Topics: How to Start a Clothing Brand, Sustainable Fashion Brand, Knitting
From Knitting Passion to How to Start a Clothing Brand with Local Impact
What if the thing you loved as a kid became your business?
That’s the story of Genevive Sweeney—a designer who turned her childhood love of knitting into a sustainable fashion brand worn around the world.
If you’ve ever wondered how to start a clothing brand that’s built on passion and impact, this conversation will spark ideas (and courage) for your own journey.
Genevieve Sweeney shares how she went from a five-year-old with yarn and big dreams to running a studio that employs a community and creates beautiful, sustainable pieces that last for generations.
After years designing for fashion giants like Hugo Boss and Burberry, Genevive launched a British knitwear company that supports local artisans, traditional skills, and proves you can grow a business while doing good locally.
What you’ll learn in this podcast episode:
- Passion to Profit: Turning a love of knitting into a professional brand
- Sustainable Fashion, Real Impact: Building a business that gives back
- Storytelling as Powerful Marketing Strategy: How showing your story—not just your products—grows your audience.
If you’re dreaming of turning what you love into something that lasts, listen to this one! Because you’ll see just how powerful your passion can impact the world.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 – Turning Childhood Knitting into a Clothing Brand
03:12 – From Secret Hobby to Fashion Career
06:50 – How She Started a Sustainable Clothing Brand
10:49 – Building a Local, Ethical Fashion Business
18:14 – Showing Up and Storytelling in Sustainable Fashion
21:10 – Legacy, Craftsmanship, and Community Impact
LISTEN TO NEXT: Hygge Vibes
RESOURCES
Instagram:@chardetryel
Sign up for the priority waitlist to launch YOUR successful podcast
Genevieve Sweeney, founder of her namesake knitwear label, built a sustainable fashion brand that doesn’t just make beautiful clothes—it preserves British craftsmanship, supports local artisans, and brings community back into creativity.
Her story is more than inspiring—it’s proof that your passions have power when you trust them enough to lead.
Knitting as Craft, Therapy, and Beginning
Genevieve picked up knitting needles at five years old. What began as a way to process grief became her daily creative anchor. It was quiet, meditative, and hers alone.
Over time, that small act of making turned into a full creative identity—one that carried her through a knitwear degree, jobs with global fashion houses, and eventually, toward starting her own brand.
It’s a reminder that the thing you love most—the thing you do without overthinking—might just be the seed of your life’s work.
From Global Fashion to Sustainable Fashion
Before founding her brand, Genevieve worked with Hugo Boss, Rag & Bone, and Burberry. The glitz of global fashion gave her skills, but also perspective. She saw firsthand the waste, the carbon footprint, the sheer speed of production that left no room for artistry.
So she did what many entrepreneurs dream of doing—she left.
Instead of chasing trends, she chose to protect a craft. Her vision? To build a sustainable clothing brand rooted in heritage, not hype. To prove that fashion could be timeless, ethical, and personal again.
And she didn’t wait for permission or trends to validate that choice—she trusted her values and built around them.
How to Start a Clothing Brand with Purpose
If you’ve ever wondered how to start a clothing brand and not lose your soul in the process, Genevieve’s journey is a roadmap.
She began not with a business plan, but with a belief. She restored old knitting machines. She met ex-knitters across the UK who had lost their jobs when production moved overseas. She listened to their stories—and built something that honored them.
Her brand became a living archive of skill and sustainability. Proof that purpose can be profitable when it’s personal.
You don’t have to start with everything figured out. You just need a thread worth following.
Storytelling and Visibility: The Heart of Brand Positioning
Here’s the part every founder wrestles with: when do you show up?
For years, Genevieve hid behind her product. She didn’t talk about her sustainable values or her process. She avoided the camera. Then one day, she started showing up—voice, face, story and all.
And everything changed.
People connected not just with her knitwear but with her. Her story became her brand positioning—an authentic bridge between her craft and her customers.
If you’ve been holding back from sharing your story online, take this as your reminder: your story is your strategy. It’s not oversharing—it’s connecting.
