Our Story

I'm Karen Molineux, the founder of Goose Island. It feels great to have you interested in becoming one of our stockists, so let us tell you a little more about us.

Goose Island began with a sense of adventure, a love of something different and a determination to create a business I truly believed in.

My story began when I spent a year travelling through Southeast Asia, India and Australia. I had a career in finance waiting for me back home, but while I was in Bali, surrounded by beautiful clothing, jewellery and craftsmanship, I remember thinking, “Wow, I wish I was in this game because I could do so much with it.”

When I returned home, something had changed. I knew there was more out there for me than finance.

I took a job with a fashion company, but just six months later, my wage cheque bounced. The company was struggling and, instead of being paid, I was given a rail of clothing samples. Looking back, it was almost serendipitous. I had no job, but I had a rail of clothes - so I started selling them.

I held clothing parties for friends and family, travelled to London to buy stock and began attending local events and craft fairs. But I knew that if I really wanted to create something different, I needed to go back to where the inspiration had started - Bali.

From Bali to Goose Island

A few months later, I travelled to Bali alone and spent six weeks putting together my first collection. When I returned home, the clothing flew off the shelves. That was the moment I realised all the hard work might actually be turning into something.

Together with my late husband, Peter, I opened our first shop. One became two, then three and then four - all within around 18 months.

I was constantly looking for ways to get Goose Island in front of people. We held clothing parties, attended events and put on fashion shows in schools - sometimes four or five a week during the summer. Slowly but surely, our community grew.

Bali remained at the heart of what we were doing. Peter and I imported clothing, jewellery, furniture, gifts and homeware, and even created stores that felt as though you were stepping straight into Bali.

But Goose Island was about to take another turn.

Discovering Wholesale

Our jewellery had become incredibly popular and, after being approached by sales agents who wanted to represent our collections, Peter and I decided to take a chance and exhibit at our first trade show.

We didn't really know what to expect — but we were mobbed.

Before we knew it, we were exhibiting at more trade shows, taking more orders and quickly realising that our garage and home office were no longer going to be enough.

We moved into a warehouse, recruited a team and entered the world of wholesale, eventually supplying around 2,000 customers across the UK as well as larger retailers and customers across Europe.

Over time, clothing became the real focus of Goose Island. By 2012, our buying journey had taken us to Italy, where I began regularly visiting the textile centres near Florence with my nephew, Karl Hutchings, who is now our Managing Director.

Italy became an incredibly important part of Goose Island and helped shape the clothing and style our customers know and love today.

The Year Everything Changed

Then came March 2020.

Lockdown closed our stores and wholesale operation overnight, but I knew I couldn't simply sit at home. I went into our closed Mumbles store, started trying on clothes, taking selfies and sharing videos on Facebook - and the orders began to come in.

Soon came the Facebook Lives. They weren't polished or perfect, but they were real. As I always say, “It was not perfect, but it was progress.”

Later that year, my life changed forever when I suddenly lost my husband, Peter. I stepped away from the business while my nephew Karl stepped up and helped keep Goose Island going through an incredibly difficult time.

Eventually, I returned to the Facebook Lives and, around five months after losing Peter, I shared my story with our customers. The response was overwhelming. The community we had built around Goose Island became a huge source of support and helped me through one of the hardest periods of my life.

It reinforced something I have always believed:

Goose Island is about serving our customers, not simply selling to them.

Where We Are Today

As our community grew, so did Goose Island.

Online orders multiplied, our team expanded and we created new roles across warehousing, customer service, dispatch and marketing. Our wholesale business continued to grow too, with trade shows, catwalks, lifestyle shoots and new ways of connecting with our stockists.

We've also had opportunities I could never have imagined when I started selling clothes at house parties all those years ago.

We've taken customers to Royal Ascot, hosted our own Goose Island x London Fashion Week events, held charity coffee mornings, taken the team to Venice for a Christmas Do and been fortunate enough to receive numerous awards and recognition for our growth, fashion and family business journey.

When I look back at everything we've achieved, I sometimes find it difficult to believe that it all started with a trip around the world, a rail of clothing samples and an idea.

Through every chapter - the shops, Bali, Italy, wholesale, online, the challenges and the celebrations — Goose Island has always been about family, community, individuality and a genuine love of fashion.

I'm incredibly proud of what we've built, but even more proud of the community that has grown alongside us.

More than three decades later, Goose Island is thriving beyond anything I could have imagined.

What's next? Who knows... but I can't wait to find out.

All my love,
Karen Molineux x