A children’s clothing company is setting up a pop-up shop in the front of its premises for creative businesses to test the market.

The Little Mashers Pop Stop, in Orford Road, Walthamstow, will launch this Thursday with an opening event for invited guests.

Little Mashers has been running out of the garden shed of husband and wife team, Clare Tomlinson and Andrew Davis, for the last five years.

They design and print children’s clothing and gifts, currently selling their products as far afield as Saudi Arabia and supplying major retailers like Selfridges in the UK.

Their current best-seller is a T-shirt printed with a special ink that means children can write on it with chalk.

Two weeks ago they moved into their new premises, where they want to use the back room for their business and the front space for local creative start-ups to rent a pop-up shop for a week, or even a day at a time.

Mrs Tomlinson, 42, said: “It’s a chance for people to try out their business without the commitment of a massive six month lease.

“It’s the best way of starting a business without pumping loads of money in. You’ve got to build it up and with a pop-up space you can do that.”

The space has already been fully booked in October by another children’s clothing company as well as artists and poets exhibiting their work.

Mr and Mrs Tomlinson plan to set up a traditional market area in the space over November and December to house five stalls that people can rent out for a week.

Mrs Tomlinson said: “We’ve got to see what the interest is but we’re hoping it’s going to kick off.

“We’re really excited about building the market. We want to bring a lot of creative people together and get involved in interesting projects.”