Building a Sustainable Business (and a Life)
Genevieve’s journey hasn’t been smooth. She’s faced factory closures, sleepless nights, and the chaos of raising kids while running a company.
She found creative ways through it—bringing production in-house, training apprentices, and rethinking what “success” looks like. Sometimes that meant designing between school runs. Sometimes it meant laughing when her kid threw Jaffa Cakes at the wall mid-meeting.
Because building a sustainable business isn’t just about slow fashion. It’s about creating something that doesn’t burn you out.
Lessons for Early-Stage Entrepreneurs
If you’re at the beginning of your business journey, here’s what Genevieve’s story reminds us:
- Passion is strategy. The small things you love doing daily often become your most sustainable ideas.
- Sustainability is longevity. Build around values, not trends.
- There’s no formula for how to start a clothing brand. Start with meaning, and let the model form around it.
- Your story sells. Visibility isn’t vanity—it’s trust.
- Sustainability is also personal. Create something that works for your life, not just your business goals.
Your Turn
You don’t have to be a designer to see yourself in this story. Maybe you’re a coach finding your message, a creative launching your first product, or an entrepreneur wondering if your passion is enough to build a business.
Genevieve’s journey reminds us that you don’t need the perfect plan. You need courage—to start, to show up, and to let people see the human behind the work.
MORE ABOUT THIS FEMALE FOUNDERS PODCAST EPISODE
“It wasn’t even a buzzword yet, but I saw the carbon footprint, the mass production, and what happened to unsold items. It didn’t sit well with me.” – Genevieve Sweeney
Connect with Genevieve Sweeney
Website: https://genevievesweeney.com/
Instagram: @genevievesweeney
- Turning childhood knitting into a sustainable fashion brand
- How to start a clothing brand that lasts
- Storytelling that sells—why your story is your strategy
TRANSCRIPT WITH GENEVIEVE SWEENEY
Chardét Ryel (00:00)
Imagine creating something that you just love that feels like a passion for you. And as you get older, you start to see that I could create a whole business around this. could create a community. That is what today’s conversation is all about. I’m speaking to Genevieve Sweeney. She is the founder of a luxury British knitwear company. It is beautiful. It is sustainable.
And she’s someone who really has this story of starting very young, in love with knitting, age five, and then growing from there to create something which helps artisans, which is more environmentally sustainable and is having an impact, not only in the UK, but also internationally where she now sells. We’ll be talking about her journey, about some of the blocks that can come up mindset, operationally.
and then also just staying really connected to your customer base, to the people who are supporting you. Lots of inspiration inside. I will see you there.
Welcome to her first three years from breakdowns to blunders, learn what worked and what didn’t. I’m your host, Sade, and whether you’re a new entrepreneur or you’re just starting something new, this is your space to learn and feel a little less alone. I’ll see you inside.
Genevieve Sweeney (01:27)
Yeah, I knitted pretty early, to be honest. I’ve knitted since the age of five. My mom passed away when I was five and my nan taught me to knit. I didn’t realize until much later that that was kind of my therapy, that kind of meditative process. I knitted every day, but it was a secret. No one knew that I knitted. So I’d knit in the car, I’d knit at home in the evenings. And then when I was 16, I found out that there was a degree in knitwear and I was like, well, that’s…
That’s literally that’s my calling. That’s all I’ve been doing. So literally as soon as I found out, then I went out wearing my knitwear and kind of was kind of out and proud of I was a knitter. So I went on to do a four-year degree. And then after that, I went on to work for global brands such as Rag & Bone in New York, Hugo Boss in Switzerland, and then Burberry and a couple of smaller brands in the UK. Became very aware about the lack of sustainability. And it wasn’t a buzzword now, the kind of
I could see the carbon footprint and the mass of units being made. And then what kind of happened when the items didn’t sell? And I just thought I can’t, didn’t sit well with me. And I also, I always kind of knitted in my own time. I always had my studio and I used to buy and restore old knitting machines. So I’d travel the UK meeting ex-knitters who were giving away their knitting machines. They kind of like prized livelihood that they’d worked from home, cottage industries.
