Sunderland children's fashion business favoured by Tyson Fury named among country's most inspiring independents

Designer Childrenswear was founded more than 30 years ago by husband and wife duo Brenda and Kevin Coade when they started selling children’s clothes on Newcastle Quayside. In 1984 they opened their first store in their home town of Sunderland in Olive Street.

It’s since gone from strength to strength, dressing the children of millionaires and more and its strong online presence enabled it to continue to trade in lockdown.

Now it’s been named in the top 100 of inspiring independents by fashion industry bible Drapers. As the magazine couldn’t host its usual annual awards ceremony due to Covid-19, it decided to celebrate the resilience of the industry by compiling the list of inspiring independents as voted for by readers and the editorial team.

Dionne Evans, commerce director at Designer Childrenswear, said: “This year has been the hardest and most challenging for a lot of businesses and the fashion/retail industry is no different.

"We are so proud of how, as a team, we have pulled together and carried on through this ever-changing pandemic. Our business has seen a significant increase in customers browsing and shopping online via www.designerchildrenswear.com. We are truly thankful for the skilled team that literally kept the business going throughout the lockdown period.”

As well as its online offering, the store has reopened with strict Covid measures in place.

The store moved to larger premises in Derwent Street last year, which is featured in the next series of Geordie Shore’s OG’s after Talia Oatway and Aaron Chalmers were filmed shopping there.

Dionne added: “Our company business is somewhat different from this time last year, all of our office based staff are working remotely from home, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

"Our stock buying no longer consists of trips to Milan, Paris or London, but is replaced with structured Zoom calls and conference based buying to view 2021 collections. However, we are still as motivated as ever so to receive this news is such an accolade and acknowledges everyone's achievement.”

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