Clare Hornby tried her hand at various companies before striking gold with ME+EM, despite the fact that she may be the neurons behind one of the UK’s most powerful clothing companies.
The pleasure women’s wear product, which was worn by Lady Victoria Starmer and, has had a historic year.
ME+EM has also grown to be a favored model for royal girls, including the Duchess of and the Duchess of. Since its founding in 2009, it has grown to be a cherished company.
Frederick Windsor’s family Sophia Winkleman was pictured wearing a over the weekend.
However, wearing a £325 natural decorative ME+EM gown- after the £275 dark dress she wore to arrive at 10 Downing Street sold out in 48 hours.
Despite that, the new royal and social endorsements are a far cry from Clare’s humble origins in business.
FEMAIL reveals how ME+EM transformed from a bumbling pyjamas company to a clothing brand reportedly for £130m.
Fresh entrepreneurial spirit
Clare Hornby, 54, who now lives in Oxford, grew up making her own clothing out of Vogue designs to match her large window. While her father became the managing director of a building firm, her mother worked as a tutor.
The mother-of-five, who later went on to work as an advertising executive, sold second-hand Italian shoes at a business in Oldham as a girl and had formerly promised to line up at 6am for a stall.
Speaking to the in 2019, Clare explained: ‘As a student in Oldham, Greater Manchester, I was constantly buying styles and materials and loved the process of making something unique. There is no incentive to make your own because you can now purchase everything from Primark for five.’
‘At 14 I had a business barn trading stock hours. I had a lot of business ideas, but it wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I realized I had to start my own fashion company.
Clare became the mother of Johnny Hornby’s three young sons when she wed the founder of the advertising agency in 2003. The couple later developed two daughters of their own.
Clare said in an interview that she discovered her “love of pleasure,” which led to the creation of ME+EM while working as a marketing apprentice for Harrods.
She said: ‘You may store on staff reductions, and I missed it when I left. Marketing has taught me about brand mapping and corporate positioning.’
“Doing something for herself”
Clare said she wanted everything for herself to concentrate on and decided to start her own clothing business after becoming a mother of five.
She recently told: ‘I’d be both a grandmother and a stage- mum, and to retain all the wheels on the track, I needed to do something for myself. So I went for it.’
Clare and her companion Emma Howarth started “The Pyjama Room” in 2007 by remortgaging their properties and using up to £100,000 in savings to finance their business opportunity.
Speaking to, Clare explained: ‘At that time, the loungewear revolution hadn’t really begun and PJs were relegated to the darkest, most distant corner of the department store.’
We tried to make it clear that you spend a lot of time with your partner and that you want to be pleasant but often end up looking sloppy.
Clare claimed at the time that she had “no relevant experience” in style and that a trend consumer she had met while conducting research in New York had told her to “give up immediately.”
In addition, Clare also described a “soul-destroying moment” where fabric suppliers refused to speak to her because her business was only online because she “probably wouldn’t have started” if she had known how difficult it would be.
ME+EM relaunch
Looking back on their first firm, Clare said it was’ too small a concept’, which is what led the companions to rename to ME+EM.
The rename allowed the inc- founders to grow into knit, outwear and occasionwear. In 2012, Emma stepped down from the company and then works for the organization Dog, Cat & Mouse.
Speaking to, Clare after explained: ‘ We eventually rebranded ourselves as Me+ Em giving designer- quality basics for active women.
‘Our wide- grand roll- best palazzo trousers from that first collection are also bestsellers.’
The Princess of Wales introduced the company into the public in 2015 when the king was watching her father’s polo match.
The king has since continued to wear ME+EM on numerous occasions, including one next month.
Clare stated in an interview that the Princess’ support has always had the biggest influence on their profits.
The founder said: ‘There isn’t anyone like her. In terms of international appeal, everything comes close. And very rightly. She is incredible. But stoic, and consequently, we respect her.’
However, this isn’t the only connection Clare has to the Royal Family- as her husband for 11 years until July 2023.
His exit prompted Harry to give tribute to his ‘leadership and perspective’ and ‘passion, collaboration and connection’. Describing Hornby’s devotion to the children and young people of southwestern Africa as ‘outstanding’, Harry and the charity’s co- founder, Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, thanked him for enabling Sentebale to ‘give systematic support to thousands in Lesotho and Botswana’.
Johnny’s departure came after it was reported that he encouraged for a column he wrote about the Duchess in The Sun, in which he claimed he had a “cellular level” hatred for the former actress.
Cracking America
It was reported in March 2022 that ME+EM had been valued at over £130 million, having attracted new investors to the North American market.
The company’s employment, according to the publication four months later, was Maurice Helfgott, a former Marks & Spencer clothing executive.
I first met Clare 15 years ago, and it’s been inspiring to see her bring a unique, driven approach that really understands what millions of women want from a luxury fashion brand, Maurice said at the time.
ME+EM had stores in Boston and Madison Avenue in New York at the time. Since then, they’ve also gone on to open a shop in the Hamptons.
Speaking to, Clare said: ‘We like you to bring in your dog, bring in your kid and bring in your partner, and we like you to dwell.’
‘As a result, our stores form communities, all by themselves.’
The founder stated in a statement in May of this year that “we’ve already seen strong U.S. demand through our e-commerce operations and we hope that the new campaign and new U.S. stores are going to amplify interest from discerning American shoppers. It’s an exciting time for us.”
Clare has also spoken in several interviews about the brand’s ‘three Fs’ principles and how they want everything they produce to be ‘flattering, functional and last forever’.
Speaking to, Clare previously said the ‘work/life’ balance is’ every mother’s biggest dilemma and said she struggles with ‘mum guilt’.
She added: ‘It’s every mother’s biggest dilemma. It’s actually not about a work/life balance, but a constant feeling of guilt. I worry about my kids not getting enough of my time, and equally, my employees too.’