Spen Valley mum's luxury clothes brand is dressing the kids of A-list celebs

In 2018 Natasha Formoy and her childhood friend Chantelle Etienne, from Bradford, both worked from Natasha’s home alongside their full-time jobs to create the children’s clothing brand, House of Juniors - aimed at children aged five-16 years old.

Natasha and Chantelle, both 32, met at school and soon discovered they both had a passion for fashion and business.

Remaining friends, they spent time building the brand while working as full-time social care workers and bringing up their children.

The entrepreneurial duo then joined forces with now head designer, Kamila Ogrodnik, 26.

Alongside Natasha, Kamila focused on developing the brand’s design in the ever-expanding business.

Natasha said, ‘When we first started the brand, we had to convert the downstairs of my house into a workspace because we didn’t have the funds for a warehouse or office.

“At one point, every room in the house was overflowing with clothes."

Before developing House of Juniors, Natasha spent years researching the children’s fashion market worldwide, visiting trade shows in Europe, and gaining insight into how rival brands have become so successful in the marketplace.

It was at these trade shows Natasha built invaluable relationships with suppliers from the manufacturer of fabrics to garment producers.

In 2018 House of Juniors was chosen to showcase its products at Mini Mode, the official children’s runway at London Fashion Week, where it walked among brands such as Marc Jacobs and Karl Lagerfeld.

On the back of the success of its catwalk, House of Juniors was awarded a campaign with Harper’s Bazaar, and this became a turning point for the creative team.

Chantelle said: ‘We were selected to walk in the show alongside brands such as Marc Jacobs and Karl Lagerfeld.

“To be chosen was a huge honour and a massive achievement for our brand.

“What made it more special for us instead of using professional London based professional models, we brought kids down from Yorkshire which, along with the amazing clothes, gave us a real point of difference.”

The turning point for the children’s designers was when the daughters of American rapper P Diddy, aka Diddy, posted an image of his twin daughters, Jessie and D’lila, wearing the brand’s signature fur coats on his Instagram account.

From that moment, the brand skyrocketed, with a spike in sales and thousands of new followers on the House of Juniors Instagram account.

The fashion entrepreneurs then reached out to other Hollywood A list stars such as Chris Brown, Snoop Dogg and Kimora, who also posted photos and videos of their children wearing pieces of their fashion line.

More recently their iconic girls pink fur coat was seen in Stormi’s wardrobe on a recent post on Kylie’s Instagram feed.

Natasha said, “The demand for clothes has been insane since Diddy posted his daughter wearing one of our fur coats.

“The power of social media has been such an important part of creating awareness for our brand.

“It was surreal to see the clothes designed by two mums from Yorkshire being worn by the children of Hollywood celebrities.

“It was these posts that helped take the business to another level.

“The most surreal moment had to be when Kimora Simmons messaged us on Instagram, inviting us to work with her in LA!”

Chantelle added: “We have seen our pink coat in Stormi’s wardrobe on Kylie’s Instagram and we are hoping it will make an appearance in this season of keeping up with the Kardashians!”

Since these celebrity endorsements, demand for sales has been worldwide, mainly in America, Europe, the Middle East and parts of Russia.

Before coronavirus hit the UK, House of Juniors had already produced two collections available worldwide.

The pandemic gave the team the time to work on their third collection, which will be available to purchase soon.

Natasha said: “It was a huge struggle when the pandemic hit as we didn’t have access to our suppliers based overseas.

“However, we have used the time wisely to develop the range and now there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

For more information, visit www.houseofjrs.co.uk.