I started selling clothes from my nana's house - now I'm turning over £10m

Olivia always loved fashion, but never imagined a side hustle from her grandmother's house would grow into a brand turning over £10m.

That brand, Murci, has since featured on TV show Love Island, and has seen her move from her nana's to a site for her 35 staff.

After completing a placement at major brand Boohoo, Olivia Prince, 31, started working as a receptionist, which is when she began selling clothes on a website as a side venture.

It has grown to such an extent that in June, The Times ranked her label among the 20 fastest‑growing companies in the UK.

A business expert said the UK had a "bustling side hustle culture", but that high-level success was "difficult to replicate".

Olivia, originally from Conwy, loved experimenting with styling and clothes as a teenager.

She went on to study fashion buying and merchandising at Manchester Metropolitan University and won a placement at the city's major international fashion brand Boohoo.

"I think one fear of mine was obviously going to university and then not being able to get a job after it, especially in the field that I wanted," she said.

"So I thought if I get a placement, even though it'll take me an extra year to graduate, hopefully that's a foot in the door."

Olivia said it was "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" for somebody like her "to come from Wales and land their first job at Boohoo".

She said: "You had to make a really creative CV to show off your skills... I can't draw but I was like, 'how cool would it to be to have this leather jacket with my CV all across the back of it?'"

Olivia stayed at Boohoo for an extra six months after her placement ended, adding: "I learned more then than I did at university, so it was so beneficial going."

After graduating, Olivia worked as a receptionist during the Covid pandemic in an "empty building" and was able to spend time on her side hustle buying and reselling clothes from wholesale websites.

She used her grandmother's house in Manchester as a base to launch her business and said she had "nothing to lose".

Olivia later re-branded and named the business Murci, deciding to include a "unique" look with "placement prints".

Her breakthrough moment came after Millie Court walked into the Love Island villa in 2021 wearing a Murci two-piece outfit.

The brand sold a few hundred of them and Olivia spent the next day handwriting the labels and sending off orders.

From there, Olivia decided it was time to quit her job and put her "own stamp" on things.

She said it was when some of her viral garments were selling more than 1,000 units in a day that she "knew it was a proper business".

Murci has been a family affair from the start, Olivia said, as her mum would often write the labels and her nana would sit and package them, before she expanded her team to 35 members and moved into new headquarters in Manchester.

In the last few years, the womenswear brand has experienced huge growth.

"It was actually crazy," said Olivia.

Collaborations with influencers such as Meagen Wells has also helped give her more exposure.

Olivia's brother Thomas Prince, 33, has also played a big role to help expand Murci's operations directly to the US.

The former accountant set up their US distribution centre in a few months after a 10% global tariff rate was introduced last year.

She said: "We already do 30% [of business] in America.

"Brands spend millions trying to tap into the American market... whereas we just run the same ads here as we do there and it performs really well."

The UK's side hustle economy has reached record highs, with 49% of adults surveyed confirmed they owned one, as reported in the Financial Times.

Shankha Basu, an associate professor of marketing at Leeds University Business School, said the UK had a "bustling side hustle culture", with a "growing proportion" of the population either already owning a side hustle, or actively planning to have one.

Basu said it was driven by economic pressure, the need to diversity income, and social‑media influence.

According to the academic, people are also looking for extra income along with protection from job cuts and encouraged by platforms where "idea testing can be done cheaply and at scale".

He added: "Successful side hustles have inspired budding entrepreneurs predating Covid such as Gymshark and Innocent drinks.

"However, it is incredibly difficult to replicate their success."

Olivia's advice? "You can do absolutely anything… as long as you've got passion and you surround yourself with the right people."