About Us (new)
Made by a circus girl, for every dreamer chasing the stage.
Ruffle leotards and two-piece sets in rich velvet and soft stretch cotton, for aerialists, hoopers, dancers and festival hearts. Designed in Ireland and handmade in China's hometown of acrobats since 2018.
Jess and Renjie, the hands behind every ruffle.
I ran away to the circus. Then I couldn't find a thing to wear.
Hi, I'm Jess. Before any of this I was a hairdresser in Ireland, cutting up my own clothes on the side because nothing in the shops ever felt quite like me.
At 26 I swapped the salon for Beijing and trained in multi-hula hoop at an acrobatic school. Aerial hoop and silks crept in too. It was the hardest, happiest stretch of my life.
Every time I went looking for something to perform in, I found the same shiny, sequinned costumes. Gorgeous on someone. Not on me. So I started designing my own circus wear, and in 2018 My Bubble Bum was born.
China wasn't a random pick, by the way. At 12 I had Chinese script hanging on my bedroom wall and a serious crush on qipao dresses. That love still turns up in our pieces, in every pankou knot and high collar.
Sending love, velvet and stripes,
Jess x
Founder & creative director
Handmade in China's hometown of acrobats
Every Bubble Bum is cut and sewn by hand in Wuqiao, a small town where circus runs in families. Renjie, our head seamstress, turns my sketches into the real thing, one ruffle at a time. We work in small batches and make lots of pieces to order, so there's less waste and a lot more care in every seam.
Designed in Ireland
Every design starts in Ireland, dreamt up by a performer who knows how it feels upside down.
Ethically made in Wuqiao
Handmade by a small team of skilled tailors we know by name.
Female led
Founded by a woman and built by artists who understand life behind the curtain.
Hometown of acrobats
Your order helps keep local craft alive in the town that raised generations of performers.
For the ones who rush from work to training
You've got a day job and a dream that doesn't quite fit inside it. You train in the evenings, perform whenever you can, and you want something that feels polished and personal. Not mass-made. Definitely not another sequin.
That's who we design our leotards and sets for. Aerialists, hoopers, pole artists and dancers, pros and hobbyists, festival goers and the collectors who keep coming back.
Look for the ruffle. It's our signature, and you'll spot it from the back of the tent.
Real stories from the circus world
Bubble Bum Banter is our interview series with performers from every corner of circus. The rejections, the injuries, the wins and the people who pulled them up along the way. It's free to read, and it's our way of giving back to the community that started all of this.
Feel cute. Chase the dream.
Find your next favourite piece, or pick your own velvet and stripe colours with Build-A-Bum.