The fashion brand with empowerment at the core of its identity.

Cherie Arlett began SheCan closet in October of 2020 after fleeing an abusive relationship, leaving behind her home and job, whilst also living through a pandemic. She decided to take the plunge and go full time with her empowering clothing brand; SheCan closet. 

The brands identity is based strongly around empowerment, “Even though I was going through a struggle, I was empowering myself, I needed to be able to empower other women as well.” Cherie puts empowerment at the top of the brands aims, and believes that everything else comes afterwards such as the fashion and sales. “I know my story can empower other women because there’s so many women in the position that I was in”.

SheCan differs from a conventional clothing brand, as Cherie has ensured women find clothes suitable for their shape, body types and styles with personalised styling services and educating women about dressing to make themselves feel as confident as they can be. Perhaps a key reason as to why SheCan won best online retailer 2021. 

A recent development for the brand is the SheCan closet pop up shop located in King’s Square, Barry alongside local businesses forming a hub for finding something unique. “Barry is where I went to school, I’ve got a history here. It desperately needed this injection, so we began the pop up shop here, you can meet your friends, make new friends, try on clothes, learn about your size”. The pop up shop is seen as a local hub for the women of Barry that encapsulates the sense of community. Although the pop up store is temporary, SheCan holds a market place on Tuesday in Barry town as well as stalls, festivals and conventions throughout the year. 

Cherie shared with us her advice for someone wanting to start up their own fashion business; “find something you enjoy, you don’t have to be really passionate about it, something you wouldn’t despise doing and think how can I make this into a business, what skills can you use to get it off the ground without spending a lot of money or having a lot of investments”. Cherie believes planning is key to success in business, “Remind yourself that’s where I’m going to be, it doesn’t matter if it’s not now, I’m working towards that.” 

So where is SheCan headed in the future? The brand has an exciting campaign upcoming called “SheCan embrace”, focused on helping women to embrace their insecurities, their beauty and their bodies. To support the launch of the campaign, SheCan produced a short documentary interview with three different women on their perspectives of how they empower themselves through fashion and manage their insecurities, including pageant queen; Miss Voluptuous Cymru. As well as the pageant queen, the brand included a children’s social worker and music tutor. The camapign will run for a minimum of three months and also provide customers with 15% off in store and online, as well as getting the community involved and a surprise celebrity appearance.

“i want it to reach real women across social media, people walking down the street”. The idea of the campaign centres around women taking photos of themselves and posting to social media with #shecanembrace followed by a caption of what they embrace about themselves. Cherie then hopes to create a short documentary with the women involved in the social media movement.

Visit the pop up shop before its gone: 3 Ty-Newydd Road, King’s Square, Barry

Or follow the brand on instagram: @shecancloset