That is when it went from being an idea and a bit of fun into something I was actively trying to build. And when I look back at what has happened in that time, it feels slightly ridiculous.

What started with a love of pool, a daft name and a desire to do things a little differently has grown into an independent UK pool and cue sports brand, an online shop, a growing community and a platform that is starting to open doors I never expected this early.

There have been Ultimate Pool events, new products, partnerships, sponsored players and teams, conversations with professional players and chats with senior people from some significant pool-related businesses.

Six months ago, I certainly did not expect to be having some of those conversations.

There has also been another fairly major development away from pool.

A new baby Trousers joined the family.

That means a 3am wake-up has quite often turned into a 3:15am scheduled social media post, product idea, website tweak or note in my phone that seemed absolutely essential at the time.

Apparently sleep deprivation is also a marketing strategy.

So, six proper months in, it feels like a good time to look back at what Chalky Trousers has become and where it might go next.

So... What Is Chalky Trousers Anyway?

It is still probably the question I get asked most, and the answer has changed quite a lot.

Chalky Trousers started with a simple idea: create a pool brand that did not take itself too seriously.

Cue sports can sometimes be a very serious place. Chalky Trousers was never supposed to be another ultra-polished brand trying to look bigger or more important than it really is. It was supposed to have some personality.

But underneath the name, the Chalky Man, the jokes and the occasional questionable social media post, there has always been a more serious ambition.

I wanted to build something that genuinely contributes to pool.

Selling good products is part of that, but so is supporting players, promoting businesses, helping people find places to play and people to learn from, and generally trying to make the sport feel a little more connected.

Six months later, that side of Chalky Trousers has become more important than I originally expected.

Building a UK Pool Shop From Scratch

The shop is still the most visible part of Chalky Trousers, and the range has grown significantly.

There are pool cues, cue cases, Taom chalk, cue tips, cue care products, clothing, towels, tip tools, shaft care products and a growing range of Chalky Trousers branded gear.

But I have never wanted the website to become a catalogue of random products bought cheaply and resold. That's easy to do.

A big part of the process has been finding products I would genuinely be happy to use myself.

That has meant speaking directly with manufacturers and suppliers, testing samples, rejecting things that are not right and gradually having more input into the products I sell.

Some products have taken several versions to get right. Others have never made it onto the website at all.

I have also started getting products into other people's hands earlier and listening to what they actually think. Players trying cues, testing products and giving honest feedback is far more useful than me deciding something is good because I happen to sell it.

That approach has already influenced products and new ideas, including BRKR break cues, and there is plenty more being worked on behind the scenes.

The principle is pretty simple: if I would not be happy receiving it as a customer, I do not want to sell it.

From Following Ultimate Pool Online to Actually Being There

One of the strangest parts of the last six months has been seeing the online world of Chalky Trousers turn into something real.

I have now attended two Ultimate Pool events, first in Bolton and then in Loughborough.

Before Chalky Trousers, I knew many of the names and faces from watching pool and seeing people online. Suddenly I was walking around events meeting them.

Even stranger was people recognising me.

Being stopped and asked for photos is something I was absolutely not prepared for. It still sounds ridiculous writing it.

But the events have been about much more than that. They have given me the chance to finally meet people I had previously only spoken to online, have proper conversations and support some of the players who have supported and believed in Chalky Trousers.

Putting a logo on a shirt is one thing. Being there over the weekend supporting someone is completely different.

One result in particular stayed with me for days afterwards.

Will Freestone's Challenger Series Gold Win

I was supporting Will Freestone over the weekend in Bolton, and seeing him come away with a Challenger Series Gold win was a massive highlight.

I was not there watching the exact moment he won it, but that did not make me any less pleased for him.

I was buzzing for days afterwards.

That probably sums up what I want the sponsorship side of Chalky Trousers to be about.

Not just putting a logo on a shirt, but backing people you believe in and genuinely caring when things go well for them.

Supporting Grassroots Pool and Players

Selling products allows Chalky Trousers to exist, but it is not the only reason I want it to exist.

From quite early on, I wanted some of whatever the brand became to go back into the sport.

That has meant sponsoring teams and individual players, supporting people across the game and getting involved with grassroots pool and cue sports.

Pool is far more than something people do on a Tuesday night. For many, it is where they see their mates, get out of the house, compete, practise and feel part of something.

For some people, particularly those dealing with isolation or their mental health, that sense of community can matter enormously.

I do not pretend Chalky Trousers is going to change the world. But if growing it gives me a bigger platform to support people doing good things within cue sports, I want to use it.

