'Our lounge looks like a T K Maxx' - Stourbridge mum-of-three turns preloved clothes into £43k family business
A Stourbridge mother-of-three who began selling her family’s unwanted clothes to make ends meet during university has turned a small side hustle into a £43,000 success story.
Jennifer Bradley, from Stourbridge, achieved the feat while completing a degree, raising her children and rebuilding family life after a devastating house flood.
After launching her online resale business during the final year of her social work degree, initially listing “perfectly preloved” clothing to bring in some extra income, she has built a loyal following of more than 10,100 people and generated £43,000 in sales through live-stream shopping platform Whatnot within the space of eight months.
Her journey to success, however, has not been without challenges. Two years ago, while the family were away on holiday, their home was flooded, leaving it uninhabitable. Jen, her partner and their three children, who are no aged nine, 12 and 18, were forced to move into hotels for six months while repairs were carried out.
"It was an enormous flood, and it all came after a freak accident while we were away," Jennifer explained. "There was free-flowing water in our house for two days before we got back, and when we did the ceilings had all fallen in and we lost absolutely everything.
"We had no insurance and we lived in rented accommodation so we ended up living in hotels for six months and spent all our savings that we'd built up for buying a house on replacing everything that we'd lost.
"We literally started again from scratch, and when you're living in a hotel room with three kids and don't have anywhere to wash your clothes or cook, it just drained us of everything.
"Now, every penny that I earn from Whatnot goes into a separate account and we're saving up for our kids to have a forever home. That's my whole aim, and once I realised I could make enough money from it to replenish my stock and put some aside for savings we decided everything would go into that."
Since beginning live sales in June 2025 Jennifer’s twice-weekly shows have attracted a growing community of sustainable fashion lovers. She specialises in high-quality second-hand clothing saved from landfill, alongside popular trending pieces and accessories.
Her business is very much a family affair. Her children help behind the scenes — sorting stock, organising items and cheering her on during live broadcasts. What started as a way to make ends meet has become something that fits around school runs, university deadlines and family life.
Alongside running the business, Jen completed her degree in social work in July — balancing academic work with parenting and entrepreneurship as well as caring for her mum.
To mark reaching 10,000 followers, Jen hosted a special “10K Thank You Show” on Saturday, February 21, where she gave away more than 20 prizes during the live stream, including a Jellycat toy, a Loungefly bag, P.Louise make-up, a gift voucher and a Love Moschino make-up bag.
As her business continues to grow, Jen hopes to take the next step by finding a small office space in or around Stourbridge, allowing her to expand while keeping home life separate from work.
"I'm enjoying it for the most part, but our house is too small for the five of us to live in as it is without me running a business from the front room," she laughed. "We're looking for an office space just so we can get the lounge back, because it looks like a T K Maxx at the moment."
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