Sew What's Next? How Harriet and her co-founder turned a passion for bed linen into a successful brand

In a world where comfort meets style, the West Sussex based Secret Linen Store has emerged as a beloved brand, crafting exquisite bed linen directly from Portugal. Co-founder Molly Freshwater, alongside Harriet Bolden embarked on this entrepreneurial journey over a decade ago, driven by a desire to take control of their destinies while navigating the challenges of family life and career. With passion, resilience, and a commitment to quality, they've transformed their vision into a thriving business.

What inspired you to start your business?
It was a whole 11 years ago, Harriet and I had young families, which was a juggle with our full time jobs and a previous business of mine. We needed to change direction so that we felt in control of our destiny. Bedlinen and retail is what we know best, so we decided to create our own brand, make a great bed linen, direct from Portugal ( the best place in the world to make bed linen) to our customers. With some financial help from a few Angel investors, and a big lot of help from some amazing people in Portugal, our Secret Linen Store was born.

What was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?
Every day there is a new challenge, and as we grow, the challenges change. For me, the biggest challenge is letting go and settling for great, rather than always striving for perfection. Employing people to help and grow a business is so rewarding, but also difficult for a perfectionist. I'm still learning how to overcome this, and finding that I have a new job and have to adapt as the team grows.

How did you secure your initial funding?
We were really fortunate to have help from a handful of Angel investors. We didn't have a massive amount to begin with as I was still running my previous business, and we had a lot of help from our fabulous factories. We were introduced to most of our seed investors by Adam , our very first investor. We knew that world class photography was a must from day one, so we offered shares to our photographer Tim in return for pictures of our first collections. My partner designed the website and we were off. Great product, great photography, some pennies for advertising and a website was all we needed to get started.

How do you handle failure or setbacks?
This gets easier, I try to see the positive in things that go wrong. I'm far less likely to panic after 25 years in the world of textiles, and I do like to solve a problem. 'Every cloud' is one of my favourite sayings. I don't think you can learn or grow without taking risks, and they will not always work out.

What advice would you give to someone starting their own business?
I am asked this so often. I would say be sure, research and know your market, try to be yourself and not follow what others are doing, and be prepared to change, adapt, listen and learn. Do a business plan and marketing plan, and make sure that you have a cashflow from day one. I was very lucky to have Harriet as a co-founder, I would not have known any of this and would just be a person with lots of nice bed linen and no idea how to sell it.

How do you stay motivated during tough times?
Eating, exercise and being positive. I am really lucky to be a positive person, I can find the good in most situations. I think the older you get, the easier it is to get through tough times, as you have been through and seen many different challenges before. I also try to get out, leave my desk… I don't think that being at a desk does anyone any good, especially creative people. I can be inspired by anything and everything, and sometimes, time doing something different is all you need to kick start yourself again.

Share your tips for achieving success
If you want something done well, make sure that you get the right person to do it. Don't try to fit square pegs into round holes. Paying a bit more for expertise will save you time and money in the long run.