Mollie-May at her Pop-up shop Caramella at Liverpool One. (Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
One of Britain’s greatest style success stories, created from scratch in a Liverpool kitchen, has closed suffering “devastating losses”. Fashion brand Caramella launched in 2017 by Mollie-May Rossi with a £500 loan while she balanced university studies and a part-time waitressing job.
It ended up with 250,000 customers and attracted support from reality TV personalities from shows such as The Real Housewives of Cheshire, Love Island and The Only Way Is Essex. But despite a rebrand in January, to take on global brand rivals like Shein and Temu, the 28 year-old has announced it ceased trading on Wednesday.
Mollie-May was devastated to have to shut down her fashion brand (Image: Liv Echo)
She posted: “Coming to terms with that reality has been heartbreaking. There were times I took out personal loans to ensure wages were paid because giving up was never something I was willing to do.”
Mollie-May started her fashion label on her mum’s kitchen table nearly 10 years ago while studying for a psychology degree and juggling a part-time job as a waitress.
She first launched the business, which was based in Wirral on Merseyside, solely as an Instagram page, and grew a loyal customer base.
She had borrowed £500 from her dad to set up the brand, which went on to achieve nearly £12m in sales and serve more than 250,000 customers.
Initially, she would buy products from Italy – this was the inspiration behind the name Caramella, which translates as sweet in Italian.
She explained: “We were selling probably like 10 orders a week. Then when I left uni, I just transitioned into it full-time. I quit my job and my family were like ‘what the hell are you doing?’ but I just took the leap.”
The fashion company quickly grew from those humble beginnings and she counted a six-week pop-up at Liverpool One shopping centre in 2023 – and seeing more 300 people wearing her clothes at Aintree racecourse the following year – some of her highlights.
But in recent years she noticed a “shift in the economy” and her current business model was “no longer sustainable”.
Mollie-May said: “Shein and Temu were providing clothing that was similar to what we were selling. So we basically didn’t have a chance really and we had to make a change.
“We said ‘Right, we’re going to completely design everything ourselves now’. So that’s when I took on my business partner in January and we started producing all of our own goods.
“Basically we’ve given it a shot since January for five months but it’s too costly to do it.”
Mollie-May started fashion brand Caramella back in 2017 (Image: Caramella)
This week she said she made the difficult decision to close down her company.
In a social media post to customers she went on: “For many years, I put the business ahead of my own mental health and wellbeing, and the truth is, I eventually burnt out.
“I explored every possible avenue to continue the business, including our rebrand in January, which received an incredible response from our community.
“However, while we experienced many successful years, more recently we suffered devastating losses, and unfortunately those losses have now reached a point where continuing is no longer possible.”
The heartbroken entrepreneur said having to make her team of employees, which included members of her family, redundant had been heartbreaking.
Despite this, she said she was still glad she had taken the risk to design their own products in January.
“I think we needed to give it one last shot,” she said. “It was more like one last shot for me because last year was really bad.
“We probably couldn’t have continued doing what we were doing anyway because we were losing money and the costs were so, so high.”
Now, after welcoming a little boy eight weeks ago, she said she was looking forward to enjoying some family time before deciding on her next project.
She concluded: “To have had to let go of the most amazing team of people including my family has been heart breaking.
“Navigating this during such a precious chapter of becoming a new mum has been incredibly difficult and has consumed me since the day my baby entered the world. I have reached a point where I must put myself and my baby first.
“To our incredibly loyal community, and every single person who supported Caramella – whether you placed an order, followed our journey, wore our pieces, or simply believed in the brand – thank you.
“No matter what happens next, I will always be proud of what we built together and forever grateful to anyone who was part of the journey.
“I will reflect on all we have achieved and find peace in knowing that I truly gave this everything I had. For now, it’s goodbye.”