Conversations and Relationships I Did Not Expect

Another marker of progress has been the people I now find myself speaking to.

There have been conversations with professional players, people running established cue sports businesses, manufacturers, retailers, venues, coaches and people working across different parts of the game.

Some are quick chats. Others lead to ideas, introductions or conversations about working together.

Six months ago, many of these were people and businesses I only knew from seeing them online. Now actual relationships are beginning to form.

That includes Crafted Cues, where what started relatively simply has developed into a stronger relationship with more plans in the pipeline.

That is also starting to include new partnerships such as MatchNight Live. I have started getting involved with what they are building and looking at how Chalky Trousers can support and work alongside them. It is exactly the sort of relationship I want more of - good people doing interesting things in pool and finding ways to help each other grow.

It has reinforced something I have become increasingly convinced of: cue sports businesses do not always need to compete with each other.

Sometimes it makes more sense to collaborate, share ideas, stock somebody else's product, send a customer in the right direction or simply connect people who should probably know each other.

The relationships around Chalky Trousers are becoming almost as important as the products themselves.

Being Part of Product Development

I have also enjoyed being able to contribute to products being developed elsewhere in the sport.

Orbit Cue Tips is a good example.

I have been involved in testing and feeding back as Orbit develops its products, seeing different versions and being able to contribute some real-world input along the way.

I am proud to have played a small part in that process, and Chalky Trousers will also be stocking Orbit Tips.

It fits with how I increasingly want to approach products generally: test them, listen to people who use them and improve them where possible rather than simply putting something on a shelf and hoping it sells.

Learning SEO, Websites and Everything Else as I Go

A huge amount of the work behind Chalky Trousers has had nothing to do with pool products.

I did not start this as an SEO expert or a web developer. I did not know every Shopify setting, Google Search Console report, product feed issue, redirect or technical SEO term.

I have learnt it as I have gone.

There has been a lot of reading, trial and error, changing things, breaking things and then working out how to fix them again.

That effort is starting to show.

The Chalky Trousers website is now getting some really encouraging organic traffic from Google. People are finding products, articles and the Cue Sports Directory through search without me having to put an advert in front of them first.

For a small independent business, that is something I am genuinely proud of.

I am still learning, and I expect I always will be. But I am also happy to share what I have learnt.

If another small business can avoid one of the mistakes I made because I can tell them what went wrong, even better.

The Chalky Trousers Cue Sports Directory

One of the best things about building Chalky Trousers has been discovering just how many independent people and businesses exist around pool and snooker.

Cue makers. Cue repairers. Tip fitters. Coaches. Pool halls. Table specialists. Accessory manufacturers. Online retailers. People making incredibly niche products in sheds, workshops and spare bedrooms.

The problem is finding them.

That is why I built the Chalky Trousers Cue Sports Directory.

The idea was simple: make it easier to find someone local to fit a cue tip, repair a cue, coach you, service a table or provide other cue sports products and services.

The directory now allows people to search by business, town or postcode, filter by distance and service, and find businesses across pool and snooker.

The response has been brilliant, with businesses getting in touch to be added and people recommending others who should be included.

I do not want it to become a giant anonymous list of scraped businesses. I want it to be a useful, trusted UK cue sports directory shaped by the cue sports community.

There is plenty more planned for it too.

Building the Chalky Trousers Community

Something else growing alongside the shop is the Chalky Trousers WhatsApp Community.

Social media is useful, but algorithms decide what people see. A community gives people somewhere more direct to talk, share things and find out what is happening.

The longer-term aim is bigger than another group chat.

I want it to help bring people together, support Chalky Trousers events and create opportunities for people who know each other online to actually meet and play pool.

Some of those events might be competitive.

Some probably will not be very serious at all.

Knowing Chalky Trousers, probably the latter.

And Apparently I Go Live Now

This was not necessarily part of the original plan either, but I have started going live.

Sometimes I am talking pool or testing products.

Sometimes I am punching holes into cloths.

Sometimes I am walking the dog.

It is not exactly Sky Sports, but that is probably the point.

Going live gives people a look behind the scenes and a chance to talk, ask questions or simply join in with whatever random thing I happen to be doing.

And people actually join.

Again, I am not entirely sure how we got here.

Becoming Official Merchandiser of the British Pool Federation

Then came one of the biggest milestones so far.

Chalky Trousers became an Official Merchandiser of the British Pool Federation.

For a small independent cue sports business still in its early stages, that is something I am incredibly proud of.

