She didn’t discover a secret supplier. She picked up a forgotten scarf in a charity shop and said yes to curiosity — then kept saying yes until the total hit six figures. The surprising part isn’t the money. It’s how ordinary the first step looked.
It’s 11.47pm in a small London kitchen, and the steam wand sighs like an old train. Imogen presses a silk square to the board, coaxing out a crease that survived decades in someone’s drawer. Parcels wait by the door — pale tissue, handwritten notes, a neat loop of ribbon. Her phone blinks: a DM from Tokyo asks if the edges are hand‑rolled. She flips the scarf, checks the tiny stitches, smiles. Somewhere between the hiss of steam and the ping of PayPal, a side-hustle grew teeth.
From one Liberty find to a six‑figure shop
Imogen’s story started with a £3 Liberty of London scarf in a North London charity shop. She listed it on Depop with a bright window photo and a line about the pattern’s 1960s roots. It sold in two hours. The second scarf took a day. The habit took hold faster than she expected.
Within 18 months she’d passed £100,000 in revenue, with an average order value of £72 and a 62% gross margin. One early Hermès, bought at a car boot sale for £25, went for £320 to a buyer in Lyon. January slumped. Spring weddings lifted everything. By the time she launched her own Shopify storefront, repeat buyers accounted for nearly a third of orders.
Scarves are a strange sweet spot. They’re light to ship, small to store, seasonless, and surprisingly resilient. The market is global. A design that languishes in Leeds will fly in Seoul. Brand signals matter — hand‑rolled edges, artist signatures, proper care labels — yet there’s room for stories and a keen eye. The niche rewards patience and pattern memory.
Her playbook: sourcing, care, and story
Her sourcing is a loop, not a hunt. Early doors at jumble sales. Quiet Tuesdays in charity shops. Saved searches for “silk square” on eBay, with filters on size and material. She builds relationships: volunteers call when a donation of scarves comes in; auction house porters tip her about textiles lots. She checks edges for rolled stitching, runs the corner through a ring to feel silk glide, and looks for artist names — Julia Abadie, Kermit Oliver, Bernard Nevill.
Care is where margins hide. Lukewarm baths with pH‑neutral soap. No wringing, just towel roll and air dry, then a low steam through a pressing cloth. Stain triage decides whether to buy. Yellowing at folds may lift; oil on silk is stubborn. Packaging is a ritual: tissue, glassine, a postcard with the design’s decade. Let’s be honest: nobody really does that every day. The trick is to build a rhythm you can keep when you’re tired.
New sellers trip over the same stones. They chase logos, ignore condition, and overpay. They wash too hot. They iron edges flat and kill value. Pricing swings wildly. It’s okay. *A scarf isn’t just fabric; it’s a memory you can wear.*
“I thought I was selling things,” Imogen told me. “Turns out I’m selling certainty — that what you buy will look and feel as described, arrive beautifully, and be something you’ll actually wear.”
- Quick checks before you buy: hand‑rolled edges, fibre feel, stains in bright light, signature, and size.
- Keep a tiny toolkit: pH‑neutral soap, mesh bags, pressing cloth, steamer.
- Photograph flat, then on a person. Natural light beats any filter.
- Write the story: decade, motif, maker. Facts first, romance after.
- Ship tracked. Reuse boxes, never scrimp on tissue.
Why scarves, why now — and what it teaches
There’s a quiet logic to this niche. Scarves carry design history in a square metre: equestrian lines, Art Deco chains, Liberty florals, 90s Gucci knots. They fit letterbox slots and cross borders without customs drama. TikTok made scarf‑tops a thing; office life returned; video calls revived the neck‑up outfit. The bigger lesson sits under all that: small, repeatable excellence compounds. We’ve all had that moment where a tiny win gives you courage to try again. That’s the engine.
