North East activewear brand celebrates investment success

Amazing Jane, a North East based activewear brand, specialising in designing clothes to boost confidence in women through different life stages such as having children, perimenopause, and menopause, is celebrating investment success after Laura Middleton, founder of The Office Rocks and Bump, Baby and You invests in the venture. 

The brainchild of Debra De Luen and Claire Goodliff, Amazing Jane has continued to go from strength to strength after launching in 2021, and news of this investment is testament to their many achievements since beginning their business journey. 

In September 2021, Laura worked with Amazing Jane and was blown away by what the company had already achieved. This prompted the North East entrepreneur to invest 

in the brand, in a bid to not only accelerate growth opportunities but to also help the activewear company to achieve its goal of becoming a household brand, on an international level. 

Claire Goodliff, who has 22 years’ experience working in business development, with 15 years specifically working with women in the fitness industry said: “After initially working with Laura, we quickly realised that when we were investment ready, Laura would be the person we wanted to have within Amazing Jane. 

Not only is her skill set, and experience a great asset for us, but she totally understood and championed our vision and goals for the brand from day one.”

She added: “The ethos of Amazing Jane is to encourage women to get into the right mindset for being active – which can often be the biggest hurdle. We do this through the psychology of Enclothed Cognition. 

This psychology is linked to the way clothing influences our mind. For example, wearing certain clothes has been scientifically proven to have a positive impact on your self-confidence & emotional well-being. Our activewear is designed to fit, flatter, and disguise, and in turn builds self-confidence.”

Claire and Debra, who are both from the North East of England, and met by chance in 2013, in Bristol, were determined to turn their vision into a reality by tackling the barriers in the activewear industry. 

Debra De Luen, who has 34 years’ experience working in management & business development, and a health club owner for 16 years said: “We’ve achieved some fantastic growth, especially in the last 12 months and as we prepare to celebrate our 2nd birthday, our investment success really is the icing on the cake.

For over 9 years we talked about the barriers to exercise for women; we wanted to create a brand with a real sense of community, and where women support each other regardless of their fitness level.”

This ethos instantly resonated with Laura, whose experience and success lies in community marketing, which is very much what Amazing Jane is built upon. Laura offers marketing & ecommerce consultancy services to other SMEs alongside her role as MD at The Office Rocks. 

Established in May 2015 from the playroom of Laura’s home, The Office Rocks boasts an impressive portfolio of online communities and long standing partnerships with many of the UK’s biggest household names including Nike, Tesco, Sainsburys, Argos & Clarks. 

In March 2021, Laura also successfully exited What About This, a ladies fashion ecommerce brand which she acquired in December 2018. By applying her years of experience in community building to ecommerce, Laura was able to grow the business from £500 to over £2m in sales in 2.5 years.

Laura, Founder and Managing Director of The Office Rocks said: “When I first met Claire & Deb I was blown away by what had already been achieved. They had identified a gap in the market which clearly needed filling.

In a very short space of time they had established a solid supply chain, built a loyal client base, engaged community and developed a product and brand to be proud of. Having built and sold my own community ecommerce business means that I can truly support Claire & Deb through this journey.  We have huge plans for Amazing Jane on a national and international level and I am thrilled to be on board.

She added: “As Amazing Jane prepares to celebrate its second birthday, the future looks bright for a brand that is committed to “empowering and supporting women at different stages of their life, through the power of clothing and its deeper psychology – to make women feel good about their bodies so they can achieve their fitness and wellness goals.”