Entrepreneur sets up sustainable fashion brand

Freddie Jones' business began life as a Duke of Edinburgh's Award project

Skills obtained by doing a Duke of Edinburgh's Award (DofE) is being used to run a sustainable fashion brand, its owner said.

Freddie Jones from Hereford looked into ways to reduce damage caused by fast fashion and began buying and selling second hand clothes through an online vintage clothing platform.

A chance meeting with clothing brand Superdry founder led to a collaboation with Mr Jones, 20, now selling his stock in the stores.

He said his course, at Cheltenham College, gave him the tools he needed to succeed.

"DofE was the perfect recipe to keep me accountable and consistent," he said. "Without that I wouldn’t have really got to where I am now."

Two months after leaving sixth form, he opened a shop selling second hand clothing in Hereford's Old Market Shopping Centre - and then a second shop in the centre of Cheltenham two months after that.

A chance meeting with Herefordshire manJulian Dunkerton of Superdry, led to the collaboration and Mr Jones admits he got lucky.

"If you enjoy something enough, go for it. I started when I was quite young and I thought: 'Now is the best time to take those risks.'

"It’s taken me this far and hopefully it’ll carry me into the future.”