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Ella Vine turns her illness around into lingerie success with our genius poppy suspenders!
February 11, 2019
Ella Vine, 33, from Essex created her own easier to fasten stockings using poppers and now business is booming!
Ella Vine, 33, from Essex created her own easier to fasten stockings using poppers and now business is booming.
SUFFERING from a painful and potentially deadly condition Ella Vine must wear compression socks every day to stop blood clots from forming in her legs.
The mum-of-one developed deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after a nasty car accident as a teenager - but it was her illness that inspired her sexy lingerie business that is on track to turn over £250,000 this year.
For years Ella, 33, who lives in Essex, struggled to keep up the medical stockings that she needs to keep her alive.
The compression stockings that I have to wear everyday do not allow the blood to pool in my leg therefore preventing clots
I need them to manage the pain too. It is very scary to have blood clots, especially when you're a mum of a young child.
If you have a blod clot that travels to your lungs you can die on the spot.
Attaching the stockings to a suspender belt was a nightmare.
It took a long time and I usually had to give up fasting it on the back of the leg all together."
After ten years of struggling she came up with a better idea. She replaced a traditional fastening used to attach stockings to a garter belt with a simple popper. Ella realised that if she struggled with stockings then there must be other people too - and not just those suffering from DVT. And it wasn't just about developing something practical, Ella wanted to feel sexy too.
I wanted to improve my own quality of life but I was convinced other women were struggling with the same issue
You can feel sexy even in medical stockings - it is such a great reason to wear sexy underwear every day!
She decided to start her own self-named online shop stocking sexy lingerie using poppy fastenings. Now her underwear is sold across the world and even worn by burlesque dancers on stage. Ella admits that the hardest part of starting the business was finding cash.
She successfully applied for a £20,000 loan repayable over five years from the Government-backed Start-Up Loans Company, which offers a 6 per cent fixed rate on borrowing up to £25,000.
She also got an additional £20,000 lump sum from an external investor - Paul T. Lajszczak, an entrepreneur and the manager of property investing platform Crowdfunding Place, who became her business partner.
She met him completely by chance while doing freelance PR. She said: "He loved the idea of poppy suspenders and saw a business potential in it."
Despite customising her own stockings her business focus is on selling non-medical underwear.
Although, she is planning to start a sub-brand catering for DVT sufferers like herself next year.
See the original article on The Sun website
