You were an established business woman prior to hitting the dizzy heights of the London Eye with Ricky Grover, so what motivated you to start BeaBea?
 
My professional career prior to BeaBea was as an IT Manager for a multi-national financial institution. I spent all my free time making clothes for myself and plus sized friends and used to dream about one day maybe getting a chance to really influence the plus size fashion market in the UK. To my delight I was made redundant in 2003 and I went to work for a plus size fashion company as their buyer and to develop their plus size fashion lines.
 
In the six weeks that followed it became apparent that they had no interest in producing quality clothing or in providing good customer service. After some soul-searching I knew there was no way my conscience could allow me to work for such a company - so I handed my notice in, sold my house and invested every last penny into setting up BeaBea.
 
While I knew I was taking a huge risk I also knew that there were lots of other plus sized women out there who were desperate to express their personal style and creativity through their clothes. From the very beginning BeaBea’s focus has been to provide the very highest quality and to concentrate on excellent, precise fitting for plus sized curves. This had to be complimented by a range of quality lingerie to give a proper foundation to the clothes, and it also had to be glamorous, luxurious and sexy in the widest possible range of sizes.  

I tracked down a key group of excellent suppliers and set up our own Design Studio with a small manufacturing base and we were away. I’m delighted to say that we’ve now in our third year and busier than ever.

Why do you think it is so hard for larger people to find funky, fashionable or sexy clothing? You would think that businesses would be desperate for our cash?
 
I believe that part of the problem is that the majority of fashion businesses are owned and operated by thin people. Manufacturers also seem to think that they can just add a few inches on to either side of a dress pattern and that it will fit but it just doesn’t work. Big Beautiful bodies are all unique and we all blossom in different ways. Customers can have complete confidence when they come to us that we understand bigger bodies.

Lots of manufacturers also seem to assume that larger women want to hide – in my experience when women know they look good they want to show off! We love working with curves and we know how to display the ones you love (and maybe skim over the ones you’d rather keep hidden.)

Even the stuff that fits us is often poor quality – are larger people being ripped off or short changed when it comes to fashion?
 
I think the current trend for clothing is for low priced, low quality items which are treated as disposable and last maybe a month or so rather than a lifetime. The actual price of clothing now is lower than it has ever been before and the major chains and supermarkets all seem to be importing vast quantities of clothes from sweat shops in the Far East.
 
We do buy items from a small range of suppliers but we work with them closely and examine every stage of their working practices to ensure that no-one is exploited to produce things we sell. Obviously we also insist on the very tightest quality control processes. The vast majority of our items are manufactured in-house though so we can influence every step of the process. When you place an order with us the same person is responsible for the garment through every stage of its manufacture from the fabric choice to the pattern cutting, manufacturing and final pressing. This individual attention allows us to concentrate on producing only the very best. It does cost more than a mass produced item from the Far East but the resulting outfit is definitely worth it!
 
Why are there very few images of plus sized models on your site?  There are plenty of us waiting to volunteer (girls, check out the underwear on the site and join the queue)!
 
I get asked this question quite often! The simple answer is that photo shoots are extremely expensive and time consuming and we’ve always been too busy producing orders to concentrate on making new samples. We are currently working on a new web page to show case lots of our wonderful customers in the outfits we’ve made for them and this will be coming to the site very shortly. If anyone would like their photos included do please send them to me. In the slightly longer term we hope to be running a competition to find some new models which we are hoping to launch in 2007. Watch this space!!
 
It sometimes seems more acceptable to be a big man that a big woman. Why do you think this is?
 
Sadly I think being big is seen as pretty unacceptable these days regardless of which gender you are. The Media and Government seem to be of the opinion that we are all lazy, uneducated and depressed about our size but I have no idea who they are basing these outdated stereotypes on! I have the pleasure and privilege of speaking to plus sized people all day every day and the vast majority are far too busy with their homes, families, careers and social lives to care what anyone else thinks. I think most of us are aware of the health risks associated with size – but there are risks too in being underweight, in listening to negative stereotypes and even in crossing the road. Every single time a larger person steps out in public looking good and holding their head high they
are fighting this prejudice – life as a big person isn’t easy but if we work together I am certain we can educate the general public and improve the media perception of us.
 

Have you experienced prejudice or abuse due to your size?  How did you
deal with it?
 
I think like everyone who is large I have had people stare at me in the street and I’ve also heard people pass comments but I can genuinely say that they don’t really bother me anymore. Much like school yard bullies these people only do it to make themselves feel better - if I think about them at all it’s only to pity them and their narrow outlooks on life.

You can see some of the wonderful BeaBea creations and stunning underwear at www.beabea.co.uk. Thanks to Tracey and Team for allowing the use of their images on Chocolate Brownie.