Professional Life Report

Beverley Edmondson

This report sets out a strategic repositioning of my creative practice. For the past 18 years I have been operating Beverley Edmondson Millinery from High Street premises then a private showroom. Creating and selling millinery for special events. The practice I am now building is grounded in 4 interconnected commitments, the preservation of heritage craft, sustainable fashion, styling and education. As a multi-hyphenate practitioner model that prioritises wellbeing and creative depth over the mechanism of output which has previously been the focus.

The model I am working towards will be built on agility rather than fixed overhead costs, encompassing teaching, mentoring and bespoke commission work. That will be sustained through lean infrastructure that does not require high income to remain viable. Success is no longer the size of a client list, or meaningless PR. It will be defined by the flexibility it offers my time and working creatively with more intention. As it stands 85% of my time is spent on business administration and only 15% is spent being creative, and most of that 15% of time is deadline driven production not being actively explorative within creativity.

The practice will now reach multiple audiences and will be embedded into heritage craft skills and its value in the wider community as Hesmondhalgh (2019) would identify as ‘part of the broader creative economy’s capacity to generate meaning as well as market value.’

The evidence for the plan is grounded in 18 years of economic, practical and professional experience in the field, an established industry network, a digital audience with high engagement (I have a 45% email open rate against the industry average of 32.1% (Mailmend.io, 2026)), and critical and strategic development through this MA programme.

Contextual Understanding

Howkins terms ‘creative products’, goods that originate in individual creativity have the potential for economic significance (Howkins,2007). However, as Hesmondhalgh (Hesmondhalgh 2019) argues, the creative industries are structurally prone to precarious labour and the over production of symbolic goods in which only a small number of practitioners sustain a viable income whilst the majority subsidise their practice through other means. This is also referenced in Suhail Malik lecture, Contemporary Art, Neoliberal Enforcer (Goldsmiths Art, 2019) where he acknowledges that only 10-30% of arts graduates will make a viable income from traditional art routes.

My own practice has been a self-sustaining commercial operation for nearly two decades and my only source of personal income. This according to the above referenced data and theories places me in a minority that Hesmondhalgh and Malik would recognise as unusual. A small creative enterprise operating without subsidy, debt, partner support or an inherited capital base, within a structure where those advantages are far more common than they are acknowledged.

Most of the structure around my business is based around high end fashion craft. Client demand is seasonal and event driven and acutely sensitive to economic changes. The market is small and geologically concentrated. Heritage craft skills involved are technically demanding, slow and expensive to acquire and increasingly rare (Millinery/ Hat making itself sits within the endangered craft list of heritage skills, with more niche but entwined skills such as straw plaiting, straw braid hat making, bowed felt hat making and block making, sitting within the critically endangered crafts. (Heritage Crafts, 2025)). These factors create a vulnerability within the industry, because the commercial marketing of them is not valued by a large section of potential consumers who are used to paying low prices for fast fashion, the production cannot be easily or cheaply scaled, and the education into craft value does not exist for the masses.

Different Economic Frameworks

In Introducing the Creative Industries (Davies and Gauti Sigthorsson, 2013) several models which sustain creative practitioners are expressed. From the sole trader operating on commission or direct sale, the atelier model, of a small maker and team, the dual professional combining practice with general employment, to the hybrid model, drawing income from multiple streams. 

The atelier model closely resembles my existing practice, with a team of 2 employees, a, studio with a client facing space and a workshop for production. The strategic change in direction represents a move from the atelier model to the hybrid model, retaining sole trader status, but diversifying income across teaching, mentoring, my existing preloved millinery marketplace, selected commission work and costume and TV work.

This shift is direct response to pressures from the wider economy as Malik (Goldsmiths Art, 2019) identifies. The consolidation of risks and costs onto individual micro enterprises, whilst the larger beneficiaries of creative labour (landlords, platform businesses etc.) extract value without proportionate contribution.

The recent business rates revaluation of commercial properties (Government Digital Service, 2012) in England means that by April 2028, my current premises will attract additional costs of £5000 per year, not because the business has grown, or become more profitable, but because the Valuation office Agency (VOA) raised rateable values without raising the small business rate relief threshold. In effect, a stealth tax, one that directly harms the smallest businesses. In direct terms, the uplift requires an £18000 uplift in turnover, or £30 increase on each product sold, to be in the same financial position. An impossible amount to increase production by without also adding significant other costs.

