Comfort and Fashion!. Well that's a fit made in heaven...

With 2014 set to be the year of the entrepreneur is it any wonder why the start-up footwear brand Air & Grace has swept 1^st price at the Worth Foundation Fund business competition.  Claire Burrows the founder of Air & Grace has 20 years’ worth of experience in the footwear world. Having worked for the prestigious fashion brand Kurt Geiger her experience within footwear is clearly relevant. Not to mention her role as head of product development for FitFlop where 5 million pairs of shoes had been sold globally.

The Worth Foundation, part of Worth Retail are said to be ‘empowering brands to retail direct’. Their competition this year was to find the UK’s top young retail entrepreneurs to invest in. The budding entrepreneur would also be coached and advised in addition to their 200k investment prize.  To enter this wonderful start-up competition all you needed was a UK based business that was less than 2 years old and had a turnover of less than 250k.

The winner of this fabulous prize was Claire Burrows and her business Air & Grace. Air & Grace is a handmade footwear brand that produces shoes that feel as good as they look.  The ‘Tender Loving Air®’ cushioning creates footwear which is made beautiful for busy feet. The luxurious butter soft leathers with stylish designs come together to combine the most important words in fashion – Style and Function.

‘Tender Loving Air’® is Air & Grace’s patent. This winning patent “softly cushions every step so your feet don't have to suffer the knocks of everyday life, even when you do. The super slimline design is cleverly hidden so as not to compromise on style. Beautiful shoes for busy feet is now a reality.” This prize winning invention is said to use memory foam cushioning to offer unimaginable comfort along with a ballet pump exterior which exudes style and grace.

The voting panel at Worth Retail were said to be “blown away by Claire’s gorgeous shoes, her business acumen and unique sense of style”.

This combination of having both a great product and business acumen is exactly what makes you stand out from the crowd. For instance, you may have a good looking product but if you don’t know your finances or demographic then you are only half way there and vice versa.

Check out our questions to ask yourself info graphic before you pitch your business to an investor as well as our tips to getting your pitch right. It’s always good to know your own business!

The financial backing of £150k won by Air & Grace is set to push the designs to the market next month. So ask yourself this, could this be you?

If you feel you have what it takes to push your business all the way then check out our latest business investment opportunity now at untappeduk.com. It’s an opportunity not to be missed!