'We started The Couture Club with £5k loan from my mum'

When Ross Worswick confided in his mum about his dreams of launching a fashion brand, she was invested in every sense of the word in her son's determination to succeed.

Ross had always wanted to work in the fashion industry and, after recently returning home from filming MTV reality series Ex on the Beach, he knew this was the opportune moment to turn his career aspirations into a reality.

Luckily for him, his mother Judith had every confidence in him too.

"I didn't really have any money at the time and this is where my mum came in," said the co-founder and creative director of The Couture Club.

"I approached her and just said 'mum, I'm really thinking of doing this' and she was like 'I think you would do amazing. I really believe in you'.

"She asked me 'how much do you think you'll need to start?'

"And to be honest with you, at the time, I had no idea and I just said 'probably £5,000'."

His mother's belief in her son was never in short supply and she handed over £5,000, which was everything she had in savings, to start the business in 2015.

Little did she know that this loan would mark the start of a multi-million brand business loved by customers around the world.

"She took a huge risk on me," said the 36-year-old, who grew up in the Ribble Valley in Lancashire.

"She believed in me to make it work."

This loan funded the design of one t-shirt in three colours - black, white and khaki.

Ross - along with his business partner Scott Shashua - handled everything at the start from printing labels and packing each order to dealing with customer service enquiries.

"It was very humble beginnings," recalled the father-of-two.

The idea for the business was born while the two friends, who met while working on the Manchester nightlife scene, were catching up over lunch at Nando's.

While Scott had some experience in setting up a business after launching a selfie stick company, this was still very much unknown territory for the two friends.

On the first day of sales, the pair sold £500 worth of the t-shirts, promoting the brand by asking their friends to retweet their posts on Twitter, now known as X.

Fast forward to more than a decade later and The Couture Club has a headquarters in Manchester and employs more than 50 employees.

The firm has branched out into women's and kidswear and, most recently, a footwear line and had four retail stores including their flagship shop in the Trafford Centre in Manchester.

Their catalogue of clothing has been worn by the likes of influencer Molly Mae-Hague and FC Barcelona and Spain footballer Lamine Yamal.

"It's been 10 years and there have been really tough times in there and in the last three years there's been some really great times," said Ross.

"We're grateful of all the mistakes and the overall journey we made as it's shaped me into a better leader than I would have been if it had all been great all the way through.

"When we started the business we had no real experience so we were bound to make mistakes.

"We did mistakes and we learned from there."

The company has grown and evolved over time, which is something that Ross is proud of.

When asked what advice he would give to budding entrepreneurs who have an idea but have yet to get it off ground, Ross's advice is simple - be true to yourself.

"Everything you do around your business and your brand needs to be authentic to yourself," he said.

But for Ross, he will never forget where it all began - a loan from his mum.

This is sacrifice he has never taken for granted.

"It's been a long the journey but my mum has always been the biggest cheerleader outside of my wife," he said.

"Entrepreneurship didn't start with confidence, it started with my mum who believed first."

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