WHEN you think of fashion-forward accessories, bumbags probably don’t spring to mind.
However, when Louise Bowie began selling the ‘80s favourite she never expected the runaway success that she has now.
In fact when Louise temporarily dumped her lucrative side hustle to keep up with family life and a full-time job her customers were having none of it.
She was inundated with messages from desperate shoppers asking when stock would be available again.
Louise, 47, had been making £5,000 a month selling around 100 bags, when she decided to take a break from Florrie & Bird, in December 2022.
At the time, she was struggling to cope with the volume of sales the business was generating and so turned off her Facebook ads.
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Speaking exclusively to Fabulous, she explains: “I became a victim of my own success, which left me exhausted, and because my husband travels a lot with his job, I had to be around a lot more for my children who were going through personal challenges.
When Louise, who has a 17-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son, re-opened Florrie and Bird, in April 2023, sales of her hand bags doubled to £10,000 that month.
Since then Louise has enjoyed sales of up to £12,000, a month, every month.
The mum-of-two now focuses on Florrie and Bird full-time, an opportunity she seized after being made redundant from her role as a marketing manager for a tech start-up, earlier this year.
Her salary in marketing was £45k a year – considerably less than the money she makes now.
I’ve got one customer who has ordered 15 times from me and I have a few who have bought a bag in every colour and strap
Fashion lover, Louise, buys Italian bags from UK wholesalers for next to nothing and sells them on Instagram for between £45 and £65.
“I would love to work directly with Italian suppliers but because of the new import rules that came in after Brexit, this is very difficult for a small business,” said Louise, whose competitors charge as much as £95 for similar styles.
Louise says that her loyal fan base means that customers just keep coming back for more.
“I’ve got one customer who has ordered 15 times from me and I have a few who have bought a bag in every colour and strap,” says the business woman.
Packing orders, answering customer queries and processing returns are all part of a day’s work for Louise, especially during the hours of 8am and 11am before working on her social media in the evening.
“Seeing products on video gives customers the confidence to make a purchase,” she explains.
“It’s a much more immersive experience than looking at a still image on a website.”
Florrie and Bird is not a solo venture with Louise’s daughter Emma helping out with admin and social media, while studying for her A levels.
Meanwhile her son Jack assembles the attractive flat pack boxes which contain the much in demand sling bags and her husband, Craig, often drops off boxes or parcels at the post office.
Louise set up Florrie and Bird during the pandemic in May 2021, after over 20 years successfully growing and promoting other businesses, as a marketing professional.
But since her teens Louise has always wanted to run her own business.
“I love fashion and after some of my friends loved a hand bag I bought from a boutique so much that they wanted one for themselves, this sparked the idea to sell bags,” she says.
Louise never went to uni, and says she’s proof that you don’t need a degree to build and run a successful business.
She explains: “I deferred my entry to do a marketing degree for a year and worked in an advertising agency as a junior ad exec.
“I loved it and once I started earning money I couldn’t give up working.”.
Louise said Florrie and Bird, which she wants to grow to include health and beauty products, has pushed her out of her comfort zone.
She adds: “I’m a naturally shy and introverted person, but having to [promote] myself on Instagram to talk to customers and sell them bags has been an area of growth for me.
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“Having my own business means there is never a dull moment.
“I think my role as a mum over the last few years, although very rewarding, took away some of my identity and now my business is something I’ve built and can be proud of.”
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