Our Story

Hi, I'm Rose, creator of Beta Bling!

I started climbing 2.5 years ago after quitting a competitive endurance sport due to injury. I was looking for a new sport to fill the gap left by my old one, when a friend of a friend offered to take me climbing - and I've been hooked ever since!

As I started to get my own climbing gear, I felt there was one thing I really wanted but could not seem to get anywhere - and that was a purple sparkly chalk bag to match by purple harness and kit bag. Sure, you can get bright ones, and fluffy ones that look like cuddly toys and so on... but no glitter or sequins to be seen anywhere.

But then I had an idea... maybe I could make one?

That evening, as if the universe were also pushing the sparkly chalk bag agenda, someone advertised a working sewing machine free to a good home, so I went and picked it up.

Had I used a sewing machine before? No.

But could I sew by hand? Also no.

But I decided to give it a go, and spent time in my kitchen, watching tutorials, working out a sewing pattern, and learning how to use the machine in the first place. And with a lot of trial (and even more error), I started making bags - at first for myself, and then a few more as birthday gifts for friends.

However, I soon learned I was not the only person affected by this lack of sparkly kit, and a lot of people commented on how much they liked my bag, and asked where it was from.

Finally, on a gloomy January day, I was asked again and decided it was time to get my butt in gear and find a supplier (who can actually sew) to start making them... and so Beta Bling was born.

I worked hard to find a supplier who had the experience with glitter/sequin materials, and also the technical understanding of the needs of the bag (which was hard as, as we already established, climbing manufactures don't tend to work with sequins), so I had to think outside the box. However, I finally found a supplier who was able to make this work - who also helped me to improve my basic design and incorporated elements I didn't have the skill for - e.g. A POCKET! as well as loops for brushes.

Finally... the design was finalised, and an initial range of 6 colours was selected... and here we are now!