This week we speak to Sophie Mirman, founder of Trotters Childrenswear, a family-run business known for dressing generations of the UK Royal Family.
Sophie Mirman, a trailblazing entrepreneur, has long been at the helm of some of the most recognizable retail brands in the UK. Growing up in a Belgravia home where her mother ran a renowned millinery business, Sophie was introduced to the world of fashion and retail from an early age. From humble beginnings in the typing pool at Marks & Spencer, she went on to establish Tie Rack and Sock Shop, both of which achieved international success.
Today, as the Founder and Creative Director of Trotters Childrenswear, a family-run business that has thrived for over three decades, Sophie continues to blend her rich heritage with innovation. With a discerning clientele, including royalty, and a growing presence in markets like the UAE, Sophie remains dedicated to ensuring that Trotters stays timeless, relevant, and quintessentially British, while adapting to new markets.
View this post on Instagram
How did your parents’ legacy in fashion and retail shape your own approach to creating and growing your brands like Tie Rack, Sock Shop, and Trotters Childrenswear?
I was brought up in the house that my mother ran her business from. She operated her millinery showroom from the ground floor of our home in Belgravia, with the salon being a very glamorous room, filled with beautiful furniture and beautiful hats. Next door were the workroom and the stockroom. From a very young age, I earned my pocket money by delivering hats to my mother’s clients, tidying up the stockroom and the workroom drawers, picking up pins and sweeping the floors. This taught me that every job is as important as the next one and all need to be done in order to run a smooth and successful business.
Starting your career in the typing pool at Marks & Spencer, what lessons did you learn there that influenced your later success as a businesswoman and entrepreneur?
I started my career on the very bottom rung of the ladder, working in the typing pool at the head office of Marks and Spencer. This taught me determination to climb the ladder as I really didn’t enjoy working in a typing pool.
What were some of the challenges you faced when establishing Tie Rack in 1981, and how did you overcome them to achieve international success?
At 24 years old, in 1981, I was recruited to set up Tie Rack, reporting to a consortium of financiers who tasked me with setting up and running the business. There were many skills I had to learn very quickly, from dealing with architects and shopfitters, through to sourcing and designing ties and then recruiting staff to run the 15 shops that I opened in my year and a half working for this business.
View this post on Instagram
After your success with Sock Shop, what inspired you to venture into children’s fashion with Trotters Childrenswear?
In 1984, my partner Richard, whom I had met at Tie Rack, and I set up Sock Shop, opening some 120 shops in the UK, France and the USA, and taking the company public over a 6 year period.
Trotters has been successful for over three decades. What strategies have been key to maintaining the brand’s appeal, especially among such a discerning clientele, including royalty?
Richard and I opened our first Trotters in 1990. We wanted to create a shop that catered for children up to the age of 10, including a hairdressing and a shoe section, as well as clothing, toys and books.
View this post on Instagram
Trotters is a family business, with your daughter Natasha now serving as COO. How do you balance family dynamics with business operations, and what role do you see Natasha playing in the future of the company?
Trotters is a family business, with our daughter, Natasha, our COO. Some five years ago, we decided that we needed to appoint a CEO to ensure continuity of the business going forward. Natasha reports in to Bruce, our CEO, which ensures that as far as is possible, business and family life are separate.
With Trotters now available in the UAE, how have you adapted the brand to cater to different markets while maintaining its quintessential British identity?
Trotters is a quintessentially British brand, with a touch of French influence as my parents were both French and I was educated in a French school. A British customer would describe us as having a European feel and a European customer would describe us as being very British!
As the Creative Director of Trotters, how do you ensure the designs remain fresh and relevant while upholding the brand’s commitment to quality and timeless style?
We constantly evolve the ranges that we run and every season, we ensure that we have newness alongside styles that our loyal customers have come to expect. We design many of our the prints that are on our dresses in house.
Your mother made hats for the late Queen Elizabeth II, and now you dress royal children. How does outfitting royalty influence your design process, and what is the significance of maintaining this tradition in your family?
At Trotters, we are fortunate to have many members of Royal families, both British and international, as customers. It is wonderful for me to continue the legacy that my mother created by making hats for the Queen and many members of the Royal Family, dating back to the early 1970s.
– For more on luxury lifestyle, news, fashion and beauty follow Emirates Woman on Facebook and Instagram
Images: Supplied
