
Heather Glover
Life before Skarlette?
Heather: I trained as a children’s nurse on leaving school having known this was what I wanted to do for as long as I can remember. I grew up with 5 brothers which shaped my determination to be heard and to stand up for myself! I still have a part time nursing career alongside Skarlette and juggle them both with a wonderful family life. During one of my paediatric research nursing studies, I met Kate, whose son was taking part in a clinical trial to study a drug to help Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. I went on to work in primary care in a GP surgery, working with Kate’s husband. Our daughters ended up in school and netball teams together and our lives seemed to permanently entwine! When I had breast cancer, Kate was one of the mums who used to help our family out, and she altered many of my clothes when I lost weight through treatment.
Kate: I previously worked as a commercial airline pilot for over 20 years and now I’m a busy mum working part time in a school. I left flying to care for our disabled son as his needs increased. Sewing has been a great ‘down’ time and ‘me’ time’ throughout my life – I just love the creative side of it and have experience in lots of areas. I have made many panto costumes, clothing items and during the pandemic, I made scrubs and facemasks to help with the demand. When Heather contacted me about what was to become The Skarlette®, I was delighted and felt privileged to be part of it.
Where do you look for design inspiration?
That’s an easy one! All of our inspiration comes from adorning a flat chest with the same attractive, lacy and sexy detail found in lingerie with cups. All of our products have been designed by a flat woman for flat women, considering their shape and wishes (we communicate with our customers to ask about colour and design, and within our budget, try to produce what is a void in the market).
What is different about designing your products?
Skarlette is different because it is designed to sit comfortably on a flat chest – there are no cups, no pockets or gathers. Instead, there are flat cups, made of soft and stretch fabric so as to cause no irritation to sensitive skin or scars (it’s the bralette for scars, hence Skarlette). We have a slightly deeper under band so as to spread pressure around the ribs, as ribs are often left sore following radiotherapy, and this is long lasting. The underarm side panel is also slightly deeper, helping to accommodate extra skin left behind after surgery – dog ears – which some women are left with after mastectomy. Finally, our mastectomy lingerie is designed with delicate straps which we are able to do as there is no requirement to support any weight (either of prosthetics, reconstructed or natural breasts).
How did you go about producing samples and production?
During lockdown, there were many videos and photos sent between us as we weren’t able to meet. Self-measuring with guidance from Kate was necessary, then Kate produced the first prototype. This was for personal use, but it had such a huge impact on my confidence and femininity, creating an incredibly empowering feeling of beauty and strength, that we decided we need to share this new category in lingerie far and wide. Having made that decision, we researched pattern makers and manufacturers and started with Fashion Enter, where we had our first samples made. They were incredible, but unaffordable to continue with. We benefitted from advice from both Angela Luger and Aliza Reger and we felt very privileged to have received their input. We talked with friends who may have had connections and came across a factory in North Manchester who were able to grade our patterns and fulfil our first, albeit limited, production run. When we decided to expand our colour ways and styles, increasing our production numbers, we needed to explore other manufacturing opportunities. Manufacturing abroad was beyond our reach due to the high MOQs, plus it felt good to be keeping skills in the UK and helping the economy, as well as reducing our carbon footprint by manufacturing locally. We found our next manufacturing partners just a few miles away from our studio. Along the way, we were also very lucky to receive advice from Sue Fairly (New Look) and to have the opportunity to chat through ideas with her.
What are the highlights of your collection?
The Heather style is most definitely the highlight of our collection and our first style and we love receiving photos of our customers feeling amazing and sharing pictures with us of them wearing their Skarlettes. The black and plum are the most popular colours with the teal a close third.
What do you read and whom do you follow in social media to keep ahead of trends?
We keep abreast of the other post-surgery ranges and also up and coming lingerie brands like Lounge. We’re always conscious that the established brands could take our idea but we use women with a story for our ambassadors and models and we consider what they are asking for when we’re looking at trends. We follow Nicola Jane, for example, on social media as they have been supporting women after breast cancer surgery for nearly 40 years.
A Typical Week…in your life
Heather: I work 2 days a week in my nursing role which usually fall between Mon – Thurs. The rest of the week is for Skarlette and family. We have benefitted from business coaching courses at NatWest (Accelerator) and Innovate UK EDGE so that can mean a trip into the hub in Manchester for group coaching for me, which is really valuable – the connections and networking. I’m a very active ambassador for the charity Prevent Breast Cancer (which we often incorporate into our Skarlette social media messages – helping to raise awareness) and we raise funds for the charity through fashion shows, charity runs (a team of 45 for Manchester 10k no less!) and taking PBC along to any of our pop up shops. I’m leading a team to Paint the town of Macclesfield Pink for the duration of April – the purpose being to raise awareness and to raise money and that keeps me very busy too. Having had breast cancer twice, I am very appreciative of every day and don’t take life for granted. I spend as much time as I can with my family and friends because ultimately, the people in our lives are the most important possession. I also make sure I exercise regularly, not only because I’ve become a lingerie model in my 50s, but more because of the positive impact for maintaining my health.
Kate: As well as co-running Skarlette I work in an admin role at the local primary school two days a week. I’m often on the road taking our daughter around the country to play netball or visiting our son at university. For me, 2023 is about establishing a better work life balance to make the most of everything I’ve been blessed with but especially my family.
Your proudest moment to date?
There are many really. We have been selected as finalists in the EVAs Enterprise Vision Awards in 2021 & 22; we received a silver award for the Best British Businesswoman awards in 2022; we have seen our Skarlette lingerie on the catwalk in Sweden, Colorado, Chicago, Manchester and more locally to where we live too; we are finalists in the entrepreneur category in the Inspiring Women Awards in May this year; and we were enormously proud to be at our first exhibition with Skarlette at the INDX Intimate Apparel Exhibition in February this year. Ultimately though, I don’t think we could feel more proud than when we receive messages from customers telling us that we have provided a solution to a problem that they have had for many years when trying to find attractive and comfortable flat lingerie.
Your next big challenge?
Manufacturing our swimwear – it seems to be an ongoing challenge! Manufacturing in the UK is very expensive for a start-up brand like Skarlette, but equally, the high MOQs in countries like Portugal and Turkey are beyond our reach without significant investment.
Your worst move so far?
We like to think that any ‘bad moves’ are just part of growing as a company and learning from critical or positive feedback. We both yearn to continually learn from our mistakes.
What do you hope to achieve?
We hope to launch a fantastic and extensive swimwear collection for flat chested people (we have transgender and transitioned customers so we don’t restrict ourselves to “women” in the traditional sense), to introduce a nightwear range, to be stocked in stores and boutiques so Skarlette can be found other than online, to be available in hospitals when women are having those conversations about losing their breasts and the options available to them, and to providing regular donations to Prevent Breast Cancer as our current nominated charity, once we are a profitable business.
What about time out?
Eating, drinking, holidaying, family, friends, walking (generally with a pub en route!) and getting to a gorgeous spa – if I ever have the time and money!
You can contact Heather on 07771 331039.
