Pawel Przedpelski, managing director of Sugarhill Brighton, on launching two decades with his sister Aleks and why they eventually set up in Sussex
Is it correct that it’s 20 years since you first opened a pop-up shop in Barcelona?
It is! Sugarhill’s journey began in 2002 in Barcelona. Fresh out of university, my sister Aleks joined the store and inspired by our love of travel, we designed and produced clothing for it in Bali, Indonesia. These hand-finished styles were a big hit with customers and so in 2006, Sugarhill Boutique was created with Brighton as its new design base. In 2018 we rebranded to Sugarhill Brighton to reflect the brand’s creative identity and its heritage as a family run business.
What did you offer then?
Our first collections were dresses using Batik produced in Bali. It’s a printing process we still use in our collections today – Batik is made by printing the wax design onto fabric using a copper stamp called a cap. The applied wax design resists dyes and therefore allows the artisan to colour selectively by soaking the cloth in one colour, removing the wax with boiling water, and repeating if multiple colours are desired. Due to the artisan nature of this process every Batik printed item differs slightly, making each print unique.
How did the story come to arrive in Brighton?
We moved to Brighton and set up the family business Sugarhill Boutique with Brighton as our new design hub.
Why is Brighton the perfect base for you?
We’re a small business with all of our prints hand-drawn and digitalised in house, and Brighton has always exerted a strong influence over Sugarhill’s design philosophy. The inspiration behind many of our best-selling pieces come directly from iconic locations such as Brighton Pier. It’s one of the reasons we rebranded to celebrate our roots and reflect on our focus on a wider initiative to move Sugarhill Brighton into a socially and environmentally conscious business.
How has Sugarhill Brighton evolved since first opening in Sussex?
Sugarhill’s philosophy has stayed the same since we began, to design fun, joyful clothing that our customers love to wear; we still print using Batik and have seasonal collections of dresses that we’ve become renowned for. But, our collections are constantly evolving, each year we introduce new styles and shapes that nod to trends but still have the signature Sugarhill look.
Sustainability is now more of a driver to the business than ever, from our #WearAndCare initiative (where we donate 10% of profits to our charity partners) to the introduction of new sustainable fabrics including LENZING™ ECOVERO™, an eco-friendly alternative to traditional viscose that generates 50% less emissions and water consumption than standard viscose and is fully biodegradable. For this season, we’ve also introduced our Curve Range up to Size 22, whilst autumn/winter 2022 will be expanded further to incorporate over 70% of the collection.
Why has sustainability been important to you?
Sugarhill Brighton is built around distinctive design, our quality and unique prints are what our customers love about us, and so we made the decision to keep the business small and focus on supporting causes close to our hearts including being as sustainable as we can. For us it was simple, we have the means to make changes that are more sustainable, so why not? It’s been a gradual process and currently over 80% of our styles are produced using sustainable materials; 100% OCS approved organic cotton, and LENZING™ ECOVERO™. Our mailing bags made are all plastic free, made from (fully recyclable) recycled paper and biodegradable plant material clothes bags; and we’ve partnered with Ecologi to plant a tree for every order, with over 50,000 trees planted so far. Through our work with Rainforest Trust, we’ve also helped save over 26,000 acres of rainforest, which we are delighted about. We’re also a Living Wage Employer committed to pay a real Living Wage to our staff, independently calculated to be enough for employees and their families to live on.
And why do you donate 10% of your profits to charitable organisations?
Sugarhill have always worked with charities as part of our CSR programme, but we wanted to come up with a way to do more so in 2017 we began our #WearAndCare initiative, partnering with three UK charities. It has since grown and we now work with several charities across the UK and internationally including Rainforest Trust, Plan International UK, SEA LIFE Trust, Give Directly and local Brighton charities; Whoopsadaisy who provide free conductive education for children with cerebral palsy and other motor disorders, helping them reach their full potential, and The Clock Tower Sanctuary who support homeless young people in Brighton & Hove. Our whole team is incredibly passionate about #WearAndCare and since launch we’ve donated over £135,000 to charity, which we couldn’t be more proud of!
What are your bestsellers?
Our 100% Organic Cotton pieces are always some of our bestsellers – the Maggie T-Shirts, Brighton Bretons and Noah Sweatshirts. In autumn and winter our Rita Knits are very popular as we still design with our signature vibrant colours, and all of our dresses with pockets are customer favourites throughout the year! Sugarhill customers love a playful print, and embroidered details are a particular favourite – this spring we launched the new 100% Organic Cotton Billy Boilersuit in two styles with embroidery pocket detail which has been very popular.
What’s new for spring/summer22?
Our SS22 collection encompasses all the playful elements, easy to wear shapes and fun colour palette that Sugarhill customers love. In 2021 we decided to move our collections away from strict seasonal designs, so our bestselling print motifs including rainbows, lightning bolts, dinosaurs and colourful stripes have all been given a refresh with vibrant new colourways and styles. Print stories include Radiate Love, Blue Skies Ahead and Animal Magic, with heart prints adorning lots of our styles including the Floral Animal Patchwork print that is very popular, combining hearts, flowers and leopard print into a meadow. We’ve also introduced a lot more dress designs, particularly smock dresses in several prints, with different lengths and details including shirring and relaxed silhouettes. We have a stunning sundress range launching in June too which we can’t wait for.
