Patricia O’Toole talks about her flattering Beautiful You collection
The changing world of fashion means many women are looking for comfortable clothes that will suit
their busy lifestyle, and one Galway woman has come up with the solution. Jessica Thompson speaks
to Patricia O’Toole, the mastermind behind Beautiful You.
It all started with “an idea and a blank page”, according to Patricia O’Toole who is currently
launching her new clothing line, Beautiful You.
The line is designed with the female body in mind, using fabrics that flow with the curves of the
body, providing support for the tummy area in particular, enhancing the natural shape of the body.
And it all began with an internet search.
“About three years ago I was searching online for a wrap-around top. Wrap-around tops are
synonymous with hiding the tummy area,” she says.
“I couldn’t find one anywhere and I couldn’t believe that on the worldwide web, nobody was doing a
wrap-around top all the time – an affordable one.
“So I spent a couple of months researching it and then I decided ‘wouldn’t it be great to have a
clothing line that focused on hiding the tummy area?’”
The ‘Gráinne’ wrap-around top is only one of the pieces in Miss O’Toole’s collection, which also
includes a ‘Gráinne’ wrap-around dress, both of which have built-in shapewear designed to work
with the body to give women the support where they need it most.
“The idea was to create an online space for women that addressed the issue of primarily the tummy;
creating this online space where women could go and they’d know that every piece had been
designed with the tummy in mind – the tummy that’s left over after having children, or going into
menopause, or anything like that,” Miss O’Toole explains.
But what makes this product stand out from so many others is the comfort it provides compared to
the solution to which many women turn: spanx. The Beautiful You line is designed with comfort in
mind, but also makes women feel “pulled in”.
The built-in slimming support is carefully designed to give women a smoother silhouette, without
discomfort, thanks to the comfortable jersey fabric.
“I got annoyed that women feel that they have to put on these spanx in order to fit into regular
clothes and I wanted to have something that gave them everything in one piece.
“So there’s built-in shapewear in every piece. The design works with you and the fabrics work with
you, so the brand itself has to have those elements going through it the whole time,” says Miss
O’Toole.
Patricia O’Toole is working from a very remote location in Connemara but feels like she has all the
resources she needs there when she needs them. In fact, it was in Connemara that she got the grant
to get started on her business.
“For any entrepreneur starting off, cash flow is always an issue and things always invariably end up
costing you twice as much as you imagined, no matter how good a business plan you have,” she
says.
“I was lucky enough to apply to and get a grant from FORUM Connemara to the National
Development Programme for start-up costs.
“So I was able to get a grant for things like my computer and my printer and the initial start-up costs
of the website and various things like that. And that takes a huge weight off your mind; that you
don’t have to be worrying about every single penny.”
The hardest part, Miss O’Toole says, is right now – launching the brand and getting people to try the
pieces in the collection and endorsing them. The hardest part, she says, is making herself stand apart
from all the other clothing lines out there, and endorsements really help her with that.
“I spent many years living in New York and what I love about doing this in Ireland is that if you have a
good product, you do get in front of people who matter very quickly and I have found that to be so
true in terms of what I’m trying to do.
“And I do have people who have endorsed the product in their own way at national level. Building
relationships is vital for that,” she says.
With the Beautiful You collection launching for winter, Patricia O’Toole is wasting no time and is
already planning to expand.
The product is all about building a global brand. It’s a “solution product” for women and Miss
O’Toole sees Ireland as the very first test market before she moves to London – “hopefully in the
Spring/Summer of 2015”.
She has no intention of stopping there and plans to use her contacts in New York to make the brand
as global as possible. While she admits she doesn’t know if it will work out in her set time frame, she
is confident her business will grow.
“People often ask me ‘what are the most important steps when setting up a business?’. And to me
it’s about recognising your markets – you have to have a market for what you’re going to sell,” she
says.
“And the second thing would be getting your product right. And getting your product right is vital.
Forget about your business cards. Forget about your website. Forget about spending money on
branding or anything like that – get your product right first.
“And for me the third step would be building relationships and getting people to understand what
you’re trying to do so that you have people behind you; that you have endorsements before you
start spending money on promotion or anything like that.
“I think those are the three most important things you need to do so that when you do start doing
your website, the people who matter already know something about you.”
Patricia O’Toole’s Beautiful You collection is available on the website www.patriciaotoole.ie.
