70. Desmond & Dempsey

Founders: Joel Jeffery and Molly Goddard
Launched: September 2014
Website: www.desmondanddempsey.com

Becoming famous for its bold prints and premium cotton, Desmond & Dempsey is a new luxury sleepwear brand retailing in top tier stockists to over 2,500 repeat customers across the UK, USA and Europe.

A truly international brand, Desmond & Dempsey’s founders come from opposite ends of the globe. London native Joel Jeffery and Australian Molly Goddard met in Canada, and in the time they were able to spend together Goddard developed a penchant for lounging around in Jeffery’s shirts – though she would often spill drinks and jam down them.

Keen to find Goddard something of her own (and save Jeffery’s shirts from her breakfast spillage), the duo set out to create their own fashionable, unique nightwear range. Made of luxury cotton and sporting distinctive prints including tigers, pineapples and safari scenes – put together by an in-house artist and graphic designer, their business, Desmond & Dempsey, has achieved this goal in style.

The start-up’s big breakthrough came within just two months of its launch, when it was featured in Vogue magazine which was followed by press clippings in several other high-profile press outlets.

On the back of this media attention, top retailers reached out to the duo and the momentum went from there, helping the business to scale.

Now, selling directly online and through luxury retail giants including Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus, Desmond & Dempsey’s customer base of style-conscious sleepers is growing by a staggering 250% year-on-year.

With this rapid growth in mind, we believe the business’ goal of becoming “the sleepwear company” is well within reach.