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At Red Carpet Ready, 75% of the sales come from prom dresses (Picture: Supplied) Listen to article Listen to article Your browser does not support the audio element. Proud and often tearful mothers watch as their daughters try on a stream of gorgeous gowns, with the chosen one leaving their bank accounts minus a few hundred pounds. The financial dent is deemed worth it to see their smiling faces as they take in their own beauty. While this kind of scene was once exclusive to the wedding dress hunt, the rising significance of proms in the UK means this moment is coming earlier as teenagers prepare to leave high school. Kirsty Gale noticed this increased significance when she joined her friend’s daughter on a prom shopping trip. Being invited to the intimate coming-of-age milestone felt special, but Kirsty was disappointed. In her opinion, they were being presented with limited stock, and the customer service was bad, with assistants chatting to each other, rather than giving their undivided attention. The experience gave her a ‘lightbulb moment’ and so she mapped out her vision, which included becoming the biggest dress specialist in the UK and employing stylists who would spend hours with each customer, whether they were parting with £50 or £1400. It was a busy time for Kirsty, who was about to welcome her first child, but believing that she was on to a winner, she decided to sell her £30,000 home to buy dresses from American suppliers. ‘It was a massive risk, but I knew giving customers a lot of choice was going to set us apart,’ she states. ‘People thought I was crazy when I opened the shop in a beautiful old hall in Lincoln village,’ Kirsty tells Metro of her company, Red Carpet Ready, which launched in 2013, one year after she originally came up with the idea. ‘I was creating something that nobody had before; six themed showrooms with a nightclub vibe and house music always pumping.’ Kirsty had a specific vision (Picture: Supplied) Customers now start shopping with her up to a year in advance of prom to ensure they get the perfect choice. ‘The race is on early,’ Kirsty says, with a smile, noting that young girls travel with families for hundreds of miles from all around the UK. Their biggest fear of rocking up in the same dress as another promgoer is solved, with Red Carpet Ready keeping records so this doesn’t happen. Not an easy job when they dress around 4000 young ladies each year. Kirsty never attended prom herself as her school didn’t have one, but she has now been part of many and feels that she understands the bigger picture of what it’s truly about. ‘Prom isn’t just about a prom night, it’s children transitioning into the next chapter, adulthood,’ she explains. ‘They keep getting bigger because people don’t go out as much, so when opportunities arise for events, they are more appreciated.’ Her role in the occasion means that Kirsty, by her own admission, has become ‘a celebrity in the prom world.’ ‘I’ve been on beaches abroad, and people have come over and said, “Oh my god, it’s you from my prom”,’ Kirsty proudly tells us. She has become a bit of a celebrity in the prom world (Picture: Supplied) Before leaping into launching a business, Kirsty had worked many different jobs. At 13, she was at a fish and chip shop before moving to a cafe, where she rode her bike for two miles to get there for a 7am start. An early managerial spirit meant that by 15, she was in charge of eight people at weekends. ‘It wouldn’t happen now,’ she points out. Although she never skipped school, working around it, she left with a handful of passes in her GCSES, and an E in maths. ‘I wasn’t that person who could sit down and concentrate, so studying was relentlessly stressful. It was like putting a square peg in a round hole,’ she explains. ‘I was more interested in financial independence.’ After school, she took a secretarial course, which led her to being a PA to businesspeople. ‘I was picking up on how people manage their companies, and I ultimately applied that knowledge. The biggest lesson was that things will never always go to plan or stay perfect for long,’ she says. ‘It’s a Rubik’s Cube every day, like when a supplier let us down, and told us they couldn’t deliver 235 dresses two weeks before they were due to arrive. The average order was £495, and if we’d have lost all that, it would have been serious. ‘That was one sleepless night,’ she recalls. ‘I had to think quickly, so we invited the 235 customers back to the showroom, and gave them £200 towards an alternative dress. They appreciated that we dealt with the situation very transparently and efficiently.’ Kirsty has been recognised with awards (Picture: Supplied) Red Carpet Ready now has 35 employees, their own designs, an accessories range and has just purchased a distribution centre. They are tracking to turnover more than £2 million this year, with 75% of their profits coming from prom shoppers, and the rest from eveningwear, with the company even dressing celebrities including Olivia Attwood, GK Barry and Saffron Barker. ‘Who says retail is dead?’ Kirsty asks proudly. They plan to start selling to people in other countries, such as Dubai, who can’t feasibly get to Lincoln soon. ‘If I stopped because I have an empire, then gradually, it would fade. You’ve got to keep things alive in business,’ Kirsty states. There has also been a development in personal life, with Kirsty recently being diagnosed with ADHD, which has given her a greater understanding of how she operates. ‘I had absolutely no idea why I got massive anxiety about certain environments where I have to sit and look at something, and because of that, I battled with demons for several years,’ she says. While she’s truthful about how the condition has been difficult, she also credits it for getting her to where she is now. ‘When I put my focus on something, 110% goes into it, which is why I’ve got the business. I worked seven days a week for years, and my passionate energy has rubbed off on the staff.’ Kirsty recently had a moment to reflect on her success. ‘I thought to myself, “Well done for not giving up, well done for learning from your mistakes.” We run a really great company now that gives me a great sense of fulfilment. I love what I do,’ she summarises. Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Josie.Copson@metro.co.uk Share your views in the comments below.
