Behind Treeshirtz: A Family Business, a Fresh Start and a Lot to Learn

Every business has a story behind it. Some begin with a carefully written business plan, others with a gap in the market. The latest chapter of Treeshirtz began with a conversation between a dad and his daughter.

And a fairly simple idea: what better way to learn about running a business than to actually run one?

For those who remember Treeshirtz from its earlier days, we're back. But this time there's a new generation involved, a fresh approach and a whole family helping to bring it together.

From the Classroom to the Real World

Francesca, or Fran as she's usually known, is currently studying A Level Business.

Learning about marketing, finance, customers and business decisions in a classroom is one thing. Actually having to make those decisions, spend real money, deal with problems and find out whether your ideas work is something else entirely.

So Fran came up with an idea. Why not bring Treeshirtz back and build it into a business she could be actively involved in running?

With a dad who has spent his working life in the arborist retail industry, there was plenty of experience to draw on. But the idea wasn't to hand Fran a finished business and let her watch from the sidelines.

She would be involved in building it, making decisions and learning what happens when those decisions meet the real world.

And that's exactly what we've been doing.

A Family Business in Every Sense

Although Fran and her dad are at the heart of this new chapter, Treeshirtz has quickly become something of a family affair.

Fran's mum, who comes from an art background, has been helping develop designs, bringing a creative eye to the range.

Her brother Alex (the ginger one) has even found himself in front of the camera, modelling some of our clothing.

That came about because of one of the first challenges we faced.

We wanted our website to show our designs on people, but buying hundreds of T-shirts in different colours and sizes just to photograph them wasn't exactly practical.

We looked at different mock-up options, but many of the standard AI-generated images simply didn't feel right. We wanted something that looked natural and personal, not another website full of obviously artificial models.

Eventually, we found On-Model, which allowed us to create the sort of product imagery we wanted using our own models.

So if you spot Alex wearing one of our designs on the website, now you know why.

It turns out that being part of a family business can involve some unexpected jobs. We're not entirely sure Alex knew what he was signing up for!

Four Weeks In, and Things Are Getting Interesting

One of the biggest parts of Fran's role has been building our social media presence.

And the response has been fantastic.

In around four weeks, we've grown to approximately 700 Instagram followers, with much of that support coming from the arborist community.

For a small family business finding its feet again, that's a brilliant start.

But followers are only one part of the story.

Behind the scenes, there have been plenty of late nights, discussions, changes of direction and moments when something that looked straightforward turned out to be anything but.

One of the biggest lessons so far has been learning when to slow down.

It's very easy to get excited about an idea and want to get it finished immediately. Sometimes, though, taking a little more time, thinking through the options and asking a few extra questions can save a lot of work later.

That's something we're already learning together.

And there's something rather special about seeing a young person start to develop that judgement for themselves.

More Than Just T-Shirts

Treeshirtz has its roots in the arborist world, and that's a community we know well.

But we're not setting out to create a technical arboriculture website or a workwear supplier.

We're building a clothing and lifestyle brand for people who love trees, forestry, the outdoors and everything that goes with that way of life.

Some designs will be funny, some will be a little different and others will simply be things we'd enjoy wearing ourselves.

We're planning regular monthly design drops, giving us the chance to keep introducing new ideas rather than standing still.

And with plans to take Treeshirtz into more international markets, there's plenty happening behind the scenes.

Come Along for the Ride

One thing we want to do differently is share some of what actually goes into building a business.

Not just the new designs, product launches and good news, but the decisions, challenges and lessons along the way.

Because the reality of running a business isn't always what you see on the finished website or social media.

We'll be sharing a new Behind Treeshirtz update roughly every four weeks, looking at what's happened, what we've learned and where we're heading next.

This isn't a short-term project. We're building Treeshirtz for the future, and Fran is helping shape what that future looks like.

For her dad, after a lifetime in the industry, there's a real privilege in getting to work alongside his daughter, sharing what he's learned while watching her develop ideas, confidence and business instincts of her own.

And for Fran? Well, she's discovering that running a business involves rather more than the textbook suggests.

We're only at the beginning of this chapter.

Thanks to everyone who's followed, supported, shared a post or placed an order so far. We're looking forward to seeing where this takes us.

And we've already got a few stories to tell next time.