And I’d end up going to the pub with them, hearing that kind of story of that golden age and then realized that they’d all lost their jobs when all the production went to the Far East. And if someone didn’t do something about it, these skills would disappear. So that’s when I quit my job and decided to launch my brand to celebrate these crafts and to shine a light on British knitwear.
Chardét Ryel (03:12)
You know, they always say, they always talk about the savants, like they learned piano at age four, but you knitted at age five. And I think that that is incredible to have that kind of calling to something. And then that sense of not realizing that it’s something that is acceptable quote unquote, right? Cause you were hiding it or it said anything.
and then being able to find it in university as something that you can actually study, I think that must have felt amazing, right? Because it’s a skill you’ve been quietly doing and finding so much fulfillment in.
Genevieve Sweeney (03:48)
Yeah, definitely. I think even during kind of like my A-levels, like 16 to 18, I knitted everything. Like I used to make kind of sculptures out of wire that I knitted and using the tapes, cassettes, just kind of, I kind of went wild with it and realized that this was my, this was my kind of, yeah, my kind of tool to express myself. A lot of people in my course also didn’t know how to knit. So I started a knit society so people could.
could teach people how to knit because I was like, how you can do this degree when you don’t know how to knit? And what was really interesting about it was that people that came weren’t even in that degree. It was people that studying maths and music and marketing. And the first year it was about 14 people, but it went on to be 150 the next year and then 300 the following year. Just amazing.
Chardét Ryel (04:38)
Interesting thing about it, of course, is the whole sustainability piece and the craftsmanship for what you created on the product. But I think also this passion for it that comes through on the other side of these people are intrigued because it’s a meditative thing, right? And it’s amazing to make something with your hands and to see that you just I don’t know if you go in already knowing what’s going to come as a result, but it feels like it just is this work of art that emerges.
Genevieve Sweeney (05:06)
It’s a bit of both. When I knit for myself, I do a lot of 1930s inspired ball gowns and I will start creating knitting in the car, on the kitchen table with glass of wine and that emerges because I think what I love about knitting is you create the form and the pattern and the texture.
Chardét Ryel (05:28)
Is it more for you than especially with the business? Did it start as I have this creative vision of what these products are going to look like or was it more we’re going to see how they’re evolving, what is created, what these artisans bring?
Genevieve Sweeney (05:44)
I wanted to create timeless knitwear that people would wear for years and pass down through the generation. So I looked at timeless styles, but also what I felt was missing in my wardrobe. And just ⁓ silhouettes that would style throughout the year, that was some key pieces. But then I also look at the artisan crafts and think, what can I do to make this sing, to really show it off? So I do also start from the beginning of
created my own yarns, I do different color blends and textures within that. there’s that kind of detail and storytelling from the beginning before the knitting starts as well.
Chardét Ryel (06:24)
Can you describe that process a little bit of going from the conception of, and this can be as you do it now, not necessarily as it was in the beginning, of thinking about what the products will be, even the dyeing I think is fascinating, to then bringing it to market. And you don’t need to go through the whole production phase or anything like that, because I know that could be another episode. Where does it start conceptually? And then how does it go to market?
Genevieve Sweeney (06:50)
All my colors are inspired by Mother Nature, so it kind of starts me on walks. I love picking up lichen that’s fallen from the trees. I kind of mood board and I’m very led by texture. And I try and kind of create rules within it that I work with certain mills. And so then I kind of get creative within the mills and bring in beautiful slubs. And then I kind of look at what is the character of the yarn? How does it fit? How would it drape?
And yeah, through that with mark making, that’s kind of where my stitches come together. But I’ve just recently set up a micro factory at my studio. So we’re now manufacturing in HAL.
Chardét Ryel (07:26)
Are you wearing one of your pieces now?
Genevieve Sweeney (07:29)
I am wearing two. I’m wearing my textures, like a green cardigan, which I love and wear all the time. And even the buttons are made in the UK with the last button makers in the cots world. And then I’m wearing a naturally dyed merino wool t-shirt, knitted t-shirt, which is like I’ve lived in all summer.
Chardét Ryel (07:50)
That’s the best part of being able to have that as your company, right? You can wear your visions and it does look like I can see just looking at it as you were talking about nature and that inspiration and see it and what you’ve created and the textures. I love how excited you get about the whole conception of it and how it comes to be and being able to now have more agency over the whole process. Cause I know that’s a hard part when you create a product is
Genevieve Sweeney (07:54)
Yes, exactly.
