ABOUT US
We are a small, friendly business based
in Somerset, UK who specialize in the basic tops
that make up the foundations of your wardrobe.
We understand the ability of color to reflect your
personality, so we offer these styles in a year-round
rainbow, no seasonal trends, just the colours that you love,
whenever you want them.
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to empower women to choose
the colors and styles that give them confidence.
We use our color and style expertise to divide clothing
into four seasonal palettes and guide you to the colors
and styles that best suit you, your personality and your lifestyle.
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OUR VISION
We aim to educate, inspire and empower every woman
to show up as her best self every day.
WHY US?
We believe in being seen and heard, and in giving woman the confidence to do both. We stand up unapologetically, whether it’s in wearing our boldest color or speaking our mind.
VIBRANT
We only sell high quality products, with a low cost per wear. By directing you to the right style and color for you, we help you to make fewer expensive shopping mistakes
EMPOWERING
We support all women to feel their best. Our expertise is accessible to everyone and we provide our expertise to help women make confident choices.
HONEST
We believe in transparency at all levels in our business; with our team, with our supply chain and with our customer.
COLOR CODED CLOTHES
We expertly select colors and code our clothes into four seasonal palettes. We use our color and styling expertise to help our customer build a stylish, contemporary and versatile wardrobe, whatever her current knowledge and confidence level with color.
TRANSPARENT SUPPLY CHAIN
We believe in building direct, honest relationships with the people who make our clothes. That’s why we don’t work through agents — we speak directly with our factories to ensure clear communication and mutual respect. We choose partners who share our values around fair working conditions, including safe environments, fair wages,and reasonable working hours. These close relationships help us ensure that our standards are met and upheld with care.
IN-HOUSE DESIGN
AND DEVELOPMENT
The styles we create will always have a range of necklines, sleeve lengths and fabrics to cater for a variety of tastes. We carefully select a palette of colors for each style and work with the factory to achieve color accuracy, ensuring that new styles match previous ones in the same shade.
OUR FOUNDER, MELISSA
It’s been three decades since, while working as a young woman in fashion, I had my colors done and discovered that not only was black not my friend but that a whole new world of Spring color was about to burst into life in my wardrobe. Forward-wind ten years and freshly settled in Somerset with my husband John and three young children, I knew I had the perfect business plan just waiting in the wings: a color brand based on the four seasonal palettes that had the potential to transform the way women dressed.
Kettlewell was created in 2004 as a shopping solution post color analysis. The impact of discovering the colors that brought me to life and made me feel heard was powerful. Twenty one years later I continue to put myself in the shoes of people going through that same experience and our USP is as strong as ever; to provide and demonstrate color in all its variations from warm to cool, light to deep and soft to clear in all four seasonal palettes, all year round.
Melissa Nicholson, Founder & MD
2004
Husband and wife team John and Melissa Nicholson launch Kettlewell, selling colorful t-shirts for women who love to wear color.
2006
The first Kettlewell catalog is printed, featuring family friends as models and photographed at Melissa’s cousins house.
2006
Kettlewell starts producing with MEBA, a family-run factory in Turkey that shares its environmental values and provides fair working conditions for its employees.
2007
The small, close-knit team moves from Shepton Beauchamp to a new HQ in Crewkerne, Somerset
2009
Our first shoot in South Africa, the ideal destination for sunshine when you’re shooting your high summer collection in January! We still shoot there each year.
2015
TV presenter and model Alexa Chung wears the Silky Roll Neck in The Telegraph and sparks a love affair with this bestselling style in the press. It is our most requested style to date.
2016
As the business grows, Kettlewell expands into a state-of-the-art warehouse facility in Cricket St Thomas, Somerset.
2016
The Colour Quiz is launched on the website to help direct customers to their best colours. To date almost 500,000 people have taken the quiz.
2019
Kettlewell launches in the US and also celebrates 15 years of trading.
2020
The Facebook Color Club launches one month before lockdown and becomes an instant success. It now has circa 21K members.
2021
Our photography studio was built on-site, where we now have all our ecom and product shoots.
2022
We join Celtic & Co, Frugi and Turtle Doves to become a part of Refined Brands.
2023
Dame Prue Leith becomes Kettlewell’s new brand ambassador and launches the first Prue Edit.
2023
Our Color Studio opens to the public; A venue with a constantly updating rota of events, meetups and guest speakers, with the opportunity to shop the latest collection.
2024
Kettlewell turns 20 and announces that we will be offering color analysis at our Somerset studio. We now also offer style analysis.
2025
Kettlewell opens it's doors to 120 customers for it's first ever archive sale.
