How did the project get started?
Feel Good Club came about around six years ago when Kiera developed an eating disorder, she didn't have a great experience with her doctors so decided to look into self care and mindset more. This helped her dramatically and she realised it could also help a lot more people.
Kiera set up an Instagram account posting positive quotes each day and making candles to sell. Eventually, she got a full time job and left it behind. Last January we decided to pick it back as we were both so passionate about helping people.
We are big believers in self care. It can mean something different to every person though and that is what we also stand for. That can be yoga, drawing, drinking with friends, running, whatever it is.
What motivated you to get it going?
I (Aimie) hated my full time job and couldn't see a way out until we started Feel Good Club back up, once we started getting people messaging us saying how much we helped them and made them feel good with our quotes it motivated us to keep going.
Our following grew and grew, then we realised this could be bigger than we thought so I decided to quit my job and go for it. At first what motivated us was a new career, but then it was the audience who motivated us to keep going.
How is the merchandise going down?
The merchandise is going down amazing! We never want Feel Good Club to be a clothing brand, our merchandise to us is the same as a football team would have a kit. You wear our clothing to represent the meaning behind it. We've had people tell us when they see complete strangers wearing Feel Good Club they've started up conversations, as they know what we represent.
Our 3-way colour hoodie is constantly being restocked and i think this is because it was our original design. We also design all our t-shirts ourselves. If it is screen-printed we do it ourselves, we also sew in our labels ourselves to make it more personal. Before starting the brand we couldn't screen-print or sew, we just self taught ourselves along the way.
What have you got planned moving forward?
We're actually in the middle of planning our own Feel Good Club space, we can't go into many details about it but it will be in Manchester and maybe Liverpool next year. We want to bring Feel Good Club offline so people can interact more with each other and have a safe space to do what makes them feel good.
How is COVID affecting you?
As a business we have been lucky enough to do really well, our merchandise is selling out constantly and we have been working with brands such as MCR finest, Lyle & Scott, to bring their audience our feel good tips to help with mental health during lockdown.
Personally, we've been up and down, I think everyone has. It's hard to not see loved ones and not having that human contact has been a struggle but it's also given us some time to reflect and look after ourselves more due to the pace of life being slower.
Aimie Skillen
What do you feel is needed to support people in the current situation?
We feel people need some phone-free time, we're getting more notifications than ever. We've been turning our phones off for at least an hour a day and just spending time together - dancing, laughing and trying some new hobbies.
People also need to stay connected, we are alone physically but we don't have to be mentally. Call your friends, face-time your loved ones. This is super important.
And, last but not least, people need to get outside! get away from the phones, work, sofa and get outside for some fresh air. This is super important for our mental health.
