Meet Sally. The woman behind Ivy

The fashion insider who couldn't find what she needed 

For over twelve years, Sally had lived and breathed big brand fashion as a clothing buyer. She understood supply chains, knew quality when she saw it and had her finger on the pulse of what women wanted from their wardrobes. Or so she thought.

Everything changed when daughter Maggie arrived in 2016. Suddenly, Sally's carefully curated professional wardrobe felt alien to her new reality. Her body had changed, her lifestyle had transformed overnight and her priorities had shifted completely. Like so many new mothers, she found herself reaching for the same uniform each morning: jeans and a t-shirt. Simple. Practical. Comfortable. Reliable.

Except her t-shirts weren't reliable at all.

The daily disappointment

Despite having spent years sourcing clothing for major brands, Sally's own drawer was filled with frustrations. T-shirts that promised comfort but delivered tightness where she didn’t need it. Cuts that looked great on hangers but flattered no one in real life. Pieces that shrank after the first wash or lost their shape after a few wears.

Even with a newborn consuming most of her energy, Sally still wanted to feel like herself when she looked in the mirror. She wanted to feel put-together, confident, stylish. But every morning felt like a small defeat as she pulled on yet another disappointing t-shirt.

"I couldn't understand it," Sally reflects. "I had all of this industry knowledge, all these connections, yet I couldn't find a single brand making what felt like such a simple thing, a really good t-shirt."

The search that led nowhere

Sally started searching with the methodical approach of someone who knew the market. She tried high-street brands, premium labels, sustainable startups. She spent money on pieces that looked promising online only to be disappointed when they arrived. Nothing ticked all her boxes: organic materials, ethical production, flattering cuts and quality that would last.

The irony wasn't lost on Sally. As a fashion buyer, she'd been part of an industry that consistently failed to serve women like herself, women who wanted clothes that worked for their real lives, not just Instagram moments.

The lightbulb moment

That's when Sally realised she was asking the wrong question. Instead of "Where can I find these clothes?" she started asking "Why don't these clothes exist?"

With husband Andy's encouragement and her industry expertise, Sally decided to stop searching and start creating. If the market couldn't provide what women actually needed, she'd fill that gap herself.

Building something better

In 2017, just a month before son Sam's arrival, Sally launched Ivy with six carefully designed t-shirts. The brand name came from her daughter Maggie's middle name, a reminder that this brand was born from real maternal experience, real frustration, real need.

Working with a Portuguese factory that shared her values around worker welfare and environmental responsibility, Sally applied everything she'd learned in her buyer role to create something genuinely different. Each piece was tested, refined and perfected with the knowledge that came from twelve years in the industry and the perspective that came from being the customer she was trying to serve.

More than just business

What started as solving her own wardrobe problem quickly revealed something bigger. The emails started pouring in from women who felt seen for the first time by a clothing brand. Mothers thanking her for understanding their changed bodies. Working women grateful for pieces that took the stress out of getting dressed. Women of all ages, in all seasons of life who'd been searching for the same thing Sally had been, clothes that simply worked.

Today, 65% of Ivy customers return again and again, creating what Sally calls "mini-friendships" built on trust, transparency and genuine care. Each piece in the collection is still named after important girls in her life, keeping the brand grounded in its personal origins.

The bigger picture

Sally's journey from frustrated customer to founder reflects a larger truth about the fashion industry: too often, clothes are designed by people who don't actually wear them, for bodies that don't exist, for lives that aren't real.

"I needed these clothes to exist," Sally says simply. "And I've been delighted to discover how many other women did too."

As an independent, privately-owned business, Ivy has the freedom to prioritise what's right over what's most profitable. It's this independence that allows Sally to choose smaller production runs to avoid waste, work with factories that align with her values and build genuine relationships with customers rather than just chasing sales figures.

Looking forward

What began as one woman's morning frustration has grown into a movement of women who refuse to settle for almost-right. Sally's vision extends beyond individual transactions to creating a community of conscious consumers (Ivy’s VIPs) who understand that the most sustainable garment is the one already in your wardrobe that you still love wearing.

"We can't single-handedly solve fashion's sustainability crisis," Sally acknowledges, "but we can make it easier for women to shop with intention and dress with confidence. That feels like a pretty good start."

Sally continues to be intimately involved in every aspect of Ivy, from design decisions to customer service. You'll often find her personally responding to emails, because at heart, Ivy remains what it always was: one woman's solution to a problem that shouldn't have existed in the first place.