Me & Yu is a printed clothing company based in Manchester. Their handmade, vibrant print designs have caused quite a stir in the city and beyond. We chatted to Angie, one half of Me & Yu, to find out about her working day.
So how did Me and Yu begin?
Gordon and I had been together for quite a few years before we hit on the idea of making clothes together. When we were in Australia in 2003 I started making and selling clothes. Gordon joined in by creating customised t-shirts and jackets and the idea for Me&Yu just evolved.
When did you make the move to Manchester’s legendary Affleck’s Palace?
When we returned from Australia in 2004 we got full time jobs, but started selling clothes at markets and events around the north west. We opened our doors in Affleck’s after getting a great response from our clothes in the UK.
What’s your favourite thing about Manchester?
Although we don’t live in Manchester (we travel from Blackpool every day) we love the vibrancy and the diversity of the people; there’s always something going on and people aren’t scared of wearing something a little bit different.
Your aesthetic is really unique; where does this come from?
We like things that are different and we always strive to create something that isn’t the most obvious choice or the most contrived variation of current fashion. We celebrate the hand-made and hand-printed element in our designs. While this isn’t the most commercially viable concept, it has more artistic integrity and these things are important to us.
What’s your setup/who does what?
We both plan and create our designs – hand-drawing, scanning and working on each other’s designs. Gordon screen-prints the finished artwork onto the garments. My talents are pattern cutting and sewing, but Gordon also does a lot more sewing these days. Gordon handles all the website design and creation (including photography) and then processes the online orders, getting them to the post office etc.
I prefer to be in the shop more: I work five days to Gordon’s one. This allows me to spend more time marketing and promoting the brand, organising photoshoots and blogging, as well as the usual shop jobs such as merchandising, range planning and cleaning.
It’s a long working week and we usually work in the evening on admin, extra sewing, research, the website and design. Now we’ve been running the business for five years, we know our strengths and weaknesses better so it makes it easier to manage our time.
What winds you up?
Running a small business can be pretty frustrating. The stress of micro-managing money and time can be stressful. The most difficult thing is the relentlessness of our long working days, combined with travelling. We’re not in the position to take holidays and this takes its toll on your health. A few years ago we took on too much but we’re getting better at saying no to things now.
…and what’s the best part of the day?
I still get a kick from seeing people loving the clothes we make, and being in the shop ourselves we can see the people who buy our clothes and find out what they’re up to. I love that our clothes go off to have adventures.
There’s lots of competition out there – what do you reckon is your secret?
We’re not in this for the money. We create designs that we like and that we want to wear ourselves. We stay true to this design aesthetic and try to stay away from mass-market appeal, therefore the people that do know us and love us are faithful customers.
Do you have any tips for anyone wanting to follow in your footsteps?
It’s really, really hard, so be prepared for sleepless nights, a lack of social life and challenges to your finances. If that still sounds like fun then go for it – there’s a lot of satisfaction to be had for working for yourself and not being told what to do. But make sure you do lots and lots of research.
If someone gave you fifty grand to do something with your business, what would you do with it?
We started the business with absolutely nothing. I think if you started with a decent amount of investment then you could plan and structure the business better. Fifty thousand would just about cover some upgrades to the printing studio, a targeted media campaign, a stand-alone store and we’d have some money to hold on to for cashflow purposes. We’d love to get into some of the bigger stores worldwide, like Urban Outfitters or Selfridges, but they require you to create all your products for them up front, and you wouldn’t be paid until two months down the line. That’s always going to be a struggle for a small brand.