Imogen didn’t reinvent retail. She removed friction. She used what the platforms already give: short video loops, carousel photos, alt text for search, replies in minutes not days. She learnt when to stop cleaning and walk away. She learnt how to say no gracefully. She learnt that a £42 sale every day for a month is better than one big unicorn. The money was the scoreboard; the real game was trust.
The numbers are neat, yet the aftertaste is gentler: a drawer full of colour saved from landfill, a DM from someone who wore a scarf to a first chemo and wanted “something brave”, a midwife in Manchester who bought three Liberty squares to hide post-partum hair she wasn’t ready to show. **Commerce gets sharp edges.** This is commerce with soft hands.
Try the method without losing your weekends
Start micro. Pick a sub‑niche you can learn fast: Liberty florals 1970–1990, Coach 90s logo squares, Italian hand‑painted silks. Commit to a weekly loop: one hour sourcing, one hour care, one hour photos, one hour listing. Use a simple checklist before you buy: edges, stains, fibre, signature, size. Photograph near a window at 10am or 3pm for soft light. Crop square, show the roll, show the corner, show the tag.
Price for movement, not fantasy. Anchor to comps, then add or subtract for condition and motif desirability. List across platforms with variations in description to avoid duplicate search penalties. Don’t polish the humanity out of your shop: a first name, a tiny origin story, a dispatch day you can keep. If you miss it, say so and make it right. Buyers forgive the truth faster than silence.
There’s also the boring magic: spreadsheets and tiny habits. Track cost of goods, listing date, views, conversion, and days to sell. Batch your tasks. Photograph ten items in an hour, then list over the week. Reply within an hour during opening days, then set expectations the rest. **Small shops win on speed, clarity, and care.**
“I’m not faster than big brands,” she says. “I’m closer. I hear what people want and I can change by Monday.”
- Three shots per listing: flat lay, styled on neck, detail of edge.
- Three lines per description: facts, fit, feeling.
- Three promises: accurate, clean, tracked.
- Three channels: marketplace, social, your own site.
- Three rhythms: list, engage, ship.
Where this goes next
Imogen is still at the kitchen table, but the table is bigger. She’s added a tiny studio light, a label printer, a second steamer. She’s mentoring two other sellers, one in Glasgow, one in Lisbon. She’s making her first house scarf, not to mass‑produce, just to understand the craft from the inside. The money keeps tally, yet the sense of scale is rooted in time and attention.
The clearest takeaway might be the least glamorous: rigorous boringness beats vibes. Photograph well. Describe plainly. Pack beautifully. Answer quickly. Repeat. Then, when the magic piece appears — the 1968 Hermès “Brides de Gala” with perfect hand‑roll — you’re ready for it. You’ve built a shop that deserves good luck, and an audience that believes you when you say it’s special.
| Point clé | Détail | Intérêt pour le lecteur |
|---|---|---|
| Niche that compounds | Light to ship, global demand, timeless designs | Shows why scarves can scale without scaling chaos |
| Care = margin | Gentle wash, steam, honest grading, no flat edges | Turns average finds into premium listings |
| Story sells | Decade, designer, motif, origin notes | Builds trust and repeat buyers beyond logos |
FAQ :
- How did she hit six figures while keeping her day job?Consistency over sprints: four focused hours a week, batched tasks, and listings spread across platforms.
- What brands should beginners watch for?Hermès, Liberty, Gucci, Ferragamo, and lesser‑known gems like Echo USA or vintage Jacqmar with strong motifs.
- How do you spot real silk quickly?Feel and flow: silk glides through a ring, looks matte‑lustrous, and shows fine irregularities; polyester feels springy and squeaks.
- What condition issues are deal‑breakers?Large oil stains, moth holes, re‑stitched flat edges, colour bleed. Small pulls or light creases are manageable.
- Which platform works best for scarves?Start where you already scroll: Etsy for search, Depop/Vinted for youth trends, Instagram for storytelling, Shopify when repeat buyers grow.
