About S&O
"Timeless designs sustainably made from quality materials with the country lifestyle in mind."
Hello! I'm Tamsin, (here's me - above), the Founder, Designer, Seamstress and all round hat wearer at Sprawling & Osborne.
Sprawling & Osborne is more than just a clothing brand, my number one priority is to make correctly fitting garments accessible for all. We all know that there are no two bodies the same and there are SO many different shapes and sizes yet we can walk into a high street shop or browse most of the big name brands and suddenly we're all expected to fit in to a standard size 8-18 or XS-XL!
Being a slightly unusual body shape myself I have always struggled with finding clothing that fits me correctly and I was constantly finding that most of my friends were having a similar struggle, one way or another. We spend so much time in our clothes and I truly believe they can transform our mood and mindset for the day, so why settle for something that doesn't fit well and make you feel fabulous!?
My other biggest frustration and something that I have vowed to avoid at all cost is that gradual decline with time... I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. You finally feel like you've found a brand that totally fits with your style, you know what size you are, everything is going swimmingly, only to find the next time you come to order, a few months or even a year later, the same or similar item just doesn't hit the same. It doesn't wash as well, the fabric isn't as luxurious or the sizing is just totally off from before and now you're back to square one searching for your new go-to.
Put quite simply, I create timeless garments, made to last from season to season and year to year that will truly fit you, all whilst ensuring that I'm working as sustainably and ethically as possible. Sometimes I wonder if I've gone a bit nuts and if I'm attempting the impossible but then I remind myself "anything's possible" and I really do believe it - so that's what I'm trying to do!
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(p.s. you might want to get a cup of tea for the next instalment or maybe a gin, it's a long story...)
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I should point out that things are a little different around here to the Sprawling & Osborne which launched in 2019... I've known for as long as I can remember that I would run my own business one day, it was never a case of would I, but just a case of what and when. I used to have a fruit stall outside my house with my neighbour, we'd pick fruit from the trees in our gardens and leave them outside on a table with an honesty jar. We probably only made a few £s each year but never the less it was still fun.
I've been coming up with all sorts of random business ideas for years and years and years. Most of which never made it out of my brain on to a piece of paper let alone to a fully fledged plan. A lot of these came to me on long Sunday afternoons at the village pub, usually to be forgotten about by Monday morning however this one stuck.
Some how we were on the topic of meat. I grew up eating a lot of things which came directly from the fields around us; rabbit, venison, pigeon, squirrel (this was a one time BBQ experiment - it was okay but not really worth the hassle if I'm honest). On this particular day we were talking about how the only part that wasn't getting used of the deer we ate was the hide. I decided I wanted to find a way to use it.
Fast forward - I never did get to use the deer hides, my parents were not budging on the whole tanning skins in the garage thing however I did end up buying a cow hide from my local abattoir and I set about seeing what I could make. I already had a sewing machine and had dabbled off and on growing up so this wasn't entirely new to me. Some weeks later, Sprawling & Osborne launched with the first collection of belts! From here I went in to bags and boot tassels amongst other things.
As I was researching and finding my way I realised that there was an awful lot of talk in the country community about the importance of sustainability in our food however there was less talk about sustainability in the clothes that we were wearing and the concept seemed pretty non-existent amongst the bigger brands.
I started adding clothing as a way to offer more products that didn't require me to be spending hours at my sewing machine when I was back and forth to uni, and I focused on finding the most sustainable options.
"Sustainability" is a tricky term and I have some other blog posts on this as it's something that has different meanings to different people. Just because something is made with organic cotton does not mean it is sustainable and just because something is made with man-made materials does not mean it is not sustainable. Everything is relative too. There's a lot of greenwashing that goes on nowadays but for me when I say that I design with sustainability in mind, this means I am always looking to make the most environmentally conscious choice available to me with the resources I have available. I cannot claim to be perfect but I'm always looking to improve and it's something I learn more about every day.
-
I should point out that things are a little different around here to the Sprawling & Osborne which launched in 2019... I've known for as long as I can remember that I would run my own business one day, it was never a case of would I, but just a case of what and when. I used to have a fruit stall outside my house with my neighbour, we'd pick fruit from the trees in our gardens and leave them outside on a table with an honesty jar. We probably only made a few £s each year but never the less it was still fun.
I've been coming up with all sorts of random business ideas for years and years and years. Most of which never made it out of my brain on to a piece of paper let alone to a fully fledged plan. A lot of these came to me on long Sunday afternoons at the village pub, usually to be forgotten about by Monday morning however this one stuck.
Some how we were on the topic of meat. I grew up eating a lot of things which came directly from the fields around us; rabbit, venison, pigeon, squirrel (this was a one time BBQ experiment - it was okay but not really worth the hassle if I'm honest). On this particular day we were talking about how the only part that wasn't getting used of the deer we ate was the hide. I decided I wanted to find a way to use it.
Fast forward - I never did get to use the deer hides, my parents were not budging on the whole tanning skins in the garage thing however I did end up buying a cow hide from my local abattoir and I set about seeing what I could make. I already had a sewing machine and had dabbled off and on growing up so this wasn't entirely new to me. Some weeks later, Sprawling & Osborne launched with the first collection of belts! From here I went in to bags and boot tassels amongst other things.
As I was researching and finding my way I realised that there was an awful lot of talk in the country community about the importance of sustainability in our food however there was less talk about sustainability in the clothes that we were wearing and the concept seemed pretty non-existent amongst the bigger brands.
I started adding clothing as a way to offer more products that didn't require me to be spending hours at my sewing machine when I was back and forth to uni, and I focused on finding the most sustainable options.
"Sustainability" is a tricky term and I have some other blog posts on this as it's something that has different meanings to different people. Just because something is made with organic cotton does not mean it is sustainable and just because something is made with man-made materials does not mean it is not sustainable. Everything is relative too. There's a lot of greenwashing that goes on nowadays but for me when I say that I design with sustainability in mind, this means I am always looking to make the most environmentally conscious choice available to me with the resources I have available. I cannot claim to be perfect but I'm always looking to improve and it's something I learn more about every day.
Fast forward again - by this point I was no longer making the accessories aside from the boot tassels but I had a selection of t-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies. I'd also been trialling some made to order items including tweed skirts made by my Auntie Jane.
Then, it was March 2020 and like much of the rest of the country I found myself at home with a lot more time on my hands than I'd ever had before. I had my last few modules and dissertation to finish, I'd been furloughed from my new job that I'd started only 4 weeks earlier and was suddenly preparing to be sleeping under the same roof for the longest time in 5/6 years.
As much as I loved my casualwear collections that I had, I knew I really wanted to create something truly my own and unique. I decided I wanted every piece to be made by me or other local seamstresses and my number one priority was going to be, the number one fashion struggle, sizing!
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There's been a lot of ups and downs and curve balls along the way but I'm not trying to write a book here so that's all for now.
Be sure to sign up to my emails as well as my socials to stay up to date with everything I've got going on and in the meantime if you have any questions feel free to drop me a message.
You'll find me on all the usual channels as @tamsinsprawling and @sprawlingandosborne.
Tamsin x
