GLASGOW fashion brand House of LBD offers little black accessories with a personal touch.

The label was founded in January 2016 by best friends Keira Singh and Emma Sinclair as a side project to their full-time careers in the broadcasting industry in Glasgow. Previously marketing and events students, the duo had always sought to embrace their creative side and run their own business.

Sinclair says: “We have always had the same dream; to one day own our own business and run this full-time.”

The brand originally launched as an online shop for little black dresses, hence the name. Together, the pair used their skills to build a website, source designs and suppliers and establish a small customer base, all whilst remaining committed to their full-time jobs.

Unfortunately, despite their efforts, the business was having limited success.

Sinclair explains: “Despite our hard work, business was slow, no-one was taking us seriously and looking back we really weren’t any different to any other online dress shops out there.”

As the duo began losing out to the over-saturation of the fast fashion market, they realised they were not in a strong enough position to compete with powerful online retailers.

In October 2016, they changed their strategy to create a brand which stood out from the crowd. They re-branded to become House of LBD (Little Black Designs), focusing on designing personalised scarves.

The brand refresh quickly proved to be the right decision. From October to February there was a significant boom in sales; consumers were responding positively to the personalised scarves, making orders from all over the UK.

In the run-up to Christmas, the duo spent many nights working until midnight. Using their ambition and passion, they decided to continue to grow and evolve the brand and create the business they’d always dreamed of.

Discussing the brand’s success, Sinclair says: “We now have a large product range of key accessories as well as our personalised swimwear range. House of LBD has a growing worldwide customer base and we sell weekly in Europe, America and the UAE.”

The brand has also caught the attention of fashion retailer Miss Selfridge, leading competitors and celebrities. Additionally, online marketplace, Traders Lane (a site for residents within the UAE), has been in touch looking to stock and sell House of LBD products overseas.

To deal with demand and the accelerated growth of the brand, the pair now have split roles within the business; Sinclair is leaving her broadcasting job this month to run the brand full-time.

Sinclair says: “We are a business that is due to turn over 70k+ in the first year, with a growing online audience of 15.3k. With the little investment financially we put in, we know how far we have come very quickly and this has been down to our hard work and determination to make it happen. We never gave up when everyone expected us to.”

houseoflbd.com