Capital store opens up window for North firms

TWO female-led North East businesses are being featured in a unique new store that has been set up on one of London’s busiest shopping streets.

- GRAEME WHITFIELD

A Style of Our Own has opened on London's Regent Street in the former Ted Baker store. The project - a partnership between Mastercard, The Crown Estate, Westminster City Council and 27 female-led brands - bills itself as “the UK’s first female-focused fashion and sports store”.

Among those featured in the shop is Newcastle-based skiwear brand Sloobie, which is run by Northumbria University graduate Renee Fraser-Shepherd. She is aiming to raise £200,000 in investment for the company and has put adverts in the Regent Street store's windows appealing for prominent female investors to back the firm.