It means working with the British Pool Federation on official merchandise and developing clothing and pool accessories connected with the organisation.

More than anything, it feels like another sign of how quickly Chalky Trousers has become more connected with the wider sport.

It creates opportunities to develop new products, attend events, meet more people and continue growing the brand within the pool community.

More Than an Online Pool Shop

The website itself has changed enormously too.

What started as a relatively straightforward online pool shop now includes articles, the Cue Sports Directory, partnerships, sponsorships and features on people and organisations doing worthwhile things within cue sports.

The aim is increasingly to give people a reason to visit Chalky Trousers even when they are not looking to buy something.

There are already plenty of websites that can sell you a box of chalk.

I want Chalky Trousers to contribute something more than that.

And although it started primarily around pool, the people I am meeting through it now span English pool, blackball, snooker and the wider cue sports community.

Projects like The Snooker School CIC in West Yorkshire are a great example of why that matters. Cue sports can provide community, structure and social interaction for people from all kinds of backgrounds, and I want Chalky Trousers to keep highlighting the people and organisations doing good things within the sport.

Six Months of Learning

It would be easy to write all of this as though everything has gone perfectly.

It hasn't.

There have been products I thought would sell that didn't, things I nearly bought far too many of, supplier issues, website problems, shipping problems, marketplace problems, packaging problems, SEO mistakes and probably several occasions where I spent three hours fixing something nobody else would ever notice.

But that is probably what these six months have really been about.

Learning what customers actually want rather than what I assume they want. Learning which suppliers can be trusted. Learning what quality looks like. Learning how Google works. Learning when to ask other people for their opinion and when something needs another version before it is ready.

And increasingly, learning what I actually want Chalky Trousers to become.

From an Online Idea to Something People Actually Recognise

Maybe that is one of the biggest changes of all.

Six proper months ago, Chalky Trousers existed mostly on a screen.

Now I can go to an Ultimate Pool event and somebody I have never met before knows what Chalky Trousers is. People stop me for photos. Players I used to only see online are now people I can stand and have a proper conversation with. Players I support are having big weekends and I get to be there supporting them.

Businesses approach me about working together. I find myself speaking to people at all levels of the sport, from grassroots players through to professionals and senior people within established cue sports businesses.

People join the WhatsApp community because they want to be part of what is being built.

People find Chalky Trousers through Google without ever seeing one of my Facebook posts.

Somebody places an order while I am changing a nappy.

And sometimes at three in the morning, when I am already awake anyway, another idea gets written down.

There was never some enormous masterplan that predicted all of that.

A lot of it has simply come from speaking to people, trying things, supporting people where I can, learning as I go and being willing to put Chalky Trousers out there.

The name and logo might have started with a bit of humour.

The thing growing around them is becoming very real.

What Comes Next for Chalky Trousers?

If the first six proper months are anything to go by, I am not entirely sure where the next six will take me.

There are more products being developed, more conversations happening behind the scenes and more relationships starting to form across pool, snooker and the wider cue sports community.

The Cue Sports Directory will keep growing. The Chalky Trousers community will keep developing. I want to get more people together to actually play pool, build on the relationships with the people and businesses I am already working with, and continue developing products with input from the people who actually use them.

There is also the new relationship with the British Pool Federation, more plans for Chalky Trousers merchandise and plenty of other ideas that are probably best kept quiet until they actually happen.

I want to keep supporting players, teams, businesses and projects that I believe in. I want the website to keep becoming a genuinely useful place for people involved in cue sports, whether they are there to buy something or not.

And I want to keep learning.

I still do not have some enormous masterplan for where Chalky Trousers ends up. A lot of the best things over these six months have come from speaking to people, trying things and being open to opportunities I could never have planned for.

So I am not going to pretend I know exactly what the next six months look like.

But I am looking forward to finding out.

Thank You

The biggest thing I take from these six months is how many people have got behind Chalky Trousers.

Every order, share, recommendation, message and conversation matters. So does every player who wears the logo, every business willing to work together and every person who has joined the community or stopped me at an event to say hello.

For a small independent pool business, that support genuinely makes a difference.

Chalky Trousers has been around longer than six months, but these have been the six months where I decided to properly give it a go.

Somehow, in that time, it has become an independent UK pool and cue sports shop, a growing community, a Cue Sports Directory, a supporter of players and grassroots pool, an Official Merchandiser of the British Pool Federation and something that people are actually starting to recognise.

It is also being built around a full-time job, family life, a new baby Trousers and an increasingly questionable relationship with sleep.

That's not bad for six proper months.

Here's to the next six.