Cath Kidston is a domestic fashion designer, successful business women and is the creative director of Cath Kidston Ltd, founded in 1993, which is one of the most influential and original design companies to emerge from the UK in recent years and has expanded steadily to become the unique international life style brand it is today. She began by selling vintage fabrics, wallpapers and brightly-pained junk furniture that she remembered from her childhood.Her clever re-working of traditional English country house style meant that her first tiny shop in Holland Park London became a cult success. Cath Kidston products have now expanded and she now designs and makes an extensive range of home wares, women’s fashion and accessories, kids range and even outdoor products, all of which are well priced, good quality, fun, practical and original, the range being inspired by textured floral prints, which are distributed by many shops and concessions in the UK, and shops in The Republic of Ireland, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Taiwan.
The business is growing by successful Website, mail order and wholesale divisions and a new Euro transactional website was lunched in 2011 to support the existing UK and US sites. Products available: Accessory range includes: purses and wallets, phone, gadget and glasses cases, travel, beauty accessories, umbrellas, key rings, shoes and wellies, belts, jewellery, scarves and shawls and hankies. Fashion range includes: dresses, knitwear, tops and blouses, jackets, nightwear and slippers, shoes and wellies, tights and socks, hats gloves and scarves.Bags range includes: handbags, day bags, cross body bags, shoppers, travel and weekend bags. Home furnishing range includes: cotton, furnishing, oil cloth fabrics, wallpaper, ready and bespoke curtains and blinds, floor tiles, cushions and throws and lighting.
An extensive accessory range for kitchen includes: cutlery sets, crockery, tea towels, aprons and oven gloves. And an accessory range for the dining room, living room, bedrooms, bathroom and laundry room and a knitting sewing and craft range.Kids own range includes: girls, boys and babies clothing, bags and purses, footwear, toys and accessories, stationary. Kids even have their own bedding, travelling, wallpaper and kitchen accessories. Cath has worked with Millett’s to create tents and Carphone Warehouse and Roberts radios to extend her brand.
She has collaborated with Tesco’s to produce printed eco shopping bags made from plastic bottles, which were sold to raise funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care.She also designed a range of clothing for Unqloi which funds a safe motherhood initiative in Zambia run by the charity JOICFP. She has also published seven books. There are many Cath Kidston designs including: Spots, Notting Hill, Kensington, Victoria, Kempton, Province, Royal roses, Trailing Ditsy and Floral, Cowboy and Spray Flowers. I think her designs are quirky. They are brightly coloured, everything has some sort of print on it and the designs are quite simple but most have distinctive floral prints or bold modern designs.
I think her products evoke the 1950’s with their floral and polka dots or retro images of cowboys or ballerinas, so her products appeal to older generations as well. I have not really got a favourite design, although I do prefer the small prints rather than the larger bolder ones. Whilst I like and do have a few accessories and stationary items, I wouldn’t actually wear any of the clothing range Cath Kidston is a great inspiration to others and was awarded an MBE for services to business in February 2010 as part of the Queen’s New Year Honours List.
