'We're not just a faceless fashion brand': Scamp & Dude opens in Harrogate with AW26 collection

Loved by Sara Davies, Jodie Kidd, Sabrina Elba, Alison Hammond and Kate Lawler, Scamp & Dude is opening in Harrogate. Founder Jo Tutchener Sharp tells Yorkshire Post Fashion Editor Stephanie Smith about the lightning bolt moment that led to a fashion community of caring.

There is quite the story behind the signature lightning bolt motif that sits on the sleeve of Scamp & Dude’s distinctive brightly printed dresses. In November, the brand - which opens its first northern store in Harrogate on Friday - will celebrate its 10th anniversary, but the founder’s tale began a year earlier.

After having her second child, Jo Tutchener Sharp decided to sell her shares in her beauty PR agency, and was finding it a stressful process. “I got this twitch in my face, a spasm, and went to the doctor and he said, you're so stressed, something bad's going to happen if you don't stop,” she says.

She sold the shares. “A couple of weeks later I had the worst headache, like someone was stabbing me behind this eye, and went to the doctors. They sent me straight to the hospital who scanned me.

“They came to me at one o'clock in the morning and said, ‘Have you got a history of cancer in your family? We found a lump on your brain and you've had a brain haemorrhage.’ My children were just one and three at the time. My life just literally changed at that moment.”

Jo prepared to spend what might be her last Christmas with her husband, children and parents. “I went in January 4th, 2016, for the surgery and I made myself a little pact. If I come through this I'm going to do something good because, looking back on my life, I'd had a great time and I'd been a nice person, but I hadn't made a difference.

“I woke up in intensive care like the happiest person. I got this side of my head shaved at 20 staples, got tubes coming out of my head, but I was just so happy.

“I didn't see my children for 10 days. I thought, I wish I could have given them a little snuggly superhero. I could have said, ‘right, this superhero is going to watch over you while we're apart.’ If there was a pocket, I could have put my photo and said, ‘Mummy's still with you’. So I thought, why don't I make them?”

Jo created Superhero Sleep Buddies, plush characters in capes for children, and decided to donate one to a child who loses a parent, for every one sold.

Then she designed a clothing line, initially for kids, incorporating a stitched lightning bolt motif to represent superpower. She wanted to wear them too and designed adult versions. The head buyer at Liberty heard about it, invited her in, and loved the concept.

Jo found manufacturers and launched Scamp & Dude (the name comes from nicknames for her sons, Sonny and Jude) in Liberty in November 2016, 10 months after her brain surgery.

As her team and expertise grew, it moved from sweats into dresses, then denim and outerwear. “Now we're a womenswear brand. We've still got the smaller kids collection. We still do our Sleep Buddies but I've also launched our Super Scarves,” Jo says. “When I was in hospital I had a scarf from home and it was like a comfort blanket. So I launched our Super Scarf mission, which is probably the thing I'm the most proud of. We've donated 95,000 scarves. We work with over 350 hospitals around the country.”

Fans love to see Alison Hammond wearing her Scamp & Dude dresses on Bake Off, and the brand has had the support of stylish celebrity wearers including Sara Davies, Jodie Kidd, Sabrina Elba and Kate Lawler. “We've now donated or raised in cash 4.5 million,” says Jo, who was awarded an OBE this year.

The neon lightning bolt has become a symbol of strength and power. “I just wanted it to be seen and noticeable, but actually it's been so brilliant because when people wear it on telly, our customers get so excited.”

Originally from near Shrewsbury, Jo studied Fashion Promotions at the University of Central Lancashire, worked in high profle beauty PR and set up the Beauty Seen agency. Her husband, Rob, also works for the business. The boys are now 12 and 14.

Harrogate is the fifth Scamp & Dude store. “We're not just a faceless fashion brand,” she says. “There's a lot more to us, so I think people like being part of that, and they see the little bolt and give each other a little wave or they shout ‘Duda!’, and then it sparks up a little conversation and then they end up meeting up.

“We've got this closed Facebook group, which is absolutely amazing. They arrange to meet up in the towns where our stores are. So you're going to see them in Harrogate.”

At the store, there is a Bolt Room for hire, a separate area upstairs where customers can meet up and try on. Most customers are between 35 and 55. “But we've got customers in their 70s, 80s, we've got children,” says Jo. “It's people who love colour, people who are creative, who are not boring.”

The autumn/winter 2026 collection is called Written in the Stars, celebrating a decade of what was meant to be. “We've started doing mesh. They're so flattering on all body shapes.

“There's really beautiful dresses with little touches of lace. Denim has done really well for us, and we've got a special little detail in the pockets that just holds your tummy in a bit, which our customers absolutely love, because why wouldn't you?”

“You've got to look after your customers, and you've got to stand out. People are still shopping. But you've got to make it worth their while.

“I wanted to have a product that we could donate for men starting chemo, so there's going to be beanies launching very soon.

“It doesn't matter if there's a few products that we don't make money out of. We could be helping people instead. Let's think more like that rather than thinking it's bad business sense. Let's think it's good business sense.”

Scamp & Dude is at 2–3 James Street, Harrogate, and scampanddude.com.