They had a host of ideas but fundamentally the idea was simple, well thought out and all the market research was in place. Take a clasp that slides over a jean stud and then design a host of accessories that attaches to the clasp. You could literally have a new look every hour of the day with a wonderful array of stylish and trendy accessory add ons.

So for all you budding designers out there please read the following from Sharon Edgley to inspire you to live your dream and make it happen!   

"I thought up the idea for this about two and a half years ago and it has been a long uphill struggle to get the 'clip' designed, manufactured and then find a jewellery manufacturer we could trust to put the jewellery together with our clip (without stealing the idea!) We applied for a patent in April of this year - which in theory gives us protection and stops anyone copying it until the patent is granted. We have had to try to tell as few people as possible about it for fear of being copied but the people we did show, e.g. Jenny, Business Focus, our jewellery manufacturer, thought it was a great idea with a lot of potential. We have had great feedback from women of all ages who have seen it.

We finally got our first range together in October and started the long slog of trying to get it into shops. However, this was a lot more difficult than I realised. It is impossible to speak to the buyers and none of them responded to our letters - although to be fair we did not have any samples to send them and our brochure had yet to be printed. We are hoping to sell into the major retailers, small boutiques and the public direct via our website. Our big advantage is that this is not ordinary jewellery, but something totally new to the market.

Our big break has just happened thanks to Jenny. She introduced us to a new accessories shop Ish. They loved the product and wanted to trial it in their first shop in the Harlequin Centre, Watford. We moved heaven and earth to put a one off range of 55 pieces together and managed to get them up to Watford last Thursday. They went on sale Thursday night and the manageress phoned the next morning to say they had sold 10 in the first half an hour! By Monday morning they only had a dozen left (and these are silk and fabric flowers more suitable for the spring/summer so we did not expect them to go but used them to pad out our display) ... so we are hoping they are going to be a hit!

We are officially launching the product at the Top Drawer Spring show at Earls Court 16th-18th January. We have been contacted by the organisers, Clarion Events, to say that Barbara Chandler a well known journalist who contributes to the Evening Standard/Grand Designs has selected us as one of the best new products of the year and we are going to be featured in a special 'new product' section at the show, so we are very excited about this too.

We are about to launch a brand new fashion accessory - 'jean jems' - which Jenny has helped us with over the last year. You will see what it's all about on our new website which has just gone live www.hunki-dori.com."

So there you have it a perfect happy ending story for 2004! Congratulations Sharon and Mark - may you go from strength to strength.

Jenny Holloway

Industry Advisor