After university and numerous holiday jobs at W Pearce and Co and its export offices in New York and Cape Town, Deborah worked for more than a decade for a Northamptonshire belt manufacturer and then a well known handbag brand. The fact that neither of these labels still produce in the UK, combined with the demise of her own family business, has given her a determination to use a skilled work force in another traditional but declining manufacturing base in the Midlands.