She’s home, she’s in a safe space and can rest when she needs to – but, wow!, Alison Payne pulls out every stop to make shoppers at her specialty clothing store feel like they’re in a little bit of vintage heaven.
Ali, who was diagnosed with ME 12 years ago, has made a deal to donate 25% of the profits of her business to the ME Association. Her customers just love the way she is rocking it out on Instagram!
Her carpet becomes her catwalk as she shows off the outfits, while continually having conversations with the camera. She’s a natural performer – wearing the best pieces, wiggling her hips to show them to best advantage, cutting shapes with her figure, making faces – obviously so at ease with herself and her audience.
“I just love what I do and have been incredibly lucky in being able to pursue my interest in vintage and pre-loved while obviously nowadays not being reliable enough to even think about taking on a 9-5 job”, she said.
Her regulars at ‘Little Splash Fashion’ know when to catch her live shows. Since she cut the deal with the MEA 10 weeks ago, she’s captured another couple hundred of them – the number of her followers on Instagram is up from 1,700 to 1,900.
For those who are late to the live shows, Ali always leaves the day's footage up on screen for them to catch up but, by then, the best bargains might have flown!
Photos show Alison Payne doing what she loves best – showing off some of the clothes that come to her by way of her Little Splash Fashion business. So far she has raised £539 for the ME Association – after just 10 weeks of agreeing the deal with us.
She lives in Somerset, a lovely part of the country, with husband Jason and two children, Evelyn (9) and 11-year-old Felix. The downside is that since she became ill she has to learn to pace herself carefully if she is to get the most enjoyment out of life.
Alison positively purred about the progress of her business when we spoke this week.
“Only yesterday, I had a couple of big boxes dropped off here which contained some really crazy good outfits – all sequins and sparkles. I’ll probably hold them back until Christmas when there will be a huge demand for them”.
There’s no problem with sourcing stock. It either arrives in the post or people drop it off at her home.
Ali promises to reimburse the cost of postage to anybody who entrusts their pre-loved clobber to her. All she asks is that it’s sent to her clean and in good condition.
Her business is called The Little Splash Fashion. Please contact her through her Instagram account HERE
or email her using this LINK.
Tony Britton
Senior Fundraising Volunteer, The ME Association
fundraising@meassociation.org.uk
