Hoolies Jewellery was born in lockdown but did not dissolve as restrictions lifted. It has instead continued to grow and expand, a testimony to the sisters work. We discussed the challenges of balancing University life with running a small business, sustainability, and the future of Hoolies, as the girls continue to develop the brand.
How did the brand form and where did your inspiration come from?
“It happened last year in lockdown. My sister was put on the furlough scheme and there were start-ups everywhere. We were actually buying from some of them before realising we could do something like this ourselves. There’s an Australian brand that we found that used polymer clay, we bought lots of different things but found that the polymer clay we use is quite a niche material. Lots of people use beads to make jewellery which is very cool, but obviously comes with more competition. We named the business to honour a very beloved horse which belonged to our Mum, and then we started selling on Instagram.”
people put them on and it makes them feel happy because they are so bright and bold...
How important is sustainability is to the brand?
“We have zero waste essentially, or very minimal waste, because we use left over’s from the clay version of the earrings and we put them on the inside of the ones that we wrap with thread, so there’s actually very little polymer that’s wasted. We use carboard boxes and tissue paper for packaging.”
What is your favourite piece that you’ve made?
“It changes all the time, because they're all customised and unique. I’ll make some for someone but then like it myself, so I couldn’t place one right now! My collection has grown a lot for myself a lot as times gone on.”
How do you find balancing university life with the business?
I can struggle a lot, it’s really difficult, there’s a lot on your plate as it is at university. I’m a lot better at getting more achieved in terms of the business when I’m back at home. But hopefully, with the website, we won't have to do as much making because we’re going to use stock rather than making the product for every order. I feel like whenever I’m in the mood to be productive I need to be doing university work. Fortunately, in terms of my course, there’s a lot of points that I can and relate to Hoolies which has been very helpful.
We named the business to honour a very beloved horse which belonged to our Mum...
What does the future hold for the business?
“The next step is to launch the website. We are very close to it, we just need to do product pitches and then we will be ready to launch. Then in the future hopefully we will do other products and maybe differ from just earrings, but at the minute that’s our niche and I can’t really bite off any more because I’m in my third year at uni!”
Why should people buy from Hoolies?
I don’t think there’s anything else like it! Our favourite review which comes up quite a lot is that people put them on and it makes them feel happy because they are so bright and bold, which is a huge compliment. And I mean I agree, I think they are great. I don’t think there’s many earing like them. We had a try with beads in the beginning, but there are so many of those brands, and I feel this is very unique.”
Check out their Instagram: @hooliesjewellery
