Natalie Anderson, director at Natalie Anderson Makes, started her business during the pandemic with a single product: facemasks. Now with a flourishing fashion and sleep accessory business and plans to expand into loungewear in 2022, Natalie has found Cinch Storage Chippenham to be a great help. Read on to find out how.

When Natalie was made redundant off the back of the pandemic, a friend encouraged her to make some facemasks. 

A keen sewer, Natalie had plenty of spare fabric around the house and set to work. When the masks sold well on an online marketplace, Natalie made her way through the scraps of fabric, adding to her stock.

She designed satin and silk sleep accessories, hair scarves, bonnets, sleep caps and turbans. Soon enough, the business evolved into a thriving handmade fashion accessory brand. 

At the heart of Natalie’s business is the care and attention to detail which goes into each product. This reflects the self-care and beauty regimes which the accessories enhance. 

But, when demand for her stock started to increase, Natalie found it difficult to keep up with demand. 

When the business began, Natalie recalls, “there were lots of 5 AM bedtimes and 7 AM wake ups with a toddler.” 

Natalie knew something had to change. In order to separate her work life from her home life, she decided to use Cinch Storage Chippenham. 

“MY HOME WAS NO LONGER OUR HOME”

Natalie realised her need for storage when she started jokingly calling the corner of her living room the “towering inferno”. This was due to the boxes that were stacked floor to ceiling, stuffed with stock.

“Because I didn’t have any storage space I couldn’t pre-wrap any of my stock,” Natalie remembers. “So handling and processing orders became a really long job”.

Natalie wasn’t turning around orders as quickly as she wanted. As a result, she began to look for storage solutions. “It was the fact that my home was no longer our home,” Natalie remembers. This was the main reason why she turned to self-storage as a solution to her business needs. 

IDEAL LOCATION

In her search for storage, Natalie was looking for a facility that was relatively local. With Cinch Storage Chippenham, she found that as well as its competitive prices, it was conveniently located between her home and the distribution centre she planned to use.

And while it is close enough to home, another benefit for Natalie is that it’s far enough for her to get up to ten-thousand steps in a round trip!

As well as the convenience of the location, the 24-hour access to her storage facility was also a plus. 

This allowed her to access her stock whenever she wanted; a huge benefit to business owners with no fixed working hours.

EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE

Though Natalie did look at other companies for her storage needs, it was Cinch’s excellent customer service that swayed her decision.

Cinch’s attentive team offer fantastic customer service, and Natalie appreciated Cinch Storage Chippenham’s prompt response to her enquiries. 

“When you’re a solopreneur, things can fall by the wayside for weeks because you’re juggling so many things.” 

Natalie has found Cinch Storage Chippenham to be a great help in restoring her work-life balance. With the extra space, she has been able to prepackage her stock and streamline processing times. 

“You don’t realise the impact that it has,” Natalie says. “When the boxes were gone, suddenly I felt like baking again because it felt like home again.”

Now that Natalie has reclaimed her space, she has been able to focus on expanding her business, with plans to launch a loungewear line in early 2022. 

As well as a range of silk kimonos, Natalie is currently getting in touch with makers in other countries to help her create and expand her range of handmade garments and accessories.

If you would like to find out more about Natalie Anderson Makes, visit her online store, her Etsy page, or follow her on Instagram for updates on her forthcoming products.