A rainy evening, a few old pieces of paracord

Rein and Rank began with a simple plan: make Christmas gifts for Liz’s Army Cadet detachment. One cold, wet evening, Liz, a co-founder of Rein and Rank and an Army Cadet instructor, got out some old paracord pieces and began making. She wasn’t thinking about starting a business. She wasn’t trying to create a product range or test an idea. She simply wanted to make something thoughtful for the cadets she knew.

An illustrative image of the kind of quiet evening when a small idea can begin.

The first items were small: paracord keyrings and camouflage scrunchies, made as gifts for her own detachment cadets. It was a personal project, shaped by what she had to hand and the people she wanted to make something for.

Then Liz shared photographs of her creations in a WhatsApp group for other instructors. The response came quickly. Other cadet instructors were interested, and so was another youth organisation. That unexpected interest changed the direction of the evening. What had started as a few gifts for one group prompted a bigger question: could this little idea grow into something more?

When a gift-making idea found an audience

The first encouraging response didn’t come from a sales plan. It came from people who understood the setting and could picture the items being enjoyed by young people in their own organisations.

For Liz, the Army Cadets were already part of everyday life through her role as an instructor. Making gifts for her detachment felt natural. Sharing the photos was just a way to show what she’d made. But the interest from other instructors, followed by another youth organisation, helped Liz see that there might be room for more than one set of Christmas gifts.

An illustrative still life inspired by Rein and Rank’s first paracord creations.

That early interest mattered because it came from community. People saw the items, responded, and helped Liz imagine possibilities she hadn’t been considering. It was a reminder that an idea doesn’t always begin with a business plan. Sometimes it begins by making something for people around you, and noticing when others connect with it too.

The Army Cadets is a community-based youth organisation. You can find out more about the Army Cadets UK on its official website. Liz’s connection to the organisation is part of the story behind those first gifts; it does not mean Rein and Rank is officially affiliated with the Army Cadets.

From Liz’s first idea to a conversation with Izzy

Once Liz had seen the interest, she started talking it through with her daughter, Izzy, who is also a Rein and Rank co-founder. Together, they considered what the idea might become.

The first products, keyrings and camouflage scrunchies, were only the starting point. They could see that there might be interest in other handmade items too, including products they felt they could make themselves. The conversation shifted from “Wouldn’t it be nice to make these gifts?” to “What else might we create, and what could we build together?”

An illustrative image of handmade scrunchies and materials ready for a small craft project.

That shift is where the Rein and Rank journey began: not with a grand launch, but with two co-founders sharing ideas and exploring what might be possible. A response to a few photographs had opened the door to thinking about a wider range of handmade items and the kind of small business they might create.

A mother-and-daughter business with purpose

Rein and Rank is a mother-and-daughter, disability-owned and veteran-owned business. Those identities are part of who we are, not just labels to place beside a product. They shape the perspective we bring to building a business together and the reasons we want it to feel personal and connected to people. Our family’s experience of chronic health conditions was also part of the early thinking. It got Liz and Izzy considering how they might do something different, while building an idea that meant something to them.

An illustrative image of a mother and daughter sharing ideas for a handmade venture.

The mother-and-daughter part matters, too. Rein and Rank didn’t begin as one person’s idea handed over to a team. It grew through a conversation between Liz and Izzy, with both of them thinking about what they could make and what they wanted the business to stand for.

Community and giving back are part of the inspiration

When the first interest came in, Liz began thinking not only about making more items, but about charitable donations and how the business might do something positive for the people around it. That thought is part of the inspiration behind Rein and Rank. It reflects an ambition to keep community in view as the business grows.

For now, the starting point is the simple connection that sparked the idea: handmade gifts made for a community Liz already knew, followed by other people saying, in effect, “We’d be interested in those too.” That response gave Liz and Izzy something exciting to explore together.

The journey is just beginning

From old paracord pieces on a cold, wet evening to the first keyrings and camouflage scrunchies, Rein and Rank has grown from a small act of gift-making into a shared idea between co-founders.

There was no initial plan to sell the items. There was a desire to make Christmas gifts for Liz’s own detachment. There were photographs shared with fellow instructors. And then there was interest from other detachments and another youth organisation. Enough to make Liz and Izzy sit down and imagine what else they could create.

That is the beginning of our story: a handmade idea, a community response and a mother and daughter deciding to explore what might come next. As Rein and Rank moves forward, we want to hold on to the things that inspired it: making with care, building something together, and keeping community and purpose part of the conversation.

The first gifts may have been small, but they started a journey.