Olivia always loved fashion, but never imagined a side hustle from her grandmother’s house would grow into a brand turning over £10m.
That brand, Murci, has since featured on TV show Love Island, and has seen her move from her nana’s to a site for her 35 staff.
After completing a placement at major brand Boohoo, Olivia Prince, 31, started working as a receptionist, which is when she began selling clothes on a website as a side venture.
It has grown to such an extent that in June, The Times ranked her label among the 20 fastest‑growing companies in the UK, external.
A business expert said the UK had a “bustling side hustle culture”, but that high-level success was “difficult to replicate”.
Olivia, originally from Conwy, loved experimenting with styling and clothes as a teenager.
She went on to study fashion buying and merchandising at Manchester Metropolitan University and won a placement at the city’s major international fashion brand Boohoo.
“I think one fear of mine was obviously going to university and then not being able to get a job after it, especially in the field that I wanted,” she said.
“So I thought if I get a placement, even though it’ll take me an extra year to graduate, hopefully that’s a foot in the door.”
Olivia said it was “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for somebody like her “to come from Wales and land their first job at Boohoo”.
She said: “You had to make a really creative CV to show off your skills… I can’t draw but I was like, ‘how cool would it to be to have this leather jacket with my CV all across the back of it?'”