Long Melford textile designer - Sophie Mann - scoops UK Young Market Trader of the Year title - in a double success for Suffolk
A Suffolk textile designer has proven herself to be the best young market trader in the country.
Sophie Mann, of Long Melford, Suffolk, whose colourful textiles inspired by the Suffolk countryside caught the judges’ eye, has been named the National Market Trader Federation’s (NMTF) Young Trader of the Year for 2022.
The 25-year-old also won top prize in the General Retail category.
The winner was announced following the final of the competition held over two days in Stratford-upon-Avon this weekend.
Sophie Clarke, from Sophie Clarke Design, of Mildenhall, was also highly commended in the Arts and Crafts section of the national competition.
Sophie Mann started her business, Sophie April Mann Textile Designs, during the Covid lockdown.
Having graduated from Nottingham Trent University, the young designer was two years into a career in fashion design when the pandemic struck.
Sophie said: “I have always loved art and I am inspired by the flowers, birds and wildlife of the countryside around where I live,” she said.
“I started selling a few tea towels and oven gloves on websites and it grew from there."
Soon Sophie was selling at craft markets and on the internet and she now trades at Bury St Edmunds Makers’ Market once a month.
The NMTF’s Young Traders Market campaign celebrated its 10th anniversary this year.
From relatively small beginnings, it has grown into asuccessful campaign with young trader events held on markets up and down the country, the winners going on to 10 regional finals involving a total of 250 young traders, and 90 young people progressing to the final.
Both Sophie Mann and Sophie Clarke competed in the local and regional rounds, both held in Bury St Edmunds, earlier this year, supported by West Suffolk Council, who provided gazebos and free insurance for contestants.
Sophie Clarke also won the Best Arts and Crafts section of the competition last year.
Her hand-woven designs have since been featured in Tatler magazine and in a pop-up shop in John Lewis.
Joe Harrison, CEO of the NMTF, said:“We were particularly pleased to have added North and South Wales and Belfast in Northern Ireland to the tally of regional finals,” he said.
“We have an incredible asset in our retail markets which are the backbone of so many market towns and bring life and vibrancy to our cities.
“They are such an important part of our history and heritage, but don’t always get the recognition and investment they deserve.”
“There are so many examples of multinationals that started with a market trader selling from a humble stall. Tesco, Marks & Spencer, The Range and Matalan are all businesses started by market traders.
“And in these difficult times, we need entrepreneurship and fresh ideas more than ever."
The Young Traders Market campaign was grouped into four different categories — Food and Drink, Arts and Crafts, Grocery and General Retail.
The young people involved were selling everything from street food and drinks to beautiful art work, jewellery, clothes, candles and confectionery.
The judges spent hours watching the young traders sell their goods and they took into account everything from the quality of the lines and their stall displays, to their customer engagement and the imaginative ways they promoted their businesses.
As well as being named overall winner, which as well as the trophy comes with a £500 cash prize and a mobile credit card terminal from NMTF sponsors Multipay, Sophie Mann won the General Retail Category.
