A finalist in the 2022 LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards has been named as one of the most inspirational and dynamic female entrepreneurs in Britain.
Ismay Mummery, who founded sustainable boys fashion brand Boy Wonder in 2016, was one of 100 business women making it onto the f:Entrepreneur #ialso100 list.
Now in its fifth year, the campaign – which is run by Small Business Britain – attracted a record number of applications for this year’s #ialso100 line-up.
Ismay’s company, which is based in Ashby, is also one of three finalists in the LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards innovation in creative industries category along with Nevill Holt Opera and Roshi Desai Designs.
The annual LeicestershireLive awards night takes place on Thursday, February 24, at the King Power Stadium, and will showcase the world-beating innovation and technical expertise currently being developed in Leicester and Leicestershire. Tickets are on sale here.
Ismay’s clothes range has sustainability at its heart, using organic cotton, chemical free prints and repair kits and care guides to give shoppers the tools to care for their purchases.
She has also launched a take back and resell scheme through her web shop, committed to an annual production limit and will be stocking limited edition, customized, second-hand garments in the spring.
She was inspired by her son Dylan, who is now 11, when she had trouble finding brightly coloured but sustainable clothes for him.
She said she was honoured to have been selected for the #ialso100 list and the LeicestershireLive awards.
She said: “It is wonderful to be recognized in this way for the work I am doing in my business despite challenging personal circumstances.
“The brand is for five-to-10 year olds and uses hand drawn prints on organic cloth which is knitted in Leicester.
“There are lots of circular design principles, with growth built into the clothes and repair kits and iron-on patches, right through to a resale and take-back service.
“We have an incredibly local footprint and every stage tries to reduce the impact on the environment as much as possible.
“I started the business in 2016 but launched properly with a Kickstarter campaign in 2019 and then of course the pandemic hit which held up production and we launched the website just over a year ago.
“It’s been a really difficult journey so these awards are just great.”
For Innovation Awards ticket details click here
Both f:Entrepreneur and Small Business Britain were founded by Michelle Ovens CBE, who is also the director of Small Business Saturday UK.
She said: “Congratulations to Ismay, and all of the brilliant female entrepreneurs featured in this year’s #ialso100.
“It is so vital that we recognize and celebrate the phenomenal contribution that women running businesses are making across the UK, and the far-reaching, positive impact they are having, not just on the economy, but on wider communities too.
“The last few years have been hugely challenging for small businesses, yet despite this female entrepreneurship continues to grow and flourish in the UK, and is very much at the heart of the UK’s recovery.”