Alongside this, we have an unstable lease. My landlord is selling the building and is not renewing leases. Since lease terms were agreed in 2020, the going rate for premises (office/retail) has increased from approx. £15-£25 per square foot to £25-£47 per square foot in my area (agentsinsight, 2026). 

I need to move, to somewhere smaller, cheaper and under the Small Business Rates Relief threshold. Having spent the past 14 months looking for premises, I know this is not easy. In the past 18 years, we have moved premises 3 times, when I look at what is available the stock of business premises has dramatically decreased. Simply there are greater rewards for residential property in an affluent area than a business premises, so many have been converted. 

The wider context compounds these issues, an increase in employer national insurance contributions, rises in the national minimum wage represents 45.8% increase since 2020 (GOV.UK, 2025) (welcome in principle, but significant to the smallest employers.)

This is not isolated to me but to all small enterprises. It is the structural consequence of neoliberal economics, which leave the smallest of the economy most affected by costs and the least ability to absorb them. Years of mismanagement and appreciation of how much small businesses contribute to the economy (around half off all private sector turnover is generated through small and medium sized enterprises (FSB, 2024)) is slowly pushing out the most resilient of small business owners. 

Creative Identity

I am a milliner, stylist, educator and heritage craft and small business advocate, all of these identities run alongside one another, the making provides the authority for teaching, the selling and experience
provides the authority for styling, the teaching and the making is the process for which the craft and value are cemented and the advocacy gives my practice purpose beyond financial gain.

I make hand crafted hats for special events and film and TV, intrinsically using endangered craft techniques daily. Why I make has shifted during this master’s programme. I came as a strong commercial maker, but a weak language for what that craft means. As I continue, I am developing a sense for what the craft means in wider society. I now understand what I want to preserve, what and how I want to teach, not just a technical skill, but also as a form of cultural knowledge. As Glenn Adamson identifies as ‘embedded in the hand’ (Adamson, 2018). Knowledge that cannot be transmitted through, instruction alone, but marks movement of fingers, dexterity in the hand, the feeling of fibres and fabrics in a craft that is historically and disproportionately associated with women’s labour and therefore consistently undervalued, even by women themselves.

‘Artisans would present their craft work as a hobby, then as menial labour and later as a dangerously addictive obsession. In the very same conversation, I was told that making lace was a way of ‘making do’ in times of economic hardship and, barely a breath later, artisans would claim that craft practice was nothing more than a personal indulgence.’  (Makovicky, 2020)

My values are sustainability, craft integrity and the sharing of the importance of heritage crafts. Sustainable practice, is not simply about marketing, but about the way I intrinsically work and live, it is structural; embedded in my zero waste designs, the use of natural materials, the alterations and repair services to keep hats in circulation longer and the preloved millinery marketplace, as well as the teaching of material first design, upcycling, repair and the social cost of fast fashion. 

Craft integrity means ensuring that clients know and understand the ‘embedded hand’ (Adamson, 2018), to know that the creations they are purchasing and wearing are not a production line, but a considered individual labour from skilled crafts people, not by a standardised process. The MA has given me the framework and understanding of what actually goes into craft labour, the value that it has, not only as a product but in the wider social context of the value of heritage crafts. To stand up against the market and economic demands of the world where these values are extracted. This can be done by making the workspace more visible and inviting clients into the workroom to see their hats being made.

Political, Societal and Environmental Responsibilities

The environmental value for heritage craft is straightforward, a well-made, well considered and well-maintained hat is something that withstands against the disposable logic of fast fashion, often a hat will also gain sentimental value, from being worn to once in a lifetime personal events and milestones, which means it is kept longer and cared for better. Therefore, each piece is resistant to environmental concerns. The Preloved marketplace extends this, once a hat has no further use from its owner it can be sold by the marketplace for someone else to enjoy, supporting the circular fashion economy of keeping things in use and diverting from landfill.

