Ten Years — Something Special in the Making

In March, just before our SS26 launch, we turned ten years old. We were so busy that we didn’t get the chance to mark it properly, so we wanted to write this and take you along on that journey with us, and show a little of how we’ve grown in those years.

It all started on our mum’s sofa, drinking tea, when our little girls were tiny...

We were chatting about the fact that the children’s clothes we loved most were always thrifted. A little cotton smocked dress, a frilly blouse, something found in a charity shop or at a car boot sale, carried home, washed and hung on the line ready to be worn. Thoughtfully made pieces of clothing, hand-stitched from beautiful, ditsy, old-fashioned cotton prints with trims carefully chosen. We didn’t mind the odd hole, missing button or signs of wear. We couldn’t find clothes like this on the high street, and we wondered whether, perhaps, we could create something as charming as these pieces ourselves.

This was ten years ago. Little Cotton Clothes began there, with absolutely no certainty that it would become anything other than an idea. Imogen had a background in buying and had friends in India. We reached out to one who was kind enough to help us with the first step, finding a factory who could make tiny quantities and were willing to give us a chance. Ten years on, we still work with that same factory and visit them whenever we can. Over the years our maker family has grown. We now also work with a fantastic factory in Turkey who make our organic pointelle jersey and an amazing fair-trade hand-knitting partnership in Nepal, and we feel enormously lucky to call all of them part of our team.

The design process has always begun in the same way. A sketchbook, a pressed flower, a piece of vintage fabric found at a flea market. We draw flowers, sketch clothing shapes. There is no trend forecasting, we just start with what we love.

We discovered, slowly (and sometimes painfully!), that when you put your mind to it you can learn almost anything, pattern cutting, grading, floral repeat design, testing, certification, website building and marketing. None of it was considered that afternoon on the sofa, but all of it became part of what we do every day.

Behind every finished piece in our collections is a technical pack, a document that translates what we’ve drawn and imagined into something a factory can cut and sew exactly as we want it. They include graded measurements, construction details and finishes, safety testing requirements, fit notes, photos and feedback, so much feedback. We perfect each piece across multiple samples, which is painstaking work, but it’s this work which bridges the gap between a beautiful idea and a garment that fits a child really well. Getting that right has been one of our quieter achievements of the last ten years.

Some things have stayed constant. The quality of what we make has never wavered. From the very first piece to the collection we’re working on now, we have cared about the same things. The quality and composition of the fabric, the finishing of the seams, the way a dress hangs, how pretty the collar or sleeves are. When we started, we loved vintage clothes for their feel and their beauty, but over time we began to understand the importance of the materials we use and the impact of making a garment. Over the last few years we have moved to using certified organic cotton wherever we can. Minimising waste is also a priority. If we can’t reach the minimums for organic cotton, we will always choose the next best option. We always choose natural materials to ensure their impact on our world is as small as possible, and we try to use every last scrap of fabric, in patchwork or accessories, to make sure nothing goes to waste.

We believe that children’s clothes should be made to last and be handed down. Our children are growing up fast, but we are still, at heart, the same two girls dreaming on the sofa, still learning, still inspired by old and lovely things. We hope we can keep drawing flowers, choosing fabrics we love, and making clothes for another ten years and that they’ll be will be worn, passed on, and loved again by someone else’s little one.

Thank you for being part of our journey, and for taking the time to read this little bit of our story.

With love, 

Leonie and Imogen 

xxx

You can see more photos of past season collection by taking a look at our lookbook gallery which you will find here.