Former Figleaves CEO Julia Reynolds, who founded Tesco F&F clothing in 2001 and recently worked as a non-executive director for UK-based software company Acue and Essex Wildlife Trust, co-founded the brand lifestyle Rey-House in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic with her friend and former Tesco Global Apparel Purchasing Director Mandy Kearns.

Described as a lifestyle brand serving the “under-represented” Generation X woman, Rey-House will sell clothing for women 40 and older, as well as a selection of beauty and fashion items. household items.

Clothing includes wardrobe essentials including t-shirts, shirts, pants and dresses.

The first collection was put together using “carefully sourced” fabrics and yarns from Japan, Italy, Spain and Turkey, and created by a UK-based pattern maker and designer.

The focus on the product will be “quality to last”. Reynolds said, “We don’t want customers

by dumping their clothes in the landfill, we want our brand to be a lifelong favorite that stands the test of time. The world needs to buy less “stuff” that will help reduce our environmental impact. “

The range will be composed of 50% materials and products from sustainable sources with the objective of being at 100% by 2025.

Reynolds called the brand’s prices “mid-range.” Retail prices range from £ 39 for stretch knit jersey pants to £ 85.

The brand will launch direct-to-consumer sales early next year through its own Rey-house.com website. However, Reynolds said she “would love” to find a partner who believes in the founders and the brand, like John Lewis, Marks & Spencer or Next.

Reynolds explained how the couple came up with the concept for Rey-House: “About 18 months ago I met one of my former Tesco colleagues, Mandy Kearns, and said I had some. so fed up with poor quality clothing for women over 40. The only way for me to get well-fitting clothes that are durable or that last is if you pay a lot of money for them – and that can be hit or miss, too.

“So we sat there chatting and I said there was a vacuum in the market here. We set up a quantitative and qualitative survey, and we questioned the motivations of people (40-75 years), and we understood what were the problems with the clothes and what was really clear was that each person that we interviewed said there was a problem with fit and quality.

Last year, Reynolds and Kearns conducted qualitative and quantitative research with 150 women aged 45 to 70. They also explored 20 women’s wardrobes and interviewed them.

Reynolds said: “We have found from our research that the rhetoric around this age group, about what they think about themselves is actually a huge part of the problem. These women want to be recognized at their way We know we’re on to something.

“In a way, Rey-House is a bit of a revolution. Because we’re all women this age, we know we’re on to something.”