MONMOUTH mum Helen Green and her husband Melvin are often up to 2am packaging hundreds of T-shirt orders every day to send as far away as Australia.

Helen's idea to produce a fun and stylish Christmas T-shirt based on Fairisle knitted jumper patterns has proved a real hit, especially in hot countries.

The T-shirts retain much of the look of Christmas jumpers but without the itchiness or bulkiness of wool. They are made with a water-based ink on to cotton which is the most ecological way to manufacture them. It also gives them a vintage feel.

In the few weeks that Jolly Clothing has been operating online via outlets such as Amazon, Helen has already sold thousands of T-shirts worldwide and with demand now outstripping supply. Customers are ordering as many as 10 at a time and are even requesting new colours – as a result the husband and wife team are constantly having to manufacture more to meet demand.