Each week Lotta will be answering one of your questions!
Christine Scheuerman on Facebook asks:
Can you tell us about your company, such as how long you’ve been in business, how many employees and future growth plans?
Hi Christine, thank you for your question! It was when I was working in publicity and promotions at Warner Music Group that I first met my husband and business partner, Jonny. He was based at the office in London and came to Stockholm for a meeting. For three years we had a long distance love affair.
I moved to London when I became pregnant with our eldest daughter, Emma, now 20. I found it tough living in another country at first but, as soon as my baby was born, I was so happy. We now have two more children - Anna (18) and Joey (13) and have been living in Twickenham for the last eighteen years.
Eight years ago I noticed that clogs were starting to make a comeback in Sweden and I bought myself a couple of pairs. All my friends in London loved them and, every time I went home, they would ask me to bring them back a pair. We started making clogs with a family business in Sweden. I then locked my partner Jonny in a room and told him that I wasn't going to let him out until he made me a website which I am rather pleased to say he did. This was the beginning of Lotta from Stockholm.
We started selling on Portobello Road in London. When we started to get really busy, Jonny put his music consultancy on the back burner and joined the business full time. www.lottafromstockholm.co.uk was launched and, as demand for our clogs exploded, we called on family, friends and neighbours to come and help us pack the clogs into boxes. For around 5 years, our kitchen was completely overrun with clogs but now we have a warehouse and showroom nearby. We now have four other employees in our office and three permanent staff in our warehouse (although we always have some temporary staff, especially during busy periods).
For the moment, we’re so busy trying to keep up with demand, that we don’t have any major plans for growth. We just hope to keep expanding our range and reinventing clogs with our partners that our customers will love.