The social element is quieter, but without, milliners, there is no industry to support the social customs and traditions of this country. In the UK a hat is fully entwined in social status. Events such as Royal Ascot, one of the largest hat wearing social events is embedded in traditions. This has a wider context than just needing a hat but represents a whole culture. If heritage skills are lost, then they are intrinsically harder to recover. The millinery trade has contracted massively over the past 40 years. What remains is a small sector of individual practitioners, a larger community of enthusiastic amateurs, and a growing interest from the younger generations, more minded to be anti-consumption, ‘To sell something with a premium price tag, it needs a story of sustainability, exclusivity, craftsmanship and social validation.’ (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2025)

Teaching within that interest in the hat sector forms cultural stewardship and social interaction that extends well beyond a commercial transaction.

Market and Audience

Learners – From beginners wanting their first foray into millinery to advanced seeking professional development. This can be served by 1-2-1 workshops and short courses and teaching programmes and qualifications.

Mentoring – For those who have millinery skills but need support with the commercial dimensions. This can be served through 1-2-1 sessions and small groups in partnership with The International Millinery Network or Heritage crafts. My reputation within the millinery industry, my membership to The British Hat Guild gives credible access to the professional community.

Sustainable fashion designers, costume designers, and collaborators – Working with those who values align with my own, relationships formed through networking. 

Circular economy advocates – Appealing to those who advocate for or buy into the circular fashion economy and reject the notion of fast fashion, for whom I can provide, curation, styling, authentication repairs, and alterations services alongside my existing preloved marketplace. The growth in this sector suggests opportunity for market expansion however, it would be very important to ensure that it does not become a risk due to the ‘attitude behaviour gap’  (Schiaroli, Fraccascia and Dangelico, 2024) Many sustainable brands are precarious as they have higher costs, but not all consumers are willing or able to spend the extra money, despite having the intentions to consume more sustainably. By mixing this area of my practice along with the other sectors laid out I would be able to spread the risk but capitalise on the growth that this area could bring.

High end millinery market – Continue working 1-2-1 with clients, styling, advising and creating bespoke millinery, utilising my existing client base and mailing lists.

The model I am suggesting, still requires a space to work from and invite clients to, but it could be smaller. By freeing myself of the ties of my current studio, it decreases the risk and allow more flexibility as a deliberate choice to reduce turnover, but increase profitability, and allow me to have flexibility and creative freedom.

The transition requires a deliberate and phased communication strategy. A considered announcement will go to my existing client database via email, my 45% open rate makes this the most direct channel, framing the change as an evolution toward heritage craft specialism rather than a withdrawal of service. Simultaneously, the website and Instagram tone will shift from accessible local milliner to heritage craft practitioner and educator, using behind the scenes content to reinforce the value of skilled hand work. Local print presence in titles such as The Farnham herald will support the repositioning to a higher-end audience. Referral arrangements with Melita boutique and Elphick’s will maintain client continuity during the transition period. The message across all channels will be consistent.

The Plan

Short term 1-6 months

Income will come from the continual route of clients purchasing stock or ordering bespoke made millinery and the winding down of the studio, selling off excess stock, tools and materials. 

There are several routes of disposal.

1. A large sale to our core clients, database, and social media followers
2. Offering a bulk pricing option, the Get Ahead Hats, a wholesale account that we work with, who has nine franchises. – less money, but easier to sell in one simple sale.
3. Marketing tools, materials, and equipment to the millinery community, through my networks and specialist social media groups.
4. Find someone wishing to start a hat hire business and wanting a bulk selection of hats and shop fittings, again this buyer could be reached through specialist millinery groups.

Selling stock to the Wholesale buyer would be the cleanest, simplest, and easiest route, it would preserve the brand integrity as they are already a client. A sample sale to our clients does hold merit but would have to be selective about what to sell, and how to market as to not either devalue the brand. Selling as a bulk to someone starting a hat hire business would have a lot more considerations, it would require careful contractual work, including my business name being protected and licensing agreements, GDPR, as client data could not be transferred, and how they could market using my name in their marketing without causing detriment to my own future business and causing intellectual property rights issues. This could demand a higher fee but could be messier.

As a sole trader, I carry personal liability for all contractual obligations, which makes careful legal framing essential during this transition. My trading name, Beverley Edmondson Millinery, represents eighteen years of accumulated goodwill and functions as an unregistered trademark. My original designs and all teaching materials I develop are protected by copyright automatically, but contracts with collaborators, boutiques and wholesale buyers should make ownership of that intellectual property explicit. Remaining a sole trader keeps overheads low but means these protections must be built into commercial agreements I enter, rather than assumed.