Chardét Ryel (08:20)
sending your baby off and hoping it comes back okay. Are there parts, this just came up to me because it sounds like your process is really well honed, are there parts of it that you personally could not do? And I know that there’s, of course it’s best we delegate things anyways to grow and scale, but in terms of are there things that you 100 % are like, this is not my area?
Genevieve Sweeney (08:46)
like as a founder, you do everything and you wear so many hats and I shouldn’t do everything. Definitely not. like, I definitely feel like I do all the marketing and I love that because it’s my kind of voice and sharing it. But I do feel like I’m getting at a point where I need help and I need that kind of probably outside vision as well. And then with the manufacturing, I’m trying to grow a team at the moment and trying to teach apprenticeships. And I know that I could train someone to do a much better job.
job than me and because they’ve got the time then and the skill and I can’t do every part of the job.
Chardét Ryel (09:22)
I think that’s the biggest struggle once you finally get over the first struggle, which is I can’t do it myself, everything. It’s like, okay, now let’s find the people. How long has it been since you first started? Because you are really, as I said, getting this process down. You have a very strong vision. The storytelling, I know you said marketing, you’ll probably get assistance on, but the storytelling you already have is really powerful. How long since this?
first products launched.
Genevieve Sweeney (09:53)
Yeah, it’s been 10 years, but it feels like it’s changed, like it’s ever evolving. And I’ve gone from wholesaling to not being direct consumer. And each point, I feel like, not like I’ve started again, but I’m on the right path. When the change is made, I realize this is what I’ve been leading to. So especially with setting up our micro factory, I feel like this was eight years in the making.
Chardét Ryel (10:20)
some listeners will be newer in their journeys and you kind of think, when am going to get this all set? And then it’s all these pivots and these unforeseen things like you said, Brexit, who could have seen that that was going to happen? The changing of the manufacturing, all of it. Is there any particular challenge that was more difficult than the others that you felt really proud of having resolved and how did you do it?
Genevieve Sweeney (10:49)
think there’s kind of lots of little things. Like when one my most amazing factories retired, that was really hard because it happened just before the autumn season. So I had to really kind of get scrappy and think how I’m going to make collection going to a very well-known department store. And I was like, how am going to make this? When you have that kind of panic and that change of plans, you get scrappy and also I think great ideas come from that. And so I ended up renting a machine in Leicester and
doing the manufacturing there and linking in-house. And that gave me a real, I mean, it was really hard work. It was working through the night and, you know, asking for all the favours, but I got it done. And that’s when it made me realise I can do this in-house and I just need to find the right people and train them. But then within that, I then had kids and then I was thinking, how am going to do this with kids? Then took my studio into the house. The things that seem horrific at the time, yeah, great things come from it.
Chardét Ryel (11:49)
Losing a trusted partner like that is, I can imagine, like the shock factor, I’ve got to deliver this, there’s inventory, et cetera. But then that allowed you, like you said, to come up with this concept of, actually, I could even do this in my own factory, which maybe wouldn’t have been the jump you would have come to otherwise if that hadn’t happened.
Genevieve Sweeney (12:12)
Yeah, yeah.
Chardét Ryel (12:13)
It’s amazing that you were able to establish it in-house and then also to structure around having a family. Can you discuss a little bit about what is your workday like? Because I know some listeners will have kids or want kids and they’re also entrepreneurs and founders and this is ever the question of how do you manage?
Genevieve Sweeney (12:34)
My kids have kind of grown up with me having this business and it was in our home for a long time. that was kind quite easy because they could play and I could pack and we had my assistant coming in packing and I could be doing my designing and work. But now we have a studio, so it’s a space that they go to and they see it as kind of like going to work and one of them can sit and craft, the other one just wants to watch Bluey and that’s it.
so I’m very like Jaffa Cakes at the wall. yeah, so it’s interesting. I think when it’s school time, I’m then kind of quite restricted to the hours, but I feel that’s quite good because I kind of go there with purpose and intention. I know I’ve got those hours. It’s just trying to catch the hours whilst being present for them, which is sometimes it feels completely impossible, but sometimes it works. it’s, I think it’s not putting pressure on yourself with them.
