In this episode of Scale HER Up – The Female Entrepreneur Show, I’m joined by Jill Henry, co-founder of Meander Apparel and co-owner of Tens Sunglasses – two Scottish lifestyle brands inspired by travel, adventure and the outdoors.

Meander makes stylish, versatile outdoor clothing designed to take you from city streets to mountain trails – performance gear you can wear on the bike, on the hills and straight into a café or meeting without feeling like you’re in full technical kit. Tens is a sunglasses brand created by photographers, famous for its warm, photo-filter style lenses that make the world look brighter and better.

Jill shares how Meander started with a bike trip from London to Paris with friends, taking the long, meandering route via Mont-Saint-Michel, vineyards and beautiful backroads. On that trip she and her husband (and co-founder) Steve realised there was a gap for performance clothing that felt as good in a bar or city as it did on the bike – no loud logos, just well-cut, functional pieces you actually want to wear.

She talks through the reality of getting an apparel brand off the ground: spending a year finding the right technical, sustainable fabrics and performance factories, moving from London back to Scotland to build the business, and dealing with the long lead times in product development when you just want to launch. Jill also shares how important startup communities and cohorts were to her in those lonely early days – surrounding herself with other founders at a similar stage made a huge difference.

We discuss Meander’s decision to launch via crowdfunding, using a reward-based Indiegogo campaign to validate demand, fund the first production run and build a direct-to-consumer community from day one. The campaign over-funded, which gave them confidence to move ahead, sell online and then test physical retail with a tiny pop-up in Stockbridge, Edinburgh. That led to a rolling lease on a prime George Street store (initially for three months, eventually two years) and later a permanent home back in Stockbridge.

Jill then explains how the opportunity to acquire Tens Sunglasses came about. Meander had stocked Tens in their stores for years and loved the brand’s story and product. When the original founders moved on and the investors were looking for someone to take the reins, Meander – as a team already experienced in design, manufacturing and direct-to-consumer sales – were approached. Jill talks about integrating a second brand: running two distinct customer communities under one roof, aligning around shared values of travel and everyday adventure, and seeing strong traction already with Tens’ global audience.

We also explore Jill’s reflections on team and hiring. She talks about bringing on graduates during the pandemic, watching them grow into key marketing and retail roles, and why she believes in hiring slowly, checking for alignment with brand values and then investing in people once they’re on board. For her, getting the team right makes everything easier – and nurturing those relationships is crucial to growth.

Finally, we dive into co-founding with your partner, the importance of boundaries between home and work, and Jill’s honest reflections on confidence, learning on the job and finding “white space” in a crowded market. She encourages would-be founders to do the research, look for what’s missing or could be done better – then stop over-thinking and launch, knowing you’ll learn fastest once you’re actually in motion.

This is a thoughtful, uplifting conversation about building brands from Scotland with global ambition, combining style and performance, and sharing the entrepreneurial journey with the people closest to you.

In this episode, we cover:

1. What Meander Apparel is: stylish, technical clothing designed to go from city to mountains
2. What Tens Sunglasses are known for: warm, photographer-designed filter lenses and a global online community
3. How a bike trip from London to Paris inspired the idea for Meander
4. Jill’s fashion background in London and why she wanted to build something that aligned with her values
5. The long, messy reality of sourcing sustainable performance fabrics and technical factories
6. How startup communities and business school cohorts helped with motivation and support
7. Launching via a reward-based crowdfunding campaign to validate demand and fund first production
8. Moving from online only to pop-ups, then to a George Street store and a permanent base in Stockbridge
9. Balancing physical retail with a focus on growing online sales for both Meander and Tens
10. How the Tens acquisition came about and why the brands fit together so well
11. Running two brands under one small team and the operational efficiencies that brings
12. Hiring graduates during the pandemic and growing them into core team members
13. Jill’s approach to recruitment: clear values, hire slowly, invest in the right people
14. The pros and cons of building a business with your partner – shared adventures and shared stress
15. Her advice on finding “white space” in a crowded market and why you learn most after you launch