Samantha Osbourne has well and truly found her passion in making clothes.

However, the wearers might not be who you would expect.

After running a jewellery business for more than three decades, the Avenel resident started Groovy Greys six years ago and hasn’t looked back since.

It was on May 19, 2019, that she started the business in Broadford after becoming a dog mum to two greyhounds, Squiggle and James.

“Groovy Greys was started because I adopted two greyhounds and they needed warm coats,” Ms Osbourne said.

“With a sewing background, I was able to whip up some patterns and start with the coats.”

Groovy Greys began as an addition to Ms Osbourne’s jewellery business when she would bring along a coat or two to her market stalls.

However, it wasn’t long until “the coats took over”.

“I put one picture on Facebook of my two (greyhounds) in the coats, and then it just took off,” she said.

“I woke up to so many messages. ‘I want a coat’, ‘how much are you selling them for?’

“Then I just started selling them online, on my Facebook page, and then the website came along.”

Groovy Greys has been on the up since it was created. Ms Osbourne has even been pulled over by police because they saw the signage on her car and wanted to know where to buy one of the fluffy coats.

Selling online and at markets, Ms Osbourne has been able to quit her full-time job to commit to the business.

She said it took a level of confidence in what you were putting out there to succeed.

“If you know your skill, if you’re confident in your skill, it’s just easy, it really is,” she said.

“You’ve got to know what you’e talking about, and you’ve got to be confident in your product.

“If you’re confident in your product, you can sell your product.”

Over the years, Ms Osbourne has had many wins with Groovy Greys, but one of her biggest losses was the passing of her greyhound Squiggle.

The Groovy Greys product line has expanded to collars and leads, and is also set to include a different product entirely, one that pays homage to Squiggle.

“Hopefully before Christmas I will have written four books about my girl Squiggle,” Ms Osbourne said.

“I’ve written all the books. (I’m) just tweaking them at the moment and waiting for the illustrator to paint the pictures.”

These books will fall under the Groovy Greys brand and tell the story of how it all began.

Groovy Greys has a stall at eight markets each month, including the Go Nagambie Market and Nagambie Farmers Market, and at the Tallarook, Violet Town, Avenel, Euroa, Strath Creek and Benalla markets.

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Friday, 25th August 2023

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