Deckchair entrepreneur is bringing stripes back in style

This month we were in Chester meeting founder of The Stripes Company, Maria Hopwood. As a stripe fabric specialist they are bringing back the retro stripe, but are giving it a modern twist and offering an ever increasing range of deckchair canvas along with interior fabrics, trimmings and accessories for beach, home and garden.

The Stripes Company was founded when Maria, who was working as an antique dealer, saw a gap in the deckchair market. She put some striped fabric in her shop, subsequently set up an online shop and the phone didn’t stop ringing!

The Stripes Company needed a business loan to help service demand and has now borrowed more than £175,000 across 3 Funding Circle loans since January 2011 to help with cashflow, expand the product range and continue IT development to service UK and overseas expansion.

In this short video you’ll meet Maria, see the team in action and have an understanding of how your lending helps small businesses across the UK.

Are you interested in lending to businesses?

You can support businesses like The Stripes Company and earn a great return. It takes minutes to sign up online and you can use our investor information guide to help you get started. We have thousands of loans which you can be a part of, making it quick and easy to build a diversified portfolio. Remember, by lending to businesses your capital is at risk.

Do you need a business loan?

We’ve helped more than 8,000 businesses in the UK and US access finance for a range of finance needs. You can check your eligibility online in just 30 seconds.