Mum remortgaged her house and kept her new business quiet from her bosses - now she's making £1m a year
20.08.2022 - 21:01
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Drawing sketches of shoes whenever she visited her Grandma’s home as a child, Charlotte Mills always knew she wanted to become a designer. That dream became a reality when she took a huge risk in 2014 – remortgaging her home while working full time to set up a business in her spare room.
Her aim was to create a wedding shoe brand with a difference after previously working for brands such as River Island. After failing to get a government loan or any money from the bank, she kept her new business a secret from her employer in case it folded, spending every waking moment outside work trying to get it off the ground.
Orders trickled in at first. But after seven years of hard work and a 'disaster' that saw her plunged into debt, her company turned over £1million in 2021 - making more than £400k in profit - with this year's sales so far up by 30 per cent.
From a working-class family in the small town of Failsworth in Oldham, Charlotte was the first in her family to head to university.
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She studied at the London College of Fashion - alongside the likes of Sophia Webster and alumni Jimmy Choo - and her interview to bag a place was the first time she'd visited the capital.
Although she didn't achieve the A Level grades she was meant to, the prestigious university let her in but she always felt like an outsider. "I love London now and have the best time when I go, but moving there as a student was difficult and lonely," Charlotte told The Mirror.
"I was coming home a lot at weekends because I was so homesick. Being a northerner in London, I was really intimidated by all the other girls in my class."
"They all had posh accents