Podcast Summary: What We Wore – Episode 163

Guest: Clare Hornby, Founder & CEO of ME+EM
Host: Laura Vinroot Poole
Date: September 25, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Laura Vinroot Poole sits down with Clare Hornby, the creative force behind UK-based fashion brand ME+EM. Their conversation delves into Clare’s unconventional path from a background in advertising to building a respected international fashion brand. Clare shares personal anecdotes from her upbringing in Manchester, the formative experiences that shaped her entrepreneurial spirit, and the brand values that make ME+EM resonate with modern women. The episode is rich with insights on resilience, building a business through challenging times, and how to stay true to a brand’s vision.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Clare’s Early Life & Influence

• Growing up in Manchester

  • Clare describes Manchester as “an industrial town, famous for its cotton mills” and recounts how the city’s signature rainy weather shaped her personal style.
  • Memorable Quote:
    “I'm very good at dressing for the rain. So one of our signature styles is the hoodie that we put the style under blazers. And that's my fear of the rain.” (01:12)

• Family, Fashion, and Early Entrepreneurship

  • Clare’s parents, though “working to middle class,” were part of a stylish community:
    “My mum was a very talented seamstress and we used to go and buy Vogue patterns together and make clothes together. So my eye for detail and a cut of a trouser was sort of born from a very young age…” (02:00)
  • As a teenager, Clare sold shoes at a local market stall—her first taste of business:
    “I think I was doing that when I was about 14...I think I enjoyed making my own money.” (05:20)

The Path from Advertising to Fashion

• Career in Marketing & Brand Strategy

  • Clare started her professional journey at Harrods aiming to be a fashion buyer but pivoted to advertising for a better work-life balance.
  • Advertising taught her the fundamentals of brand building:
    “Finding that single minded thought that you stick to and then you build everything out from that single minded thought...Everything comes from one thought and sticking to that.” (08:49)

• Sparking the Idea for ME+EM

  • Clare noticed gaps in her own wardrobe as her life got busier—working, raising children, managing a packed schedule.
    “How hard that outfit's got to work to get you right to the end of the day...the insights around clothes, I think, become really interesting because you've got to serve a very demanding lifestyle of a woman.” (11:18, 12:03)

Founding ME+EM and Brand Evolution

• Launching Pajama Room & Transition to ME+EM

  • Pajama Room, Clare’s first label, was direct-to-consumer but quickly proved too niche. Mentor Anoushka Ducasse encouraged a pivot:
    “Your name's wrong, it's too—you’re too narrow, you've got a much bigger idea here, just change the name. She just made us a bit braver.” (14:36)

• Navigating Early Challenges

  • The business launched in 2009, against the backdrop of the Great Recession:
    “It's been...probably been the hardest thing, 16 years that you could possibly...I mean, you know, don't you?” (16:18)
  • Clare credits her “naivety” as a secret asset:
    “If I'd known anything, I just wouldn't have done it. I always say naivety is—and was—my best friend.” (17:47)

The Four Fs: ME+EM’s Brand Values

Timestamps: 19:02–21:40

Clare outlines the guiding pillars of ME+EM, known as the “Four Fs”:

1. Flattering:
   “If you don’t get [fabrics] right, it’s almost impossible to create the perfect silhouette.” (19:06)

2. Functional:
   “That’s the busy woman, the multitasking. It's got to work really hard for you. We put a lot of design details into our clothes.” (20:17)

3. Forever:
   “Making sure we back things on the right side of a trend...women want to feel modern, but they don’t want to feel like fashion victims.” (20:49)

4. Fair:
   “The gap in the market between very expensive clothes and cheaper brands...And that fair also covers sustainability and the factories we use.” (21:14)

Growth, Scaling, and the Omnichannel Strategy

• Team and Growth

  • The company has grown to over 200 employees. Clare emphasizes learning every role in the company:
    “I’ve posted my own packages...There is a great sense of, you know, no one can really pull the wool over your eyes, really.” (22:07, 22:59)

• Physical Stores’ Impact

  • The first store was “tiny,” but real business impact came with scale:
    “A customer recruited in store who then shops online is three times more valuable than a customer that shops single channel.” (23:53)

• US Expansion

  • ME+EM used catalog mailers (lookbooks) and data-driven site selection to target US markets, beginning with East and West Coasts:
    “We had a lot of customers...We also produce a lookbook and we’d been mailing the Lookbook in America.” (25:01)

• Catalog and ROI

  • The catalog remains an important (if nuanced) conversion tool:
    “We now roll that [profitability analysis] into one pot of money and then it’s what comes off the back of that spend. But...you are able to match those customers back…” (26:12)

Resilience, Mistakes & Advice for Entrepreneurs

• On Making Mistakes and Building Resilience

  • Clare sees each challenge as a growth opportunity:
    “Every challenge, every mistake, is a great thing because it’s the only way you move forwards...You become stronger on the other side.” (27:09)

  • She relates this to parenting:
    “If [children] don’t ever hit those barriers in childhood, then they don’t look, then they’re learning on their own when they’ve left home.” (28:16)

• Support and Self-Doubt

  • On her decision to start the business at age 37:
    “No one believed in it at all. Neither did I. Once you’ve started, you have a responsibility to that first employee.” (29:06)

• Would She Do It Again?

  • “No, but I wouldn’t start a fashion business. No, but I’ve loved every moment of it as I’ve enjoyed every moment of being a mother.” (29:44)

• Advice to Aspiring Fashion Entrepreneurs

  • “Make sure there’s a consumer need…really identify very early on why you’re doing [it], why the customer needs it, and then…really build a sort of framework around how to deliver that idea and stay very true to that, but pivot as well.” (30:29)
  • “If you come off the track of not believing in what you’re doing, I think that’s potentially...which is why at the very beginning you’ve got to be really clear on what you want to achieve.” (31:08)

Notable & Memorable Moments

• On the value of old-school skills in fashion:
  “Most of our designers design by hand...It’s only when you actually sketch something do you really think it through...If you’re doing it on a CAD, it’s too easy. You don’t think it through as clearly.” (04:02)

• ME+EM’s focus on real women’s lives:
  “You realise then how multitasking what you decide to put in the morning, how hard that outfit's got to work to get you right to the end.” (11:18)

• Growth mindsets:
  “Learning everything. So I know every job of everyone in the business...There is a great sense of, you know, no one can really pull the wool over your eyes, really.” (22:07)

• On parenting and resilience:
  “Childhood is the only time that you can let them run into issues where they've got your support that help them navigate it.” (28:16)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Clare’s Manchester roots and rain-thwarted style: 00:27–02:46
• Early entrepreneurial experiences: 04:49–05:31
• Advertising to fashion: lessons and pivots: 05:35–10:19
• Motherhood, multitasking, and the seed for ME+EM: 10:24–12:58
• Origin story of Pajama Room and ME+EM’s pivot: 13:04–16:03
• Hardships of launching during the recession: 16:18–18:15
• The 4 Fs – Brand values deep dive: 19:02–21:40
• Building the team, scaling up: 21:51–22:59
• Retail store impact and omnichannel model: 23:20–24:41
• US market strategy and lookbooks: 25:01–25:56
• Resilience, responsibility, and advice: 27:09–32:05

Final Note

This episode presents a candid and inspiring look at the journey of an “outsider” building a fashion brand with heart, logic, and grit. Listeners gain both a practical blueprint for entrepreneurship and deeply personal stories about resilience, motherhood, and the ever-changing lives of women. The exchange between Laura and Clare is warm, insightful, and peppered with memorable moments that capture what it takes to build a brand from scratch—rain or shine.