Ever since she was young, Hannah Beaumont had a head for business. At school, she sold handmade friendship bracelets to her fellow pupils.
A little later, she upcycled denim jeans into handbags to sell at local shops. So it’s not that much of a surprise to learn that Hannah, 42, now has her own international clothing brand and flagship store in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
Selling across Europe, Japan, Canada, and the United States, Hannah’s clothing brand, Beaumont Organic, grew out of her disillusionment after witnessing the grim realities of the fast-fashion industry first-hand.
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Hannah grew up in Bramhall, Stockport, and says she was always looking for a way to turn her creativity into something she could sell.
“I was like selling bracelets in the school playground, and then I was making handbags and selling them in local shops,” she said.
“I just saw people who were using them and thought maybe that would be quite easy to make, because you just get some old jeans from charity shops and cut them up. So I was quite creative but also entrepreneurial from a young age.
“I think it was always in me that I would go down this route.”
After university, Hannah found herself going down a more traditional path, working as an assistant buyer for a large fashion retailer in London. However, she soon found herself questioning her career choice.
“For whatever reason I was a bit disillusioned by the fashion industry,” she said.
“The volumes of clothing that we were producing, the way we were bartering with the suppliers, the way we were cheapening things to get them within the margin, all that kind of stuff. And I just thought maybe this isn’t where I’m meant to be.
Hannah and husband Nelson back when she was still running her business from her Didsbury home
“I also really loved maths at school, so I have a bit of a funny brain. I have a brain that really likes creative things but also loves maths, so I naturally quite liked the business side of it and the numbers.
“I thought, if I can leave here and go into doing something myself then that would be a way for me to stay in the fashion industry but doing it in my own way.”
This realisation led Hannah to quit her London fashion job during the 2008 economic crash and move back home to Greater Manchester with her boyfriend, Nelson, whom she would later marry.
With a clear vision of how she did and didn’t want to do things, the next few years saw Hannah putting her plan into action.
Reaching out to a fashion supplier in Portugal, she began sourcing organic cotton from which to make her own clothing range.
Hannah said in the early years she did everything, from producing the drawings for the designs to sourcing the fabric and having the clothes produced in Portugal.
This period saw her driving up and down the country in her Mini Metro stuffed with her designer clothes, trying to sell her products to shops. “I was very much the travelling saleswoman,” said Hannah.
“I had a very small car, so had all the seats down at the back, and it was just rammed with clothes. And to be honest, I did that for quite a few years.”
It was in those years that she ran her business from the top floor of her home in Didsbury, which she shared with her husband.
Hannah picking up her award in 2009
Some early success came in 2009, when her business won an award for best organic textile products, which was reported in a newspaper. A Japanese distributor read the story and contacted Hannah, asking if she would like to sell her products in Japan.
“I was like, oh my god, we’re hardly even selling in England yet, never mind Japan. But we basically took him on and so then I was going up and down the country in England in my car, and then back and forth to Tokyo, where we had the distribution set up.”
After a few years of selling her products in Japan, the business was growing. But not wanting to keep ‘all their eggs in one basket’, they decided to branch out into Europe, selling in Germany, Switzerland and Denmark.
Hannah at the factory in Portugal where her organic clothes are made
After visiting trade shows in New York, Hannah then started selling her line of clothes in the independent boutiques in the United States,
This meant they could take on more staff and move the business out of their home in Didsbury, first to a top-floor office in Manchester city centre, then to their current home in Hilton Street in the Northern Quarter.
“We work from the top two floors, and the ground floor is our concept store, like our HQ. It’s really nice to have like our own flagship store. It just means we can have all the clothes hanging there, and I think just we can resonate more with our customers.”
Now employing eight staff, including Nelson, Hannah’s husband, Beaumont Organic sells its organic fashion range in 12 countries and 120 stores worldwide.
Hannah is passionate about organic textiles and running her business differently to the wastefulness she sees in the fashion industry
Having just taken part in their first major fashion show, Hannah says she is happy with where her business is now. However, her ultimate goal is to make people more aware of alternatives to the wasteful excesses of the fast-fashion industry.
“I think we’ve got a great office and a great team of staff, but ultimately, awareness is still very low for what we’re doing,” said Hannah.
“More people need to know about it and to buy clothes made correctly, and for more stores to be stocking it. So that side of it does need to grow.”
Adding: “I think growing awareness is just really important because there are too many clothes that are not made correctly.
“There’s too much overproduction that’s done ahead of clothes being sold, whereas because ours is mainly a wholesale model, we know that it’s already going to a home, it’s already going to a store.”
Hannah and Nelson outside Beaumont Organic
As for advice for anybody else starting their own business as she did, Hannah says having the benefit of a good mentor, like her own father was for her, is priceless. But you also need to be able to take knocks along the way.
“You need to be very resilient,” Hannah says, laughing. “I think you need a thick skin, you need to persevere, and, ultimately, you need to really believe in what you’re doing, what you’re selling, or what you’re talking about, and know it really well.”
Beaumont Organic in Manchester’s Northern Quarter
Adding: “If you don’t really believe in what you’re doing and if you’re not actually doing it correctly and truthfully, people are going to see straight through it. And you’re also going to lose motivation to keep going.
“The only reason you’re ultimately going to stay in business for a long time is that you’re enjoying what you’re doing; obviously, earning some money from what you’re doing, too.
“But you’ve got to get up in the morning and work a longer day than probably most people who are employed. So, you’ve got to really enjoy it.”
You can visit Hannah’s business, Beaumont Organic, online or at their Hilton Street store in the Northern Quarter.
Are you a Greater Manchester entrepreneur who started your business or lucrative side-hustle from a spare room, garage, or kitchen table and want to tell your story? If so, email lee.grimsditch@reachplc.com