Medium Term 6-18 months

If I could not find an affordable space, I would work from a spare room with storage, but in the busy months I could host pop-ups to enable client touch points. Between these times, I could take on commissions and build up a teaching portfolio. I could also 1 day a week visit a boutique that recommends clients in my direction, which gives them the continuity of service and provides an elevated experience to their clients.

I would keep my staff on minimal contracts rather than entering redundancy, there are twofold reasons for this. I retain my staffs trust, and can call them in to work as and when needed, it shows my integrity and commitment for them and both have amassed a considerable redundancy package, going forwards the business will need them, taking on this risk is better in the long run, as making them redundant and then re-hiring legally could be a grey area, and be considered as unfair dismissal if their jobs roles were significantly the same on return. I would also need to prove that the initial redundancy was essential, (Service, 2021) which would be impossible to prove if you looked at our current financial positioning.

In this period, I can continue looking for affordable premises. But with the changes being made to my business my needs may change as to what or where I am looking for. By not having a premises immediately it has limitations but allows me flexibility.

In the longer term, once I have finished the master’s programme, the intention would be to develop more collaborative partnerships with costume designers, sustainable fashion designers and position the brand more in the heritage craft and sustainable fashion space. I can then be more selective in taking on 1-2-1 bespoke commissions in a direct-to-consumer capacity, which will free up time for more creative working and developing of my style and voice as a brand.

Projected Income by Phase

Income Stream	Phase	Estimated Value
Excess stock and material disposal	Short term	£20,000
Pop Up at boutiques	Short- medium term	£25,000
Teaching	Medium term	£4000
Mentoring	Short- medium term	£2000
Private tuition	Short – medium term	£2000
Bespoke commissions	Ongoing	£50000
Film and tv commissions	Long term	£15000
Designer collaborations	Long term	£15000
Preloved platform	Ongoing	£2000

Overhead Costs (Monthly)

Item	Current	Medium Term	Long Term
Employee wages	£1400	£950	£1500
Employee national insurance and pension	£32	£11	£35
Accountancy fees	£214	£175	£230
Credit card terminal	£110	£55	£110
Phone/ internet connections	£58	£15	£58
Mobile phone	£12	£12	£12
Electricity	£100	–	£100
Service charges	£283	–	–
Rent	£1162	–	£833
Website maintenance and hosting	£142	£75	£142
Epos software	£12	£12	£12
Dropbox subscription	£8.40	£8.40
Microsoft exchange	£8.30	£8.30	£8.30
Business bank fees	£13	£13	£13
Google ads	£320	–	£320
Insurance / public liability	£41	£25	£25
Business vehicle costs	£75	£75	£75
Business rates	£67	–	–
BID levy	£28	–	–
Calendly software	£9.16	–	£9.16
Website domains	£8	£8	£8
Total	£4094.86	£1442.70	£3490.46

By reducing my costs in the short term and being more mindful of spending in the long term, (lower lease costs and service charges) I can decrease costs significantly, allowing more agility, flexibility and less risk.  If I were to take out the employee costs the business could survive with an under £500 spend per month, The financial case for this transition is unambiguous. 

Looking at other practitioners, my set up is unusual, whilst it has allowed my business to scale to support myself and a team it’s costs are now significant (The costing shown above, does not include my wages, materials costs or tax liabilities) but as a very seasonal business, we are in deficit for roughly around 6 months of the year, with a further 3 months breaking even and the remaining 3 months making profit. To balance this cashflow it requires careful budgeting to remain solvent. If the 3 busy months are not as good as expected this can have detrimental effects on survival. With the risk of increase costs and other price rises, this will become harder to manage.

Other milliners, such as Awon Golding model is based on private commissions and collaborations
with designers, she has a studio that is a workroom rather than a showroom and employees’ staff seasonally and takes on interns. This keeps her costs low but does not provide security of knowing the skills her team members bring and will constantly be in a state of training to get skills at the busiest times of the year. I like having permanent staff whose skills I recognise and can allocate work, some jobs become second nature and they understand my expectations. For me the consistency has a much better reward ratio for everyone, but her physical studio set up would certainly be a way in which I would like to work, more focused on the craft, a workroom that a customer enters rather than the shiny showroom we present with the craft pushed to one side.

