Jade Holland Cooper | Amanda Wakeley Style DNA

In this episode I go on a Style DNA journey with the very impressive Jade Holland Cooper Founder and CEO of her eponymous brand, Holland Cooper. Jade had a rural upbringing which was all about her ponies and horses...she didn't really think about clothes other than their functionality. It wasn't until she went to study at the Royal Agricultural College that she realised that everyone was dressed the same...that there were very few options for chic country clothing. This was her lightbulb moment. She drew up a business plan, left college, created a few tweed miniskirts that she sold from a "2 metre stand at Badminton Horse Trials" and she realised then that she was on to something. She has built an astonishingly successful brand in just 15 years, turning over 60 million pounds, and is in the process of building a 7,000 sq foot head office in Gloucestershire. I can honestly say, her achievements are extraordinary. I ask Jade who her biggest inspiration is and she says Ralph Lauren, ironically the king of classic British style . The Lauren influence is clear but in a more obviously branded way. She admits that she wants to get the name on as many items as possible as it is effectively "free advertising". We laugh about how in the early days she bought an embroidery machine so that she could get her name embroidered onto as many pieces as possible, how she would have the machine running 24 hours a day with the assistance of a baby monitor. She tells me that her mother is her st