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Jo Tutchener-Sharp, Founder of Scamp & Dude
Scamp & Dude is all about giving back. The multi-award winning superpower infused clothing brand, was founded by Jo Tutchener-Sharp in 2016, after she experienced a brain haemorrhage and had to undergo surgery which saved her life.
“2020 has definitely been a year we will never forget,” she exclaims. “Covid has had such a major impact on the world. Businesses have had to react and pivot and try and find a way through it.” For Tutchener-Sharp and many others, the ‘unknown’ was one of the hardest parts. “I had such anxiety at the start of the pandemic when we had to close our shop, and I wasn’t sure whether our fulfilment agency would also have to close, meaning our website would have to shop trading.” With safety measures in place, fulfilment agencies were able to stay open which meant Scamp & Dude’s e-commerce store was able to continue to trade. “We’d put together a worst case scenario budget in case the website had to close, working out how I was going to pay my team with no money coming in, but as the website remained open, luckily this wasn’t an issue.”
Despite the pandemic, Tutchener-Sharp saw a 480% increase for Scamp & Dude - a win she credits to her brand’s mission of giving back. “Our business exploded during lockdown. Stylish loungewear is such a huge part of what we do, and sales of our tracksuits saw an increase. The need for stylish, comfortable loungewear teamed with a desire to support businesses who do good, and give back meant our business has come out the other side stronger than ever before.”
“A lot of what we do is about helping other people, it is what we are all about, but this year we have found ourselves switching our focus to help the NHS, raising money and sending frontline staff superpower infused sweatshirts.”
Scamp & Dude donated over 400 sweatshirts to NHS frontline staff during the pandemic. Alongside this, philanthropist Tutchener-Sharp launched a campaign for children to design their own superheroes to amuse them during lockdown. These designs were then transferred to Scamp & Dude products, an additional avenue for them to raise money for the NHS. “We also continued to donate Superhero Sleep Buddies to children who were seriously ill or have lost a parent, we have now donated over 2500 to children who really need a superhero to have their back.” Additionally, for each sale of their Super Scarves, they donate one to a woman with cancer or the mother of a child with cancer. Donations currently stand at over 2000.
“In 2021, #IPLEDGE to keep on spreading the superpowers far and wide, to continue to help as many people as I possibly can by donating more Superhero Sleep Buddies, more Super Scarves and raising even more money for our brilliant charity partners, but to also start to look after myself too. I am terrible at this. In fact self-care doesn’t even come into my life. So, #IPLEDGE in 2021, that I will start to take more care of myself too (my parents will be very happy to hear this!)”