'No one was googling ‘colourful lockers’ in 2018 – if they are now it's because of us'

“I like to call Mustard Made my monster and it’s a monster that keeps giving,” smiles Jess Stern, one half of the sibling founders devoted to vintage inspired storage lockers.

It was her older sister Becca who had an original fondness for collecting old metal lockers. And, having come across one 1960s American metal pink locker, Becca soon convinced Jess that their own entrepreneurial furniture line could be created.

“The more we talked that it wasn't just a locker,” recalls Jess, “that it was something colourful, practical, functional, it added to your home and told part of your story by what you stuck on the outside of it or what you put inside it, that’s when I became fully invested in the brand.”

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Launched in 2018, Mustard Made has struck a chord with consumers. So much so that the duo have been included in the Sunday Times 100 list of fast-growing British companies, while revenue sales for 2023/24 hit £6.8m, equating to 12% year-on-year growth. Monsters or rising locker giants?

The fact that Becca resides in Australia hasn’t slowed the company’s trajectory. With more than 30 staff, evenly split between London and Newcastle, Australia, Mustard Made could call themselves a global company from the outset, with warehouses now in Europe and the US.

“Our differences made Mustard Made what it is, through being siblings and living thousands of miles away from each other,” says Jess. “The distance is a positive and we do have our differences of opinion. When we work together we are super collaborative and on our own we work on our own path.”

While Jess has a background in manufacturing and buying products, Becca had been a single mum and had her own small business. The flip side, says Jess, was her sister’s creative eye. “She knew Mustard’s vision from the outset while I was more ‘what are we doing here?" laughs Jess.

“I am more gung-ho and will go for something. For example, I wanted to launch in the US and we did, whereas Becca is more cautious and thinks things through. It meant that we looked at our taxes and set up our company properly before we launched in America.”

Hailing from High Barnet, north London, the sisters come from a family of entrepreneurs, their father having worked in marketing for the likes of Coca Cola, before starting his own business in promotional marketing.

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There was, however, apprehension on how far the fledgling brand could go and their father travelled with the siblings on their first factory visit to China.

They have since travelled over half a dozen times to see the production line in Henan Province, on conveyor belts “bigger than a football pitch”.

“Once dad saw the products, he had an idea of where it could go. But none of us could believe where we are today,” adds Jess.

The founders confounded their own expectations at early trade shows. Jess took holiday from her job as a Primark lingerie buyer for one Sydney trade show and within days the duo had 50 stockists on board. Jess quit her job six months later.

“It’s hard to talk to an audience directly when you’re new,” admits Jess. “The idea of going to trade shows was so we could get a product people normally didn’t know they needed into shops that they loved on the high streets and walked down constantly.

“Then they could recognise that it could be a great addition for their hallway. No one was googling ‘colourful lockers’ six years ago. They might do it now, hopefully, but I would say that’s because of us.”

The practical uses of their vintage lockers have also led to plenty of consumer interaction. Mustard Made field queries ranging from weight loads for fish tanks or locker use for board game storage, wellies or kids’ space.

Jess adds: “The potential is still massive. We have grown a lot but we are still a small business. There are so many homes which could have our product, offices, gyms or pilates studios. We could literally go anyway.

“Metal lasts and something which will be here for a long time, which you can invest in and hand down to your children.”

Mustard Made haven’t reinvented the wheel. The sisters have simply taken a product and given it a personality. “That's the essence of the beauty we have, with the brand,” she says.

Behind the brand: Mustard Made co-founder Jess Stern on…

Leadership

Prior to Mustard, I was a manager of one person. We have done every part of this business from customer service, PR, marketing and social media. We have gone to the front and built up. We now have such respect for the whole team and how they work. Being a manager is one of the greatest parts of this business. It’s been better than lockers to have a team.

Staying relevant

I feel like one of the things our dad did say was that it was a fad and it might not last, but after six years we’re doing okay. It’s a concern but we have been producing the same product and launching the odd product [a limited edition rainbow locker recently sold out] we have kept the same range and it’s hard to market it at times. But it’s how we talk to our community, engage when you have a product range and talk about different ways to use them that’s key.

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