Eskeez sports vest devised by North Devon entrepreneur

A BARNSTAPLE entrepreneur was inspired to create a new clothing range after watching her sons shiver on a school rugby pitch.

Karen Robinson, a former marketing consultant and property developer, was on the touchline at St Michael's private school in Tawstock watching her boys Alastair, 10, and Archie, seven, playing rugby on a cold November day.

She said: "The sleet was coming down and at half-time the boys were huddling under our coats and they were absolutely frozen."

After looking around, she found some types of thermal clothing, but nothing she thought was affordable and ideal for children. So she approached Braunton wetsuit designer Chris Reed, who developed a prototype thermal vest using manmade fibres.

Karen was keen for the new clothing to be easily worn underneath other clothing, such as sports kit.

"We thought we had struck on something and every kid in the country could be wearing it," she added.

After her own children tried out the vests, she started getting orders from other parents and outdoor sports enthusiasts. Now she has labelled the clothing range Eskeez, arranged for manufacturing in Cullompton, and established an online shop.

She runs the operation from her home, with some support from her husband, a surveyor, in his spare time.

Eskeez are being marketed as "affordable lightweight thermal base layers for use in winter sport". The fabric takes sweat away from the body (a process known as wicking).

Karen said the name Eskeez was inspired by a combination of thinking about Eskimos in warm clothes and "cosies".

The business has just been launched and Karen has engaged a public relations firm to market the enterprise.