The feel-good clothing brand supporting mental health through every sale - Helenell Raiment

A clothing brand that aims to make you feel good on the inside - we caught up with entrepreneur Elliot Sparrow, a recent graduate who started a company called Helenell Raiment while studying for a Sports and Materials Science degree at the University of Birmingham. 

'Our brand tackles the stigma surrounding mental health whilst raising awareness of the importance of positive body image and self-respect.

We believe the fashion industry so often turns a blind-eye to emotion and expressing oneself by solely focusing on image alone. We want to spread the message that it's not just about looking good, it's about feeling good. The inside matters as much as the out!

For every product purchased online, we donate £1 to CALM, a suicide prevention charity. 

This is essentially bringing action to our motto ‘Don’t just look good, feel good’. It means with every purchase through our website, our customers are actively helping prevent the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK.

The idea was founded on the concept of producing affordable yet totally unique street-wear. Originally creating custom pieces, we created just a handful of embroidered sweatshirts in a given design to ensure you wouldn't see anyone else wearing the same thing. We achieved this on a small scale, and still encompass the affordability in our brand philosophy today. However, we are far more than a clothing brand.

www.helenellraiment.com

This transformed us from a clothing brand to a lifestyle brand. We showcase young and local talent in a hub on the website known as THE GREEN ROOM which has transformed us from a clothing brand to a lifestyle brand. From photographers to artists, musicians and poets - we reach out to creative people to offer them an online showroom, free of charge. This isn't just a benefit to the artist; it draws people who visit Helenell Raiment to explore our website further, stay for longer and also draw inspiration from other young creatives.'

'All my friends were applying for grad schemes, and I wasn't too sure what I wanted to do post-graduation. I'd started selling a few custom sweatshirts to friends at the time, and was encouraged by the Careers Network staff to toy with the idea of setting up a business. By mid first-term, I'd registered a limited company and was curious as to how big I could try to scale up whilst studying. I was further encouraged to apply for the B-Enterprising Ideas Fund and was awarded £1,000 to grow the business.

I'd started to use the money to purchase inventory, including custom labels from Italy which gave Helenell Raiment's products a truly authentic stamp. Since then, the inventory I spent the money on would have sold for a profit and been reinvested into the company. The £1000 grant was a huge help to provide the first big step into forming my clothing brand, without which I doubt I'd have taken the leap.

I couldn't count the challenges faced in running a business - especially during finals! However, I managed to find my work-uni-life balance and take baby steps to growing the business. It's only been since September that I've been working on the company full time, and so far it's been a blast. 


We have shipped to over 25 countries across 5 continents, making it a truly worldwide label! The main challenges I faced were around the bookkeeping, accounts and legality side of things. I didn't know much about business, having never studied it, so spent a lot of time reading and learning on the job!

Elliot's advice for starting a business

Go for it. Do your reading, double check you can scale it profitably - because when things go well, you're bound to want to do more of whatever it is!...and enjoy it. As long as you're passionate about the idea, and believe in it's potential, then back yourself and take the leap!'

with thanks to Elliot Sparrow, Helenell Raiment

Edited by Bob Lee

Further links:
B-Enterprising Homepage
CALM - Campaign Against Living Miserably website