Picture story: Marvellous millinery, thanks to more than 2,000 investors

Husband and wife team, Alex and Zofia Torun-Shaw set up Laird Hatters in 2008, looking to offer an antidote to the usual homogeneous high street. Purveyors of stylish headwear, the couple sell an assortment of hats and caps, including brightly-coloured trilbies and caps in a range of tweeds from Lovat; Harris and Donegal.

There are now six Laird shops from Covent Garden to Cambridge, and a luxury store in the City. The couple pride themselves on each shop being an unstuffy, friendly place to buy quality and affordable headwear. Alex says ‘We have customers popping in for a chat and that tells us we’ve got it right.’

Laird Hatters has borrowed £140,000, across two business loans, from more than 2,000 Funding Circle investors to expand their range of handmade hats and caps. In June we met Alex and Zofia to find out how the loan has helped their business.

In this picture story below, Alex and Zofia discuss their experience of Funding Circle.

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