Exeter woman banks £60,000 in jumper sales thanks to Traitors Claudia Effect

Lauren Aston was thrilled when the queen of telly wore one of her handknit designs in the 2024 series of The Traitors, sending sales of the forest green 'roll up knit down' jumper skyrocketing.

The 35-year-old claims all worries about going on maternity leave were well and truly banished thanks to a jump in sales she dubbed 'The Claudia Effect'.

Sales shot up so spectacularly for Lauren Aston Designs that the team couldn't get their suppliers to dye and spin the yarn fast enough to ship out all orders.

Thanks to the success of The Celebrity Traitors this year and one of Lauren's social media posts going viral, the mum-of-two says there's been a resurgence in demand for the pattern.

Lauren, who lives in Birmingham, West Midlands, said: "We hit the jackpot with Claudia. They [Claudia's team] asked to see things in different colours, any samples we had ready we posted off to them.

"We weren't sure what episode she would wear the jumper in so we were on the edge of our seats every day. In the morning [of the episode airing] Claudia's stylist Sinead McKeefry posts the look of the day for The Traitors and I got tagged in a picture of Claudia wearing it.

"We all tuned in and the group chat was wild, we still didn't know what capacity it would be worn in. She came into breakfast wearing it and we all just died, we all sent pictures of our televisions with Claudia on them [in it].

"The commissioned jumpers we sell, the RRP for them is around £250-£300 depending on the design. Understandably we only sell 12-15 commission knits a year, but over the coming months we sold 100 commissions.

"In that 24 hours alone of the show airing we doubled the number of commissions we sell annually. In January and February we ended up making £60,000 turnover, that was a lot more than we would normally take in.

"If you could have told me when I set up the business I wouldn't have believed it, it was beyond anything I imagined."

The timing was even more perfect for Lauren as she was about to go on maternity leave, and she said it eased both the financial and mental strain of running a small business.

Lauren, who's also knit striped Christmas stockings for the Beckhams, said: "The big explosion for us [as a business] was in lockdown, so many people turned to knitting. As it eased off we hit the jackpot with Claudia.

"It helped so much when I went on maternity leave. It was supposed to be three months and I ended up really struggling with my mental health and so ultimately I took a year off.

"Having The Claudia Effect just before I went enabled me, on a personal level, to have the time off that I needed.

"Part of the reason I feel so grateful is not only did it help the business incrementally it also just took so much pressure off me as a business owner, it was phenomenal.

"Since the 24th of January 2024 it's been our best-selling product across the board. We sell more knitting patterns than anything else because they're £7, that's the most affordable, then the knitting kits, then the commissions.

"Fingers crossed we can create something else for her in future. I will absolutely be tuning into the final. It's such a good show, we're really enjoying it."