I’m a mum & I could never find comfy jeans, they were always too painful around the waist – now I have a jean empire
EVERY woman knows that choosing a perfect pair of jeans is no mean feat.
But for Sophie Cooper, it was an impossible task.
The mum-of-one was left with a painful scar across her stomach following life-saving bowel surgery after being diagnosed with chronic bowel condition Crohn’s disease.
Sophie, now 40, says: “I remember after my surgery sitting on the edge of my hospital bed and crying my eyes out.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m never going to be able to wear jeans again’.
“They were too tight, too rigid and painful around my waist.
“Before my surgery I used to live in jeans, I had an entire wardrobe full of lovely pairs.
“But nothing fitted properly and looked nice at the same time. It completely knocked my confidence.”
Sophie, a former nutritionist, was diagnosed with Crohn’s — a long-term inflammatory bowel disease — when she was 12, after suffering from symptoms including fatigue and severe stomach cramps.
She says: “I was seven years old when I first started getting the most horrendous symptoms but we didn’t know what it was.
“I wouldn’t be able to eat and I was in and out of hospital for tests.
“It wasn’t until I was 12 that doctors finally diagnosed me with Crohn’s disease.
“I found sometimes the treatments would work but nothing was ever permanent and throughout my life I’ve had big flare-ups.”
In her mid twenties Sophie became pregnant with her son and felt the healthiest she’d been in a while.
But just weeks later she began feeling extremely fatigued, started losing weight and developed severe stomach pain.
Doctors told her the hormones in her bowel had changed and irritated the lining.
Unable to eat, Sophie, who is 5ft 6in, dropped to a dangerously low 4st and was forced to quit working.
She says: “After giving birth to my son, I fell ill pretty much straight away.
“I tried to manage the symptoms at home for almost a year.
“I tried everything from resting on my stomach to a liquid diet only, but it got worse.
“My entire digestive tract was completely ulcerated, so I couldn’t even drink water without being in severe pain.
“It was unbelievable. I was severely malnourished.
“I had inflammation everywhere.
“I couldn’t even have a bath. I had to line the bath with towels before I could even attempt to get into it, because my bones were piercing through my skin.
“I was admitted to hospital and told by doctors that I was slowly dying.
“They said there was no other option, they needed to operate on me. It was all they could do to try to save me.
“I was a mother now, they had to.”
Sophie had the life-saving surgery, which involved removing the diseased parts of her bowel and joining the two healthy ends together, at London’s St Thomas’ Hospital in February 2010.
As a result she was given a temporary stoma bag.
She says of the aftermath: “It was super-hard having to wear a temporary stoma bag.
“It completely knocked my confidence. It didn’t make me feel great at all.”
And her confidence was crushed again when she was getting ready to leave the hospital and found her jeans would not fit comfortably over the stoma bag.
Sophie says: “I realised I couldn’t wear leggings because they were restrictive. The same for jeans.
“It was winter and I couldn’t wear a dress so I had to go home in my pyjamas.
“It was during the weeks and months of recovery that I thought, ‘OK, surely I can wear my jeans today’.
“But they didn’t sit right. The denim would interfere where I had my scars. I even tried maternity jeans but they didn’t work because you’ve got to have a bump to hold them up.
“I realised I can’t be the only person with stomach issues going through this, there was a clear gap in the market.”
Sophie started mocking up plans for a jeans business targeted to women who have been through stomach surgery.
She started off small, with one design for herself to keep costs minimal, then held a focus group at St Thomas’ Hospital.
She asked stomach surgery patients and C-section mums their thoughts on what would make jeans more comfortable and found that there was a gap in the market for women and men.
Sophie launched I Am Denim in 2018 and has since sold thousands of pairs to both women and men worldwide.
Business is so successful, it is now her full-time job.
Sophie, who no longer requires a stoma bag, says: “The design was really technical and creating and sourcing fabrics wasn’t straightforward. I created everything myself — the designs, branding, leaflets, packaging, logo, social media . . .
“For the first promo, I hired a local photographer for an hour and asked friends to model the jeans with me.”
I Am Denim is now recognised internationally as a “tummy friendly” brand for men and women, with prices ranging from £35-£99 a pair.
The jeans can be worn post C-section, pregnancy, mum tums, bloating, endometriosis or tummy tucks, and are also popular with IBS and IBD sufferers.
Sophie’s clients include influencers Yvonne Holley (crohnsmummy), Holly April (stomababe), Tiffany Norris from The Mummy Concierge brand, and celebrity presenters Steph McGovern, actress Chrissie Wunna and model Grace Teal.
She says: “Wearing jeans is something I always took for granted.
“My jeans look out for all those who need comfort without forgetting style.”
Sophie has been featured in Vogue and was invited to the House of Lords as one of Britain’s 100 most influential female entrepreneurs.
She says: “I’ve sold many thousands, I’m packing orders every day and often sell out of our most popular styles.
“Fashion really helped my recovery and creating these jeans to help others has been such a blessing.”
Sophie is now looking forward to the future and says she is “thankful” for the hardships.
She says: “Doctors didn’t think I’d make it and yet here I am today.
“My surgery wasn’t by any means a miracle surgery, it helped but I still need to focus on staying well.
“But I’m thankful for my struggle because without it I wouldn’t have found my strength.
“Rock bottom became a solid foundation in which I slowly but surely rebuilt my life.
“Remember, no matter your shape, size, scars or surgery, we all deserve a pair of great jeans that fit and make us feel amazing.”
Follow Sophie Cooper’s I Am Denim brand on Instagram and head to her website iamdenim.co.uk