Fashion success story for lockdown project

BUSINESS birthday celebrations were held for a Teesdale entrepreneur who launched an agricultural clothing line during lockdown
When Rebecca Tiplady’s events company was unable to operate due to the pandemic, she came up with the idea of launching a clothing range to keep her occupied.
Her company, Monty West’s, an amalgam of her son’s name, Monty John, and the cardinal direction of her childhood home at West Hall, Boldron, has gone from strength to strength since she launched it in 2020.
Her Cow Girls Don’t Care range of snoods, hats, sweatshirts and fleeces have proved not only popular with women working in the agricultural industry but further afield as well.
She said: “It’s going really well and we’re shipping all over the UK from Land’s End to John O’Groats and to Northern Ireland.”
To celebrate the success of her fledgling company, Ms Tiplady threw a two-year birthday bash at Glaxo Sports Club, in Barnard Castle, inviting friends, family and customers. The party was also an opportunity to show off some of the new range of sweatshirts that have been named after local villages – Baldersdale, Romaldkirk and Cotherstone.
She added: “We launched new pieces in the range and I’m naming them after local villages because we are proud of where we come from in the North East.”
Monty West’s now has 49 products. Ms Tiplady added: “What is lovely is we are selling to customers who are not in the agriculture industry but wanted to be a ‘Cow Girl’.
“I really wanted to celebrate getting this far and the idea was that we launch the new pieces and it was also a chance for locals to have a try before they buy opportunity.
“But it has been lovely to see so many people coming along to celebrate with me wearing their Cow Girl clothing as well.”
Initially Ms Tiplady operated a pop-up shop based at her brother’s West Roods Farm, in Boldron, but sells mainly online through her website – where her range is modelled by friends from the farming community.
Such has been the success of the brand she is turning a building at her home in Baldersdale into a distribution hub to keep up with demand.