What Katie Did was set up in 1999 by lingerie designer Katie Halford. Unable to
find seamed stockings at affordable prices in London she simply put ordered £100
worth of stockings wholesale, built a website and set off!
n early 2000
she was befriended by Rachel, the manageress of shoe boutique Cobblers to the
World, who promptly moved her into a corner of their shop (a big thank you to
Liz and Terry!) and concentrated on building up a good range of stockings.
Once that was done, the logical next step was to design something to hold them
up with.
Unfortunately Cobblers to the World closed in early 2001, both shops were doing
well, but felt that Camden wasn't quite the right place (the cobblestones
played havoc on their high heels). Katie relocated to leafy Berkshire and spent
her time working on her new lingerie line, adding pieces here and there as they
evolved, which was now available exclusively
online and by mail order.
In May 2005 Katie received a telephone call from TopShop who requested to see
her AW05 collection. Never one to panic Katie threw together a few sketches and
samples and headed down to their flagship store in London. Much to her surprise
they placed an order and What Katie Did wholesale was officially launched in
September 2005.
Corsets have always been a big passion of Katies'. She started her career at
Skin Two Retail in 1995 - at that time fetish shops were the only place proper
steel boned corsets (and nylon fully fashioned stockings for that matter) could
be found. What Katie Did's first corset range was launched in January 2006.
January 2006 also saw What Katie Did team up with retro pin up photographer
Tony
Nylons who has been responsible for all of their photography (apart from the Bernie
Dexter pictures) ever since.
In October 2007 What Katie Did made a return to London when they opened their
flagship boutique based just off Portobello Road.
Today What Katie Did produce two collections a year which are stocked in
boutiques worldwide. Their designs are not simply inspired by the 40s and 50s
but actually made using vintage patterns adapted for women of today. As far as
possible they stick to using fabrics and manufacturing methods which were
available at that time.
What Katie Did also look to the past for
inspiration in other areas of our business
including customer service. Because
they're
a small company each and every order is
processed with ultimate care and
personalised service is offered
throughout.
What Katie Did do not use 'sweatshops' to produce their products, neither do
we claim to be 'fair trade', but simply use properly managed factories.
Most of our lingerie is made in a small dedicated unit in India which we
have been working with since 2002 and which Katie visits for sampling and sourcing.
Whilst away from the cities there are some factories that ignore Indian
employment law, it is very rare to find factories in cities that do: the
penalties are far too high. We would like to point out that the way we have not
made any requests into the way our facility is run, most of what is listed
below is what Indian employment law demands: and their laws are very similar
to British employment law.
Working Hours: Our employees work 9am to 5pm, 6 days per week (the maximum
employees are allowed to work is 48 hours per week: the same as in the UK).
The are not paid by piece and are not required to make a certain amount of
pieces per day.
Holiday Pay: Employees get 14 days paid holiday and 10 paid festival
holiday days per year.
Job security: It is very difficult to dismiss someone in India (for
example, if you dismiss a pregnant woman for any reason other than gross
misconduct, not only does the factory owner get a big fine, but they also get
3-12 months in prison), should an employee choose to leave then they get paid
an additional 15 days salary for every year they've worked. If they are made
redundant then they get 1 months salary for each year they have worked.
Employees have a pension scheme similar to that in the UK, a bonus scheme,
healthcare and maternity pay.
Minimum working ages. Only over 18s are employed in our facility. Whilst it
is legal to work full time at 16 in India you have to be 18 to operate any
kind of machinery: which includes sewing machines.
