Underlines speaks to sisters Paula Farrington & Lisa Farrington-Martin, who opened Embrace Boutique in Worcester in 2013, initially to cater for women going through cancer treatment. The business has grown to include customers with varying needs: pregnant and breast-feeding mums, larger or petite cup sizes, and sports bras…anyone who really needs a professional fitting service. Since their opening the boutique has won both regional and national retailing awards for their service and expertise. Their previous careers were a world away from lingerie!
Life before lingerie
Paula is a solicitor by profession and was a Senior Crown Prosecutor and Higher Court Advocate with the Crown Prosecution Service for 25 years. “I prosecuted everything from careless driving to murder and really enjoyed my job, but after yet another reorganisation and more government cutbacks, I realised that I just wasn’t able to do the job to a standard that I was happy with any more and decided to take voluntary redundancy. Around the same time we were having discussions with Julie (a close friend who had huge problems finding and getting fitted for post-surgical lingerie) about the possibility of opening a business for ladies going through cancer treatment and everything just fell into place.”
Lisa led a varied career as a HR Manager, most recently working for the West Midlands Police. “I looked after four police stations and undertook the many changes to management programmes when the government cuts came. Within 6 weeks of Paula applying for voluntary redundancy, I was offered it too. It seemed as though someone somewhere was telling up to open this business!”
And the business was a rapid success to the extent that local department stores such as Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, House of Fraser and Mothercare were regularly recommending women go for specialised fitting to Embrace. Their professional approach meant that they undertook mastectomy and lingerie fitting, prosthesis fitting and wig fitting and within 18 months of opening were recognised as an Anita Care Centre of Excellence.
But then came COVID-19!
“We are a very small business with just 2 employees who are sisters which means that we have been able to be quite flexible as regards coverage of the shop and business duties during lockdown and through re-opening.
“Now that we are open again we are working shorter days, encouraging appointments over walk-ins and following the extremely helpful advice from our local Environmental Health Officer on COVID safety to the letter. We have cut down on our AW20 orders to save on expenditure and we are being careful on replenishments and, so far, we are managing. The majority of our brands have been helpful and understanding and it has been a pleasure to work with them during these strange times.”
And what of the future for independents in terms of future-proofing their businesses?
“We think that Christmas is going to be a big eye-opener and looking ahead into January, we are absolutely terrified about the effect of Brexit on our business. We already know that in the event of a No Deal the UK will impose standard tariffs of 6% on imported bras and 12% on everything else, so this is going to have an enormous effect on the price of the goods we sell.
“The double whammy of COVID and Brexit is likely to make 2021 our most challenging year yet. All we can do is continue to do our best for our customers, keep a keen eye on the bank balance and proceed cautiously!”
