WITH lockdown starting to ease many women are looking forward to ditching the tracksuits and sloppy home- working attire for something more flattering.

The Perfect Dress Company in Ferndown is an on-line business that launched in the most inauspicious of times - March 2020, but despite the pandemic has enjoyed remarkable success. It's now our worthy winner of Trader of the Week.

The company was founded by Sunny Bird who lives in Ferndown with husband Darren and daughter Sophia,3. She also runs Sunny Bird PR in Bournemouth.

Sunny was diagnosed with Graves’ disease in 2012, gaining 19kg (42lbs) in just three months, and found herself not only facing a debilitating illness, but also the challenge of finding a whole new wardrobe to suit her changed figure.

Over the years since her diagnosis, Sunny’s weight and dress size has fluctuated dramatically from a size 8 to 18 but regardless of her shape, Sunny’s attitude to fashion remained consistent. She searched for stylish and flattering pieces but she found it near impossible to find flattering clothing suited to her different sizes. So, Sunny set out on her mission to launch a fashion brand that catered for every woman and every size, and most importantly she wanted to create the most flattering dresses for women.

The Perfect Dress Company’s first range was the ‘Figure Flattering Dresses’, designed to enhance and flatter all body shapes. Created by real women for real women, the brand was the first in the UK to use models of all sizes on the website from a size 6-8 to 20-22.

Sunny consulted with women of all sizes to find out what they needed from a dress. The answer was comfort, and for many that meant not being forced to wear control underwear or shapewear underneath their clothes. Which is why Sunny’s aim was to create dresses with a ‘No Need for Spanx’ policy.  The first collection includes three styles named ‘Drop a Dress Size’, ‘Nip & Tuck’ and ‘Tummy Trimmer’, complemented by a range of jewellery.

Incredibly, sales increased by 458% in August 2020 compared to previous average monthly sales. This was a result of a targeted marketing campaign that consisted of PR, digital marketing and influencer marketing.

Sunny said: "Reaching out to celebrities and influencers has been paramount to our success, choosing those who align with our brand and our audience, such as Slimming World influencers, lifestyle bloggers, and celebrities who have struggled with weight and love to wear figure-flattering fashion."

There clearly must have been struggles setting up amid coronavirus and Sunny added:”As most of our dresses are occasion dresses, we knew that we wouldn’t be selling many of these when people didn’t have events to go to during lockdown. This was a real shame as the photoshoots we had paid over £10,000 for at the beginning of the year featured Ascot and bridal style photography that just wasn’t relevant in this new climate.

“As soon as it became clear that lockdown was going to be our ‘new normal’ for the foreseeable, we focussed on our social media and keeping in touch with our community. We gave advice and support to our followers and worked on creating more casual looks with our dresses. We also introduced and expanded our jewellery range, which again we brought forward rapidly. We had seen a surge in sales for our existing jewellery range at the beginning of lockdown where women wanted to treat themselves to something nice but didn’t need a special occasion dress. With so many people furloughed, and many worried about cashflow, we also added an interest-free payment plan option onto our website.

“Although the future is still relatively uncertain, we’re somehow remaining positive! We’re doing our very best to listen to what our community wants and adapting our offering to suit. 

“Our ethos is that fashion should work for you and not the other way around, which is why we plan on launching more styles to align with our values such as dresses that you wear multiple ways and for multiple occasions.

“We also want to focus on audience-led content on our website and social media and allow customers to be our influencers. We want to showcase real, everyday women of all shapes and sizes not just models. This sets us apart from other fashion brands.

"As a brand, we are aiming to secure more stockists and features on TV channels to reach a wider audience and tell our story.We currently offer sizes 6-8 to 20-22 but are looking to expand this to more sizes as our aim is to be fully inclusive for all women. In the next few years, we are continuing to develop new styles and prints to extend our range of dresses. We have just launched a ‘Bump to Baby’ range that can be worn both during and after pregnancy as well. We’ve also started to delve into accessories and jewellery and will continue to do so.

"It’s been a rollercoaster of a year, but we are so proud of our successes so far, and we’re looking forward to what 2021 brings for the Perfect Dress Company!"

Sunny is researching ethical manufacturers and suppliers to work with that give back to women including those which rescue, rehabilitate, train and hire women rescued from sex trafficking and abusive backgrounds.

Dresses and jewellery can be purchased on the website at www.perfectdresscompany.com or via SilkFred.

Dresses range between £95 and £145 and the jewellery collection ranges from £29-55.