East Sussex town welcomes sustainably-led fashion shop owned by Dragon’s Den entrepreneur

Rachel Watkyn, the most successful female to ever appear on the BBC show, runs Know The Origin, a supermarket for household goods and clothing, which opened its first shop in The Needlemakers.

Danielle, head of Brand and Operations for the company, said: “The first week of trading has been going well as people get to know we’re here.

“We’ve loved introducing new local customers to the brand and connecting with customers in person again.”

The company was originally started by two university students in 2015, who were shocked at people’s complete disregard for where their stuff was coming from.

The brand soon became not just about fast fashion, but about addressing the whole unsustainable lifestyle.

The ethos of Know The Origin was to provide modern, slow fashion items in both the clothing and sportswear market, as well as offering accessories, jewellery, home wear, books and footwear.

Each product has full traceability so the consumer would be able to see where each item was made, how it was made, and by whom.

An online shop was set up in 2016 and in 2021 two physical popup shops were opened in London. However, the Covid-19 pandemic hit the business hard, leaving it in unexpected financial difficulty.

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With closure imminent, Rachel bought the brand out of liquidation and is now on a mission to re-establish the company as the leading online and in-store sustainable mini-department store.

There first step towards this goal begins in Lewes, with the opening of the brand’s first-ever store.

When asked why they chose the East Sussex town, Danielle said: “Lewes is a beautiful historic town in Sussex with a community passionate about sustainability.

"The quaint high street and Needlemakers champions many independent shops and makers of all kinds which all sits so well with the ethos of Know the Origin”

To date Rachel is the most successful female to ever appear on Dragon’s Den with ‘The Tiny Box Company’ a sustainable packaging business which has a £10,000,000 turnover.