Express & Star, Thursday, March 11, 2004-03-15

Fruitless trouser search prompts pioneer clothing brainwave
Women's website is going pear-shaped
By Sadie Gray

A Black Country woman whose search for the perfect pair of trousers for her pear-shaped figure proved fruitless, has started a pioneering website which has brought together suppliers of all kinds of women's clothing.

Thirty-year-old Clare Thomas of Aldridge and her business partner, web designer Gaynor Wisdom, got to talking about how difficult it was to find clothes to fit small but pear-shaped women. After 18 months of research they have now launched www.uniquelywoman.co.uk

The site brings together 760 specialist suppliers of women's clothes, shoes and accessories, including garments for women who have had mastectomies and outfits made of organic cotton and non-leather shoes for vegans.

The site is designed so that women of all heights and builds and with any combination of specific requirements can find clothes that make them look good.

The name was chosen to reflect Clare and Gaynor's aim that women should be "proud of being different, and be able to go out and get something nice to wear".

Clare, who went to Queen Mary's High School, said the site would also include articles and advice, and a message board for site users' letters and tips.

Obvious
She said: "It really gets on our nerves that we cannot find clothing for pear shaped women. The site is such an obvious idea that when we started out we thought someone must have done it before."

"We think we've got most categories covered. We feel quite proud of that, if nothing else, people can go on to the site and everything is in one place. We've done the searching for them."

She met Gaynor, who comes from Zimbabwe, when she offered to design a website for an earlier venture of Clare's - a wedding stationary business.

Acting on friend's recommendations and trawling the net for suppliers. They commissioned research which showed that 75 per cent of women shoppers wanted a website that helped them find the right clothes, and that 65 per cent of women in the UK had had difficulty in finding clothing because of their shape or size.