Sleeping Beauties – beautiful, boho sleeping bags and accessories

I’m a new fan of Sleeping Beauties – Leah’s designs are so beautiful! I hope to replace all of our {boring} sleeping bags with some of these lush, cotton ones soon! She has just launched a Kickstarter campaign so that she can add more designs and items to her range.

Can you tell us a little about Sleeping Beauties?

Sleeping Beauties makes camping more beautiful and comfortable by using 100% soft cotton to make unique printed sleeping bags. Each one is unique in terms of style and pattern and also boasts special features such as a concealed inner pocket for your phone, loose change and keys, with fun tassels and pom pom zip pullers, plus each bag one comes with a matching pillowcase and eye mask.

After much research at concept stage, there is a wide range of camping gear on offer, but a sleeping bag is often an overlooked item, an afterthought and a lost opportunity with functionality being number one in importance. But why settle for this? I wanted to take the humble sleeping bag and make it centre stage: a personal expression that transcends mere function.

What was your inspiration behind setting it up?

Growing up in Devon, camping was a huge part of my family holidays and as I got older, going to festivals and more recently glamping trips feature heavily in my summers.

In 2016, I had recently returned from the colourful Coachella festival in L.A and from that trip I was designing a SS17 range for my full time job as a fashion design manager to the UK high street. It is a running joke between my fashion friends about what on earth we are going to do in our 50’s and 60’s before we retire. Will we still be designing clothes for Topshop, M&S and other brands? I knew I wanted to move away from the fashion industry, but still keep my love of designing and trend analysis alive. Then it hit me! Beautifully printed, 100% cotton, multifunctional, washable sleeping bags inspired by my own wanderlust but also encompassing catwalk prints and on-trend colours of the season. I had discovered a gap in the market for a re-vamp of the plain, boring, nylon high street sleeping bags. My experience as a fashion designer has taught me that consumers want expression for personal taste. Why accept average when you can have originality?

The prints on the sleeping bags are gorgeous! What made you choose those particular designs?

All of the prints are designed by me and they each have a story to tell. I am inspired mainly by travel and festivals, however my ‘Vintage Patchwork’ design was actually inspired by a gorgeous vintage dress I bought in Berlin. My best selling design of 2017 has been ‘Wild Floral’ which was inspired by the vibrant colours and 70’s vibe of Coachella 2016. ‘Ditsy Mash-up’ was heavily influenced by the Coach SS16 catwalk show and ‘Geo Dreaming’ is a pretty palette of soft pastel hues inspired by the chilled vibes, blue sea and beaches of Ibiza.

I see that you use a factory in India to produce your sleeping bags – what made you choose that factory?

I have worked with factories and printing mills in India for over 10 years with my fashion career and have therefore built up a lot of contacts. Ethical standards, minimum wage and working conditions are very important to me (and should be for everyone) and I ensure that the factories I work with are of this high standard. I visit India approximately 3-4 times a year to visit the factories, go to the fabric markets, design and check on new developments, oversee sampling etc. There is a certain artisanal feel and look of products that come out of India, compared to other countries such as China, and I wanted this look and feel to my products too. Jaipur and Delhi are the two main cities I work out of and they are always bubbling with exciting beautiful prints, fabrics, colours…inspiration is everywhere!

You’ve just launched a Kickstarter – can you tell us a little about that?

I created the company just over a year ago and actually ran a Kickstarter at concept stage which unfortunately didn’t reach its target. Since then I’ve had fantastic feedback and sales from customers and clients across the UK and beyond and really proved there’s demand for this unique product. Now I’m ready to take the business to the next level but need financial help to expand my product range and make more of my double sleeping bags and introduce two new designs called Folklore and Woodblock. Plus I would love to manufacture my hand painted camping mugs! All of these can be found on the Kickstarter campaign.

What would you like to see Sleeping Beauties achieve over the next few years?

My dream is to create a lifestyle brand around the outdoors including printed tipi’s, tents, hammocks and introduce a sleepwear range to match the sleeping bags.

The original “festival girl” I was designing for has evolved and expanded to couples, van owners, university students, wedding gifts, mother’s buying for their child’s sleepovers and men and women of all ages. My product range will therefore need to expand too…watch this space! (And fingers crossed for the Kickstarter)

Where can we find you online?

My Website: http://www.sleepingbagbeauties.com/

My Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1750652738/sleeping-beauties-lets-make-camping-beautiful

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=bl_dp_s_web_0?ie=UTF8&field-keywords=Sleeping+Beauties&index=sports&search-type=ss

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sleepingbagbeauties/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sleepingbagbeauties/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bagbeautie