About Us

A love of clothing, passed from mother to daughter

Before there was a shop, there was a little girl in York who couldn’t wait to see what her mother had made for her.

That little girl was my mum.

Raised by her mother, a seamstress, she grew up surrounded by fabric, sewing and the care that went into making something by hand. At the end of the month, her greatest excitement was receiving a new piece of clothing her mother had made especially for her.

She would try it on and put on little fashion shows at home. Those moments stayed with her.

As she grew older and learned to sew, that childhood love became something she wanted to build a life around.

On 27 May 1995, at just twenty years old, she opened her shop in York.

It was her way of carrying forward what her mother had given her: a love of clothing and the pleasure of helping someone find a piece they feel happy wearing.

Our name brings together Dua, the name she had always wanted for her daughter, and York, the city our family has always called home.

I grew up sharing her fascination with clothes. That interest eventually took me to Paris, where a scholarship gave me the opportunity to study fashion and begin discovering my own creative direction.

My mum was proud of that. She still is.

Today, after thirty-one years, we have made the difficult decision to close our York shop.

The rising cost of keeping it open has become increasingly difficult to manage. This decision also gives us room to think about what comes next. My mum has always wanted me to follow my own ambitions, with the freedom to create something of my own.

Letting go of the shop comes with sadness, but also with enormous pride in everything she has built.

As we prepare to close, our closing sale brings together the remaining stock from our shop.

To everyone who has visited us, chosen something from our rails, recommended us to a friend or simply stopped for a conversation: thank you.

Thank you for your kindness, your loyalty and the affection you have shown our family over the years. You have given us so much to look back on with gratitude.

Thirty-one years is a chapter we will always be proud of.

With love,
Dua & Mum