A WILTSHIRE couple's company raised thousands of pounds for good causes and received celebrity support after changing their business model to work alongside charities.

Anthony and Jemma Brown had grown their OHM Clothing brand for seven years,providing uniforms to schools, the military as well as logo-added workwear for trades and industry.

But the pandemic forced them to change tack as their sales dried up almost overnight - so they decided to turn to helping fundraiser after Jemma saw her friends taking part in Ian Alcorn’s initiative to raise money for the NHS Charities Together on social media.

She said: “The project, which Ian called ‘The Great British Campout’, was getting those who would have been going on camping or caravan holidays to ‘camp out’ in their gardens or on their drives and donate cash to the charity.

“We simply provided well priced, good quality clothing with the event's logo on and donated all additional funds to the charity pot. We know that people are hugely proud of the charity they support, and branded clothing is a great way to do that.

“There would be zero cost to Ian and we’d only ever cover our own costs with a small profit on top. My pledge to him was that for every item we sold, whatever our profit was the donation to the charity would be more."

In four weeks, they raied £11,676 through hoodie and t-shirt sales alone. Overall, Ian has raised more than £200,000 when his original target was £100. The couple then realised many charities would like their own branded merchandise.

Jemma added: “With my charity background, I know just how much supporters want to wear their chosen charity brand, but also know once you purchase and store charity clothing, let alone running the risk of being stuck with a selection of odd sizes, you really do start to make very little money.

"Our solution fills the gap for charities both big and small. We host their online shop for them and do everything involved, it’s such a great opportunity.”

The couple decided to further test their idea and designed a range of clothing inspired by TV series It's A Sin to raise money for The Terence Higgins Trust.

The 'La' hoodies went viral and were soon snapped up by celebs including Stephen Fry, Faye McKeever.

Faye said: “It was an absolute pleasure to help raise awareness of the campaign – it was evident that a lot of time and love has gone into their clothing."

Jemma added: We felt we had to show that OHM Charities concept could work. In fact it worked so well we have a cheque for £10,000 to the charity.”

The Browns renamed their business and are working on more profit-sharing merchandise for other charities, including the Tessa Jowell Foundation, the Lewis Moody Foundation and The Kiyan Prince Foundation.

Anthony said: “What we offer is a steady fundraising stream for charities which also helps them engage effectively with their regular and most loyal supporters. We are now looking for an operations manager to come and work with us, we hope to work with charities right across the UK and are now seeking someone fantastic to come and work with us”

OHM Clothing is based in Swindon and Devzies. Its charitable arm is on www.ohmcharities.org.uk