Stratford business that aims to put sexy into plus size clothes
AFTER struggling to find fashionable clothing that suited her plus size figure, 21-year-old Elizabeth Grunow took matters into her own hands and set up her own online womenswear business.
Size Sexy, which trades from a TikTok shop, has become a runaway success, with turnover going from zero to six-figures within the first 12 months of trading.
Elizabeth, from Stratford, said the business offers a wide range of colourful and trendy clothing options for the curvy woman, styles which are generously cut using breathable fabrics such as linens, silks, cottons and knitwear.
Size Sexy already has 24,000 online followers and Elizabeth sells through her weekly ‘live’ sessions where she talks about each garment to her audience.
Inspiration for the venture was born out of lockdown boredom when Elizabeth, a former Stratford-upon-Avon School student, was made redundant from her job working as a receptionist at a town centre hotel at the beginning of Covid pandemic.
She told the Herald: “Everything was shut, and I didn’t know what to do, I was at a loose end.
“I then spent my time looking into possible business ideas and came up with a plus size clothing boutique which would stock sizes 16-26 to help women to feel confident and sexy in their own bodies. I had struggled to find shops on the high street that catered for my size, so bought online and even then, I couldn’t find what I wanted.
“Going on TikTok, all these small boutiques stocked up to a size 14 and I wondered why people didn’t do plus size. I investigated and realised that it was really difficult to get hold of.
“After some research I found some good wholesalers and thought ‘right, I’m going to do it’ as I’ve always wanted to make women feel empowered. Not being able to find the right clothes does not help people feel confident.”
Initial attempts to make a go of the venture via eBay and a website were not working, so Elizabeth turned to social media platforms. In September last year she decided to have a closing down sale via TikTok and disposed of her entire stock for £5 apiece. She sold 200 items in one day.
“It proved to me that there was a market out there and women did need plus size clothing,” Elizabeth said. “The average women’s dress size in the UK is now a 16.”
In October she restocked and started selling on TikTok in addition to her website. With sales positive, in January she set up a TikTok shop.
“The first night I launched I sold out with 50 orders,” she said.
By the end of the month, she’d processed 700 orders.
Elizabeth attributes her success to her dad, Richard, who is no stranger to the clothing business having run Richard Paul Mens-wear on Masons Road for over 35 years.
“Dad has helped massively with getting my business up and running and all the behind-the-scenes things such as how to register for tax,” she said. “He’s also helped me not give up. When things got tough or slow, dad would always be the one by my side cheering me on to keep going. He was the one who also came up with my business name.
“He was in a bar on holiday with mum and they met this couple. The lady stated she did not want to dance due to her size, and dad said to her ‘you are size sexy, come on let’s dance’ and she danced the night away. And that’s what led me to name my business Size Sexy.
“It doesn’t matter what size you are, you should have clothes that fit you and that you chose rather than something that was just in your size.”
