Blog Post – Happy New Year 2025 - Looking back at last year and where we are going this year!

Wow! What a year 2024 was!   We hope you have had a fantastic year and thankyou for being such an important part of our Tortue UK Journey.

We thrive on helping ladies look and feel their best and often refer to ourselves as the “hairdressers of fashion” as we get to know you over time and naturally become trusted friends.  Tortue will always be about amazing clothes, relationships and the personal touch.

Our Team covers the UK and Northern Ireland, working face to face with customers from their local fashion spaces, virtually via Whatsapp and Zoom for those further afield and we move about the UK doing events too – so always keep an eye on our social media to find out what’s happening near you!

As we look back on last year, it’s easy to forget some of the amazing things that have happened along our journey that we couldn’t have done without your support so a huge THANKYOU from all of us! x

We won some awards!!

Best French Fashion Retailer – UK in LUXlife Style and Apparel Awards 2023

Womens Clothing Brand of the Year 2024 by Corporate Livewire Innovation and Excellence Awards

Theo Paphitis Small Business Sunday recognition

Suze qualified as a Bra Fitter and we welcomed New Stylists our friends, Joy and Emma to the Team.

In Summer the Team headed out to France with a trip to Aix En Provence to visit our supplier to see the forthcoming Autumn Collection presented by the Design Team.   Our supplier also rebranded from Captain Tortue to Maison Captain.

In August we became part of the Buy Women Built community championing female founded businesses and we took Tortue on the road to a glamping festival business networking event “Peakefest” hosted by Sara Davies.  We also hosted a pop up shop in John Lewis Reading for a week too!

We were so excited to hit the million pound turnover mark in September – thankyou so much for all your purchases over the last two years that brought us from 0 to this amazing milestone as this enables us to invest in other aspects of our business that will help improve our service to all our customers for the future.

We were featured in Cosmopolitan Magazine October/November edition and we did a fun fashion shoot at Canary Wharf in London (our model certainly caught the eye of a few people along the way during the shoot!)

We are not your “average” clothing retailer business – we like to do things differently and make a difference whilst we are at it!  Lizzy collaborated with FeverTree for a Gin Tasting and Fashion Show at The Lismoyne Hotel and at one of Lizzy’s events, Ms Great Britain (Surrey) shopped with us!

Our whole team have got involved with good causes from Cornwall to Aberdeen and raised over £21,500 through Charity Fundraising events across the UK from Fashion Shows, Afternoon Teas and Shopping events for big and small charities including:-

Cornwall Air Ambulance

Brain Research UK

Lanark Lanimer Committee

Macmillan Coffee Mornings

Brain Power Charity

Prostate Cancer UK

Marie Curie

Breast Cancer Now

Brace Alzheimers

Blood Cancer UK

British Divers Marine Life Rescue

Maggies Cancer Care

The Brain Tumour Charity

Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and Thames Hospice

Libertys Legacy Ewing Sarcoma Bone Cancer Research Trust

Chrons and Colitis Charity

Weve even raised funds towards a toilet at the Church in Milton Ernest, Bedford and

funds towards restoration of a church roof in Bedford too!

… and there are plenty more events in the pipeline for 2025.  If you have a good cause (big or small) that you would like to support by hosting a fundraising event with us then please do get in touch with your local Tortue Style Consultant.

I have been continuing to volunteer for British Divers Marine Life Rescue as a Marine Mammal Medic down in Cornwall working Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and New Years Day shifts at the Cornwall Seal Hospital plus completed over 27 hours of Beach Cleans throughout the year and Christmas Tree planting with Cornwall’s Beach Guardian to help prevent sand erosion and aid Dune Conservation.

So what else do we have planned for 2025 I hear you ask?  Well, firstly we are moving to new warehouse premises in the UK as we have outgrown our current facility.   During January you can help us to prepare for the move by shopping from our UK Warehouse Clearance Sale where you get to buy a beautiful piece of clothing at our biggest ever discounted prices. 

Pick up our Long Double Breasted Coat in Grey or Faux Sheepskin Coat in Ecru to keep out the winter chill, or pick up a snuggly Wide Stripe Cardigan in Havana shades or Buttoned Cardigan In Green.

The Colour Block Jumper looks fabulous with Kate Jeans in Grey Denim – both are at bargain price and will help you transition from Winter to Spring.

Have you taken a look at our Sale yet?  Remember you can use the search bar to search by your size and see what bargains you can find.  If you see something that you like but your size isn’t available, please do get in touch with us as one of our team may have it in their local stock sample sale and get it to you instead.

Our new Preview mini collection Avant Premier has launched to help bridge the gap between Winter and Spring before our main Spring collection launches in February and its fair to say that its been a hit with our Tortue Team. 

Our Stylists Sharon and Sophie have had fun trying out the new pieces for you!

The new Pleated Trousers in Black have a cigarette cut and refined pleats to enhance the silhouette for an impeccable look for both day and evening.

You have elegance and fluidity combined with the Kimono Blouse in printed satin with Sophie is wearing the blouse “jacket style” over the Bronze Mila Top which you may recognise from the Autumn/Winter collection which will be continuing into Spring having been a hit with so many of our customers.  Alternatively pair the blouse with the Printed Satin Trousers to give a jumpsuit effect to your look!

The Water Repellent Trench Coat transforms your wardrobe as it can be worn inside out with the striking pattern lining on the outside.  It is a loose fit and oversize so we recommend taking a size smaller than your usual when ordering.

The Round Neck Blouse in Black and White print is the perfect thing for a sunny day.  Crafted from flowing voile for elegance and effortless style too!

We are pleased to confirm that we will have more Style Online Sessions coming in our Private Facebook Group – if you are not already in the group then please do send us a request to join and we can add you in.  As always our sessions are based on what YOU would like to see so please do comment in the Group if there is a specific aspect of dressing or a particular topic that you would like us to cover.

As for other things – we like nice surprises so don’t want to give too many things away just yet!  Keep in touch with our Tortue UK newsletter (you can sign up on our main Tortue.UK website where you are entered into a draw to win a Tortue gift voucher) and follow our social media pages to keep up to date with news and events too.

Bon Annee (Happy New Year) 2025

Thankyou for being a part of our journey and we look forward to continuing with you for the year ahead.

Angela x