My assistant is also a mum, so she works within school hours. I think it’s great that we’re all in the same boat and we support each other.
Chardét Ryel (13:35)
There’s
something about, I’ll always say, I think it’s amazing when you can have a team of parents helping you in your business because the time management is unreal. ⁓
Genevieve Sweeney (13:47)
Yeah, it really is.
Chardét Ryel (13:49)
For many people listening, maybe it’s not family that’s the other time that they have away from their business. It could be something else. Maybe they still have a full-time job or who knows what it is. They’re taking care of parents, but finding that way to create your own schedule, I think is the hardest but the best thing too about being an entrepreneur.
Genevieve Sweeney (14:09)
And then it also does make it hard for how do you fit yourself in there.
Chardét Ryel (14:13)
Do you have anything that’s worked for you for this that you found a way to find time for yourself that isn’t just because I can definitely see it of, well, I have got some free time. Let’s go do it on the business.
Genevieve Sweeney (14:27)
For me, just being in the garden, think is that is time for me. That’s where I kind of, feel like it fills my cup. So I always try and grab 10 minutes in the garden. Like even if it’s just de-heading roses or something like that, just that little acts of something makes me feel like I’ve achieved something and I’ve done something to me.
Chardét Ryel (14:46)
I’m so jealous that you have a card in right now. That would be such a good way to force me to get off the screen if I had to go dead, had some roses or had to just go somewhere. Yeah, I think this is the thing that you mentioned is such a big problem, isn’t it? Of the business is you, especially when you’re a small team solopreneur, but even as you, I think for many years, that is the case, especially when you’re creating such a…
intimate product like you’re doing that you you feel very connected to it. How have you managed and maybe you’re still managing this I know it takes a little bit of time. How did you manage the separation of the state of the company and the company’s success or struggle versus your own sense of self? Have you found that struggle at all?
Genevieve Sweeney (15:36)
Yeah, I find, I think it’s very hard not to take it personally. if you’re, like obviously I sell seasonal brand, so obviously summers are quieter. And I do find it hard that when things are quieter, you know, you’re doing all the work you can, your future. It’s hard not to, to panic, I guess, and to then take that internally. I still struggle now to not kind of bring my stresses into the house. It’s hard to.
just switch off, guess, basically.
Chardét Ryel (16:08)
Yeah, I don’t know if it’s possible to switch off. No, I won’t place that. It is possible. It is possible. requires a lot of intentional work on it, 12 years as an entrepreneur. I think that it’s hard, yeah, that dealing with the seasonality of your business, whether that’s due to actual seasons in your case.
Or it’s just due to the stage of your business or the stage of the world and what you’re offering. That is tough. Yeah, managing that aspect.
Genevieve Sweeney (16:43)
don’t know when there’s going to be global issues. Sometimes I think I can’t market what I’m selling because there’s bigger things going on. I have to keep on thinking, well, big brands are still talking about what they’re launching and this is a livelihood as well. But that’s always quite an internal battle as well when there’s big political things going on at the same time.
Chardét Ryel (17:08)
Yeah, think this has been like a huge thing in the last two years for so many, because it feels that it’s hard to bring the messaging that you’re bringing when other stuff is happening. And at the same time, it’s especially in your case, you know, you are supporting the livelihoods of other people. And really the best thing is for to have that kind of impact to be able to continue to do that. And that impact can only be had if the business continues to grow.
people hear about it, right? Like it’s this loop of making sure that that happens, but definitely feel that personal resistance sometimes too. If you’re a huge, big company, you can kind of separate a little bit easier from it because it’s the company, it’s not you. And so it’s easier to have like, this is me being a personal advocate versus my brand. But as we were talking about, when you’re so intimately connected, that’s a little bit harder.
How have you seen that shift because you’ve been doing it for 10 years? For the marketing of it, the online presence aspect of it, what has changed for you?
