How a small Liverpool fashion brand was given a global boost by PM's wife Victoria Starmer

The Labour Party Conference has been a huge multi-million pound success for the city.

But for one small independent fashion brand it’s proved to be a global showcase thanks to Prime Minister’s wife Lady Victoria Starmer. She was photographed wearing a T-shirt and trousers from Liverpool-based slow fashion business By Elleven – both bought and paid for, not gifted or loaned.

As a result, its co-founders Joanne Watkinson and Rachel Evans have seen orders for their ethically-sourced pieces flooding in from all over the world.

“We are a small female owned, slow fashion brand based in the north of England, the two of us have really put heart and soul into By Elleven since we launched four years ago, so having her shine a spotlight on us like that felt like a gift,” says Joanne.

This is the second time Victoria Starmer has chosen to wear By Elleven during a visit to Liverpool. She wore one of their hoodies at a pre-party conference breakfast 12 months ago,

Then, says Joanne, they had no hint they had a famous customer until the photos appeared in the media.

“She just bought it from the website, like any other customer, and we had no idea it was her at first. Even now we don’t know how she found us, and we’ve wondered what she Googled – was it female-owned, was it slow fashion, was it Liverpool-based brand, or did she just see us somewhere, liked the hoodie and wore it?”

Ahead of her visit this year, Joanne and Rachel did get some advanced notice. They were contacted by Victoria Starmer’s assistant to ask about sizing and styling for the made in England Suzi trousers, which come in midnight navy with a chocolate waistband, and the Stevie T-shirt in ‘date’, a shade of burgundy.

“She particularly wanted to know about sizing for the trousers, leg length, and asked questions as any customer would. We asked how tall she was and what type of shoes she was going to wear because we do a custom shorter or longer leg length as well as a standard one.

“We sent out the order but even then there was no guarantee she’d wear it, or if she’d just wear the trousers with her own top or the T-shirt with jeans, so we saw the outfit when everyone else did, at the photocall. As it was, she wore them together like we style them on our site.”

Those photos went everywhere, and it’s been a whirlwind for By Elleven ever since.

“We’ve had traffic to our website and orders from all over the world, and for us obviously the sales are great but because this is our long-time career, it’s how we then translate it into sales for the future,” adds Joanne.

“We’ve had a lot of new subscribers, and we haven’t even launched our autumn/winter collection yet, so it’s an opportunity to sell our brand to all these people who liked what they saw with that one T-shirt and trousers.

“It’s also about getting them to understand that By Elleven is a slow fashion brand which basically means we are the exact opposite of fast fashion – you buy things less often, wear them more frequently and buy better so you get long-term wear.

“Because we’re not trend-driven we don’t turn stock quickly, and we want people to feel comfortable enough to sit and make a considered purchase rather than feeling a panic to buy.

“All our clothes are ethically sourced, our T-shirts are organic cotton, our trousers are made in England, everything is designed, sourced, and finished in England and we use a lot of female-owned businesses for manufacturing, embroidery and labelling.”

With the conference now gone for another year, but promising to return to Liverpool in 2025, Joanne says the feelgood factor for their business is definitely ongoing.

“We can’t underestimate what that spotlight did for us. Whatever way she happened to stumble on us 12 months ago, she liked it and decided she wanted to wear it again and that’s amazing.”