finance

How a small tweak to a bathroom essential made Simone Taylor $250,000 in two years.

Simone Taylor knew there must be an alternative to the unflattering shower cap women mindlessly throw on before showering.

As so many of us resign ourselves to the fact that sometimes the pursuit of looking good down the track comes at a price in the short-term, 33-year-old Taylor was busy working on a solution. She had decided looking a tad unsightly in the shower had an expiry date.

Enter Louvelle.

In an interview with news.com.au this weekend, Taylor discussed how her idea for stylish shower caps (not an oxymoron) has proved to be the most unlikely booming business idea of all.

“I had a brainwave … why isn’t there a more fashionable style to protect your hair in the shower that doesn’t make you look like an old maid?” Taylor told reporter Simone Mitchell for news.com.au.

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And so, Taylor re-imagined the shower cap, inspired by the chic turban that was infiltrating the fashion world.

Speaking to the New York Times in August last year, the Queensland mum-of-two said her idea was born from how often her and her husband would laugh about the totally unflattering nature of the traditional shower cap.

“I created Louvelle because, like most women, I don’t have time to wash my hair every day and my husband would always make fun of me when I wore my shower cap,” she said. “I wanted to create something that you could look at in the mirror and not feel unattractive in.”

After spending more than a year refining the product, Louvelle was ready to enter Australian bathrooms.

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“We started in our basement, with me packing the orders while nursing a newborn and wrangling a toddler which was a challenge,” she told news.com.au, adding that within two months the couple broke even and within two years they had hit $250,000 revenue.

Today the company sells headbands, robes, eye masks and beauty bags.

You can view the full feature on Taylor’s business story here.