Genevieve Sweeney (18:14)
Yes, it’s been really interesting over the years because when I first started, I knew nothing about marketing. I knew how to get a product to market, but I didn’t know what to do once the product was ready. I didn’t really talk about my sustainable value so much because it wasn’t on trend. Now it’s just so interesting. Now it’s expected. Really interesting how I’ve found my voice of how to communicate that. I guess I hid myself slightly at the beginning, like I never showed my face.
used my voice and I’ve realized how powerful it is now. People then kind of really understand. It’s completely kind of changed the marketing in a really exciting way. I think I did a lot of in-person events at the beginning because I found it really interesting meeting people and having those conversations and understanding what people understood, cared about, working out different ways of how to communicate it.
Chardét Ryel (19:08)
You as a product entrepreneur are so good at this. feel product entrepreneurs really get this where you have constant conversations with your customers and really understand the language that they’re doing, that they’re using and the different pain points. There’s so much to learn from that because when you’re just doing services or you’re doing online digital stuff, it’s very easy to never do that. So I think it’s really great a reminder that.
Look how powerful this is, even for someone who’s a founder for 10 years, this is still a fundamental part of your business and underlies your marketing and your messaging. One of the things you had said just before that I want to make sure I touch on before we finish the episode here is you talked about how bringing your story forward, the visibility piece for you, how did that become more
comfortable for you because you said it started about three years ago.
Genevieve Sweeney (20:07)
probably something I would have done much earlier, but I think I was pregnant, having kids, not being that great about myself. So I think that did kind of delay the start of me doing it. I think I just went for it. Like I just started speaking on camera and probably I could never look back at the first one because I probably cringed too much.
Chardét Ryel (20:27)
because it’s something that is a big block for a lot of people. It was a big block for me too, is showing up, especially on camera. think sometimes we can do photos and it’s fine because you can stage it a little bit. Camera is scary. Camera is different. It really is. Yeah, you see different aspects of it. Is there anything else that you feel like was a really important…
Genevieve Sweeney (20:40)
Yeah.
Chardét Ryel (20:53)
way for you to connect to your customers or to further grow the business that you would leave people with as a lesson that, ⁓ this is so good, you definitely want to do this, or I wish I would have done it sooner, I’m so glad that I did.
Genevieve Sweeney (21:06)
being more present personally on social media.
Chardét Ryel (21:10)
and I can see why people continue to buy me and I’m looking right now at your amazing outfit. How can people who are curious about the brand learn more? Where can they go? This is also if you’ve got any news you want to share, please do. But where can they connect with you?
Genevieve Sweeney (21:28)
My website is jenevysweeney.com and on my newsletter, I kind of share the real behind the scenes and kind of like, I guess, the diary of my life. And then on social media, on Instagram, I’m jenevysweeney. And as we’re coming into autumn, I’m just about to launch my new collection, which at the moment, 30 % of the production is made in-house at our studio, which I’m so excited about. It’s been months of planning and designing and developing. So I’m really excited to share with it.
with Word.
Chardét Ryel (21:58)
follow Genevieve on socials especially because then you will see the new collection as it is revealed. And I think the newsletter is great too, especially for anyone who’s curious about knitwear, who has a passion for it, but also anyone, you know, found or curious about the behind the scenes, the journey. So thank you for sharing. Thank you for being here and for all the beautiful creations that you’re making.
And thank you so much for listening. Now Genevieve does ship internationally. So if you’re not in the UK, but you still want something warm and beautiful, you can find it on her website, Genevieve Sweeney. can Google it. Also look in the show notes there to find it. Connect with her because you never know when a new piece is coming out. And of course, always trying to support anything that is sustainable, especially think about this, for a gift. And I will see you.
in the next one. Your story is your SEO. It is as powerful as those words people are searching for. Go to the Her First Three Years website or go to my Instagram, Sharday Royale. Both of those links are in the show notes. And get the private podcast series, How to Stand Out Online. You will listen to that series. You will probably binge it and you will find your way.
Thank you so much for listening. Share this with someone who needs it. If you enjoyed it, please leave a review. Share this energy. You know, it’s all about spreading, receiving. If you feel like it’s made a difference, made you think, please, please, please share your thoughts.
