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Julie Lingard:
Queen of the Seams
Interview & Words Kaye Holland
Julie Lingard, the founder of womenswear brand AQ/AQ talks to Kaye Holland about rebuilding her label, lockdown, London and the future of fashion.
Julie Lingard might count Kate Beckinsale and woman of the moment – footballer turner presenter Alex Scott – among AQ/AQ’s long list of A-list clients, but the road to success has been paved with speed bumps.
“Everyone looks at AQ/AQ and thinks we are this amazing, household name but our backstory…,” sighed Lingard, admitting that success hasn’t been straightforward.
AQ/AQ was born in 1999 in the north of England as Aqua by Aqua, with an aim to support and nurture the development of independent designers.
Aqua and Lingard’s star rocketed and before long the brand had opened a flagship boutique on London’s world-famous Carnaby Street, launched their first in-house collection of clean lines and clever design to critical and commercial acclaim, and began wholesaling their collection to ASOS – where they fast became a best-seller.
“We had revenues of £1.5 million per season,” Lingard recalled with a laugh. ASOS came knocking and “told us to get ourselves over to America. So we did and we signed up with Bloomingdales and were doing really, really well.”
And then it all unravelled. It transpired that Bloomingdales had its own in-house brand, also called Aqua, who “slapped a half a million-pound litigation suit on us and ASOS, because ASOS had been selling us into the USA. We ended up agreeing to rebrand to AQ/AQ. I love our four-letter name now but it cost us a lot! We had to fork out £250,000 to rebrand in 18 different countries.”
To make matters worse, just as AQ/AQ was getting back on its feet, the business was hit by another cruel setback. Lingard explained: “We had a massive 10,000 sqft warehouse in Leeds next to the River Aire. The river burst its banks and the next thing we knew, our warehouse was in 1.4m of water – our team had to canoe in. We lost £1.8 million of stock. We lost everything.”
Pretty but clearly gritty, Lingard “dug deep and built the brand up again. We were lucky that we had a community of women – [translation a not-so-humble social media following just north of 200,000] – who stuck by us.”
And then the pandemic hit. Was she worried that the pandemic would threaten the future of AQ/AQ? “Absolutely since we are about event dressing and red carpet wear, and everyone was forced to stay at home during the coronavirus lockdowns. We did think about pivoting into loungewear but everyone was doing that, so we just had to stay true to our core DNA. We’re architectural, bold, sculptured…”
Lingard and her team thought creatively to meet new consumer and business needs, went back to their roots and “set up a marketplace selling other peoples’ sustainable brands, putting sustainability centre stage. We wanted to collaborate with fashion labels who had hit hard times [due to the impact of Covid-19] – every formal and workwear label was suffering.”
Entrepreneurship evidently runs in Lingard’s blood. “My father was an entrepreneur – he became a self-made millionaire – and I always knew I was going to become an entrepreneur too because that was the environment I had grown up in,” she reflected.
Aged 19, Lingard owned a host of hair and beauty salons “and worked with L'Oréal” before going on to launch Aqua by Aqua (now known as AQ/AQ). “Fashion was always in my DNA. I’m not qualified but I learnt on the job,” she said from her light-filled north London living room.
Looking ahead to the autumn/winter 2021 fashion season, Lingard enthused about her brand’s use of bold colours. “We’re called Aqua so we have always been about bold colours. Gorgeous berries and rich, vibrant purples and plums… we’ve celebrated autumn/winter in a strong colour palette.”
For the new season, the female-founded and female-run brand has also branched out into more casual fabrics. “We’re still using the same beautiful shapes and silhouettes but in a sustainable jersey material so that you can wear our clothes during the day too,” she explained.
AQ/AQ features heavily in Lingard’s own wardrobe. “I have a walk-in wardrobe on both sides [of my bedroom] and the one on the left is all AQ/AQ,” she shared. “I have every single cut and shape through the years! Certain pieces are timeless. We are not fast-fashion, we make sure our garments fit well. I didn’t get to wear much of our collection in lockdown though – it was a tricky time for me.”
Covid has, however, brought new opportunities. Lingard cherished the time she spent with her two new mini labradoodles which has led to her launching a sustainable dog brand called The Upper Hand. “Expect dog fashion accessories made from recycled materials that we’ll launch on the AQ/AQ platform next year,” revealed the longtime driver of planet-friendly fashion.
An incessant grafter, full of vivacious energy, Lingard is also bringing out an affordable CBD beauty product range “with a friend who is a pharmacist.” She continued: “We have a CBD tincture that’s amazing for anyone suffering from stress and anxiety, a great facial oil, masque, aloe vera serum and lip balm that were all developed during lockdown and are available on the AQ/AQ website. I had time in lockdown to evaluate the business and open up other areas.”
The ongoing pandemic has also normalised remote work. Like many businesses, Lingard made the decision to shut down AQ/AQ’s east London office when Covid-19 forced non-key workers to work from home – and her team took to flexible working.
“Now that restrictions have been lifted, we get together once a month for a couple of days on a shoot, and it’s working well,” smiled Lingard. “Everyone’s happy. Rather than have my team in Haggerston, I have staff all across the country now – by the seaside, in the countryside…”
As for Lingard, she continues to consider herself a Londoner and talks warmly of her north London neighbourhood, Islington. “I don’t think I could do that [leave the capital],” she mused. “I need to be in London. I am always at events, networking, here, there and everywhere… If I left the city, I don’t think AQ/AQ would be the forward-thinking brand it is.”
