How Ffreckle is Transforming Childrenswear in the North East
Entrepreneur and mum-of-two Aimée Fairless tells Living North about her new unisex childrenswear brand ffreckle, designed with busy mums in mind
Originally from Tynemouth, when Covid hit Aimée was made redundant from her recruitment role in London. Undeterred, she quickly pivoted to her own jewellery start-up, ffreckle, which was creatively fulfilling. When she found herself back up north and a new mum of twin girls, Aimée found herself pivoting once more, embracing the next chapter of her life. ‘I really loved the styling element of having children – dressing them up and finding cool little outfits for them. That’s when ffreckle was reborn, it just really took a different spin,’ she explains. ‘Jewellery is fantastic but I’m a mam, I’m not really going out much. I wear the same things over and over again and I just found [ffreckle] that way.’
Unlike some small businesses, Aimée doesn’t claim to be reinventing the wheel, and instead sees ffreckle as an easygoing alternative to the independent childrenswear market. ‘I felt like there was space there where I could contribute. I was loving what other brands were doing, and I thought I could give it my own spin.’
Aimée’s take on childrenswear is inspired by her own girls and her own wardrobe. ‘The girls aren’t typically girly-girls anyway, they’re quite tomboy by nature. They’ll wear a fancy dress Cinderella outfit to their hearts’ content, but day-to-day they like to wear trainers. I love that style as well – oversized clothes and a lot of unisex options. Predominantly I wanted to make something that was available for mums of boys and mums of girls as well.’
Oversized, comfortable and versatile, ffreckle’s range is perfectly suited to busy parents who are always on the go with their kids – something Aimée knows all about. ‘We quickly figured out with having twin toddlers that the only way to keep them entertained and to keep all of us sane was to keep them out of the house. From when they learned to walk we’ve been down [to] the beach nearly every weekend when the weather allows it,’ she explains. ‘And ffreckle has got quite a beachy, surfy feel which completely lends itself to that.’
A slogan that appears again and again in the ffreckle collection is ‘Dilly Dally Club’, something that started as a family joke and came to represent the freewheeling spirit of the brand. ‘It’s something I’ve said to the girls for ages. They just dilly dally everywhere! Trying to get them into any kind of order is just impossible. They just bumble about and it came from there,’ explains Aimée. ‘Dilly dally is quite an old-school thing. My nanna says it quite a lot and I think I just picked it up from her. The Dilly Dally Club just fell into place and it’s been quite popular.’
Feedback from parents has meant the world to Aimée. ‘The response has been unbelievable. I’m quite a private person by nature so putting myself out onto Instagram was a massive hurdle to overcome, but the response to that was really, really good,’ she says. ‘It’s the kind of stuff people want to see on their feeds as opposed to this unreachable, impossible lifestyle. It feels very truthful and it’s honest. It’s stripped back, it’s basics and it’s nothing too fancy, just letting kids be kids.’
As the collection continues to expand, some pieces have been stand-out favourites. ‘The bestseller is the Dilly Dally T-shirt. I think just because it’s one of those easy basics. The Sunday sweatshirt has been really popular in the winter because it’s the cosiest item we’ve got going.’ Looking ahead, Aimée is excited to tackle the coming seasons and beyond. ‘The winter has been great and I think we’ve smashed it with the pieces we’ve brought in but we’re really looking forward to developing things to take forward into spring and summer,’ she says.
Currently one of Aimée’s biggest dreams is to expand the ffreckle team beyond herself (and her two little helpers). ‘I’m a one-man band. I’m doing everything from customer service and marketing to packing orders. Every single hat is being worn. I’d love to have my own team to share this with and help grow and develop it, and potentially one day be seen in stores.’