Sally Pointer by contrast is a heritage craft educator has a home-based entirely private studio where she sells handmade items online, or at markets, and patterns but travels to teach and speak at one off events. Whilst this model is flexible, it could provide a sporadic income. The digital aspects would provide a passive income, but likely very small. Her work will exist based on relationships within the heritage craft education arena, attending one of her events could place me in a better position to understand this market further and the people and organisations.

Commissioning millinery is very personal experience, clients buy from the maker not from a brand, to elevate my skills and put this in their eyeline will enable me to ensure my personal reputation and authentic voice will keep my clients as allies as I make changes that may not in the short term be of benefit to them, but longer term will build a stronger, more flexible and stable business. My voice and authenticity in this case will be my most valuable marketing asset.

Risk Assessment 

Risk	Likelihood	Impact	Mitigation
Excess stock sale reach led than projected	Medium	Medium	Reach out to potential buyers and market well and clearly assess what is worth selling
Client base does not transfer	Low-Medium	High	Transparent communication strategy, referral arrangement with boutiques for bespoke work
Teaching income slower than projected	Medium	Low	Savings can see through a short while, Teaching relationship with Morely in progress already.
Burnout / health during transition	Medium	High	Have built in a sabbatical period to my plan (Oct 26-Jan 27) Prioritising mental health, working on business, not in the business
Market demand for heritage craft insufficient	Low	High	Multiple income streams limit dependency. Demand is evidenced by growth in craft culture engagement nationally
Can not find a suitable premises	Medium	Medium	Lower costs mean lower income is needed to be reached work out priorities.

Plan A

• Give notice on premises July 2026
• Arrange sales of excess stock, materials and tools.
• Vacate Premises October 2026 – Find storage for rest of business.
• Sabbatical, working behind the scenes until January 2027 and teaching.
• Open small affordable studio January 2027 – target cost £600-£1000 per month inclusive of service charges and utilities 

Plan B

If likelihood of finding an alternative studio diminished, keep current studio for a further year, but close for a sabbatical October 2026 – January 2027, calculations show that closing in this time even with overheads may be a similar cost as staying open as they are unprofitable months but gives a break to further develop future plans.

Plan C

If no alternative premises is found by October 2027, Work from my spare room for a short term with storage, this will give me time to have a break and work out alternative routes to market.

Action Plan

0-3 months

• Give notice on studio.
• Begin excess stock disposal.
• Prepare client communication and narrative.

3-6 months

• Sabbatical period
• Change the voice and tone on website to uplift the brand.
• Find a suitable premises and arrange lease agreement.
• Approach Melita boutique and Elphick’s, for pop up opportunities and regular presence.

6-12 months

• Develop and deliver short course at Morely.
• Develop sustainable fashion and workshop content for schools and colleges.
• Do pop up opportunities in the busy summer months.

12-18 months

• Actively pursue film and tv and sustainable fashion designers through existing contacts and networking
• Take part in more heritage craft events.
• Review and re-evaluate practice direction.

Conclusion

This report has set out a financially and personally fulfilling plan for the repositioning of my business, from studio/showroom based to a hybrid model centred on bespoke commissions, heritage craft and teaching. This report is not based on financial gain or industry recognition, but through the understanding that 18 years in this business has cost me. Where continual survival has eclipsed the craft and creative depth.

The case is structural, the cost for a studio based creative micro enterprise has in the short term become untenable, and this response makes most sense not just for financial reasons but also for me as an individual and creatively. To redesign, rather than to persist is protection of everything I have built and worked for.

The decision to redesign is strategic self-determination, the same determination that built my business in the first place. I am too proud to sit and let it fall around me. It is not working hard that I am shying away from, it is the way I work within the restraints of the current economy. Hesmondhalgh’s (Hesmondhalgh, 2019) account of creative labour implies this sort of thinking from creatives is necessary but rarely enacted on.

Success for me, is a practice where I have flexibility in my time. Creative time to teach and to think, out of the managing mindset of a commercial operator that consumes the creative resource it was built to enable. I want to work with others whose values align with my own, and carry forward, learn and develop techniques that I can pass onto a new generation. My business has sustained my life, creative practice and mortgage for the past 2 decades. I am very proud of that, it is not something many creatives get to say, I’m not turning my back on that, I just want it to sit alongside me rather than consume the whole of me.

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