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Online entrepreneur seeks crowdfunding boost

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Green website: Bermudian online entrepreneur Natasha Tucker

Online entrepreneur Natasha Tucker is to turn to crowdfunding to expand her established British green fashion site.

Ms Tucker, Bermudian but based in London, set up Reve en Vert — Dream in Green — around four years ago.

Now she wants to grow the business through public investment in the store, which specialises in high fashion with a low environmental impact and beauty products.

Ms Tucker, 31, said: “We sell fashion, beauty and active wear and everything we sell is sustainably or ethically made in one way or another, whether that’s made of natural products or organic products or recycled material.

“Every designer we work with is committed to working ethically.”

Ms Tucker, who moved to England when she was 13 and holds a master’s degree in art and politics, was inspired to start a green business after working at Wadson’s Farm in Bermuda while home for a year, aged 25.

She had planned to use her farming experience to start a restaurant, but decided to set up a fashion business after talks with friend and business partner Cora Hilts, a US citizen also based in London.

Ms Tucker said the business was a spare time activity for two years, until an investor stepped in and allowed them to move on to a full-time basis.

She added: “We’ve been growing the business ever since. We now have a chief financial officer and a marketing director.

“We’re really seeing growth happening in the business, which is fantastic.

“People are really interested in the transparency behind brands and want to feel good about the choices they make and we’re at a good moment for the conversation to go further and reach more people.

“That’s why we’re excited about the crowdfunding. It’s about getting people excited, not just as a stakeholder, but as a movement.”

Ms Tucker and Ms Hilts are to launch a fundraising initiative next month on Crowdcube.

For as little at £10, around $12.50 and up, subscribers can become an equity shareholder in the business.

Ms Tucker said: “It’s a really innovative way businesses around the world are raising capital, on-boarding customers and brand ambassadors at the same time and we’re really excited to get people involved and spread the message.

“It’s really just to grow the business and more resources to allocate to marketing, PR and brand awareness and help us to get to the next stage, hire more people and expand the business.

“We also want to expand our product offering and the amount of inventory we have.”

Brands stocked include upmarket Scottish cashmere and wool from Johnstons of Elgin, London-based Christopher Raeburn, who has created designs for Fred Perry, Victorinox and Barbour, US-based Yoga Democracy, which uses recycled plastic to create designer leggings and Reve en Vert’s own range of T-shirts, REV by Reve en Vert.

Also featured are Ryan Roche, a luxury knitwear designer whose work has featured in Vogue magazine and the New York Times and New York jewellery designer Pamela Love.

More information on the Reve en Vert range is available at http://reve-en-vert.com.

Cora Hilts