The Leader is continuing to put the spotlight on local independent traders, producers and high street heroes across Wrexham and Flintshire.

If you know of or are a business that goes above and beyond, or has a great story to tell, we want to hear from you, and celebrate our local traders and producers. You can let us know via our Q&A or email claire.pierce@newsquest.co.uk for more details.

SISTERS & SEEKERS, Wrexham

When most people think about the world of fashion, they probably summon up images of London, Paris, Milan. Chances are their last thought is a shed in North Wales.

But that's exactly where today's Trader of the Week began.

Back in 2017, fuelled by £2,000 of savings from selling vintage clothes on their eBay and Depop on the weekends, sisters Alice and Maisie Jones started fashion brand Sisters & Seekers from a garden in the village of Hope, in Flintshire.

Three-and-a-half years and plenty of hard-earned success later, the up and coming online fashion brand has had to move to larger premises on Llay Industrial Estate, in Wrexham, employs a growing team of 15, all local to the area, and has even been given the seal of approval from daytime TV legend, Phillip Schofield.

We find out more from directors and lead designers Alice, 25 and Maisie, 22…

Alice and Maisie Jones celebrating reaching 250,000 followers on Instagram in February 2021.

Alice and Maisie Jones celebrating reaching 250,000 followers on Instagram in February 2021.

What does the business do/make/sell?

We're known for our cohesive aesthetic, sisterhood empowerment and unique, yet on-trend designs at an affordable high street price.

The target customer is between 18 to 30-years-old, maintaining a range of price-points to allow for women at different stages in their young-adult life to have access to the brand.

Throughout 2020, Sisters & Seekers saw huge success due to the athleisure style clothing we are known and loved for.

Our streetwear and casual attire, plus relevant slogan designs, contributed to significant growth during the pandemic, with revenue more than doubling and our Instagram following now standing at over 250,000.

The business has continued to go from strength to strength, and is only just getting started.

Sisters & Seekers designs are available online and have also been available to shop on the High Street in select Topshop stores before its closure during the pandemic.

What is your most memorable or proudest moment in business?

We've had lots of proud moments on our journey so far, from moving out of our garden shed in Hope to our first premises, hiring our first employee, hitting milestones on our social media accounts and smashing financial targets as a team.

These have all been equally emotional and memorable highlights.

Something most recent was Black Friday 2020. We hit our total sales target for the day (£100,000 which was an ambitious goal), within one hour of launch at midnight.

It was so unexpected and overwhelming, we couldn't believe our eyes as the orders came in, we thought it was a website glitch!

Any strange requests or stories from customers?

We have hundreds of stories that we could share but probably shouldn't!

One funny thing that happened during 2020 though was us getting ready for bed at our family home and getting an Instagram notification through tagging us in a photo of Phillip Schofield in our Isolation Generation Collection along with the rest of his family in matching outfits. It was surreal!

Anything else we should know?

Prior to starting the company, Alice was working as a junior design engineer and starting a degree in architecture design and technology. Maisie was finishing sixth form and embarking on her degree in business management.

Every year since launch, they've had to relocate to larger premises, and created a menswear "brother brand" called Brother + Kin in the height of the pandemic.

We lived and breathed the business 24/7. Up until the end of year two, we were consistently working at least 16-hour days to make sure we were perfecting all areas as best as we could, especially as we didn't start to take any staff on until after our first birthday, so workload was heavy.

The team we have now built work tirelessly and are as passionate about the brand and seeing it succeed, as we are, and we truly couldn't ask for anything better than that.

That's definitely been the key to our continued growth, plus the ongoing support of our loyal customers.

• To check out the brand for yourself, visit www.sistersandseekers.com