Pop Kids founder Susie Phillips is a West London Mum of two boys — Finton and Jasper. A self professed shopaholic she decided to combine her background in advertising, PR, kidswear and e-commerce and took the plunge this past March to set up POP kids. With a strong nod to Scandi inspired clothing, Pop kids supports local lines like our friends at Indikidual and hard to find foreign labels, catering to the 4-10 age bracket for boys and girls. This carefully curated assortment features a great collection of pieces making shopping a cinch for busy parents!
The site is the only UK supplier for some of the lines she carries, ensuring that the pieces and the kids who wear them are unique. We recently caught up with Northfields based Susie:
What inspired you to start Pop kids?
I have always had a passion for all things cool, colourful and stylish for babies and kids ever since I was pregnant with my first son 10 years ago. I got to a point in my life where I wanted to do my own thing and be my own boss, so POP was created!
What makes Pop kids unique?
POP kids is a wonderful mix of handpicked small brands from the UK and Europe. What makes it different from all the other multi-brand online kids shops is that POP is alot more affordable, and offers brands that alot of the others don’t sell. Plus I keep stock levels small and only stock around six clothing brands at a time, plus around three accessory lines. I mix French, Swedish, Icelandic and London brands together. In the Autumn I have a brand from Barcelona too. I aim to source as many unique brands as I can to offer something different. I love everything I sell and only choose good quality products made with mainly organic cotton.
Your three top tips to juggling motherhood and running a business?
I’m very lucky as my two boys are at school all day till 3.30pm and I live one street away from school. I therefore work during school hours then have 4 hours off with them. If I have more to do I will then work a bit during the evenings. It’s hard to juggle everything, but having a hands on flexible husband really helps too!
What challenges have you faced?
Challenges have been having to do lots of pop-ups to generate an income and kick start the awareness of the brand and getting POP out there. I couldn’t rely on web sales alone. Pop-ups are physically hard work but great fun. It’s been hard to manage the stock and work from home rather than have an office/show room.
What is the most rewarding aspect of what you do?
The most rewarding part of my job is seeing Mums loving my collections and hearing lots of great comments and feedback on what I have chosen. Also the little girls getting so excited about what they are getting! Seeing my website up and running is a huge achievement and something I never thought I’d ever do. And also seeing what fashion bloggers say about POP is exciting.
Favourite restaurant in West London?
My favourite restaurants in West London are The Electric on Portobello Road, High Road Brasserie on Chiswick High Road, Santa Maria pizza in Ealing, The Duke of Sussex near Turnham Green, and many more pubs dotted around! W7 emporium in Hanwell is a great cafe/deli near me with daily specials, homemade cakes and a cheese counter.
What’s your favourite shop in west London?
I love a few hours in Westfield in Shepherds Bush! Zara Home and Urban Outfitters are great for great little bits and bobs for the kids and house. I love the Danish shop Tiger in Ealing. For facials I head to Cowshed in Holland Park.
Where do you and your brood hang out?
We live in Northfields W13 so spend alot of time around there and other parts of Ealing. We have two large parks close by so meet up with friends there. We spend alot of time in our local pubs too for the convenience! We head to the Princess Diana Memorial Playground with the huge wooden pirate ship alot as the boys love it, plus Kew Gardens and Primrose Hill too. We take the boys to the museums in South Ken quite alot, and the Southbank for a day out. Every weekend is different really!
To learn more about Pop kids, please visit:
