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A posh baby clothes shop founder has been caught in an embarrassing late night Facebook rant over its yummy mummy customers who buy secondhand.

JoJo Maman Bebe caters for upmarket clientele attracted by its environmentally friendly company policies which have made it a roaring success with young middle-class mothers.

Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton is even a fan - dressing Prince George in the firm's garments.

Fans of the brand, however, are unlikely to be impressed to hear the opinions of firm's founder Laura Tenison - who has "done a Ratner" and slammed them for recycling its clothes and not 'buying new'.

The phrase "doing a Ratner" refers to a spectacular gaffe in business - as when jewellery boss Gerald Ratner wiped £500million from the firm's value by describing its products as "total crap" in a speech.

Ms. Tenison, 50, is already regretting having let fly on a Facebook page titled ‘JoJo Maman Bebe Pre-Loved Buy and Sell’ and packed full of more than 20,000 fans of the brand late on Saturday night.

She criticised thrifty parents for buying and selling on the store's garments secondhand when they could just buy brand new clothes for their children.

Ms. Tenison tried to argue they could save money on postage.

She also asked the group’s moderators to "block individuals who steal images" - photos of baby models wearing her firm's clothes.

(Image: PA)

Her comments have been variously described as "nuts", "incredibly rude", "offensive", "snotty" and an "epic PR fail" by customers - who are now threatening to boycott the store permanently.

In a late-night posting Ms. Tension wrote: ‘Why anyone would pay near to full price or full price sometimes plus postage for something second hand is crazy.

"We don’t charge postage so you could get a new one for less!"

MailOnline reports that she also accused members of the group of exploiting her company’s intellectual property - by reproducing photographs from its website and catalogues.

Upset group members responded with threats to stop buying her brand.

User Laura Youds said the "outburst" was ‘incredibly rude’ and an "epic PR fail".

While user Kate Bell, from Cheshire, wrote: "Being spoken to like children leaves a bad taste."

(Image: Facebook)

Meanwhile the MailOnline reports user Pam Le Sueur, from Jersey, posted: "We can all be quite nuts at times and pay over the odds for your second hand clothes, but hey that should be a massive compliment and show how much we love your clothes.

"What amazes me is the tone of your message. You should consider us to be akin to a fan club... you have just single-handedly p****d off probably about 18,000 of them with your rude message...

"We, your fans, are disheartened and sad and left confused."

And user Zoe Lawrence posted: "The attitude and tone is pretty offensive and snotty."

The Facebook post has since been deleted.

Yesterday Miss Tenison - who was awarded an MBE - told MailOnline that she sent the message by mistake - having intended to send them to the site’s moderators privately not publicly.

She said: "Late-night posting is never a good idea. I had just come back from watching Trainspotting 2. I’m human and I made a mistake."

Yesterday she reappeared online to backpedal - and apologised to members, posting: "You are wrong if you think I am condescending towards this group. I LOVE IT.’

"I do apologise about my comment on the selling prices on your group.

"Of course it is up to you to pay what you like but I often see prices which are higher than our sale prices, plus you pay postage!

"I do think this is a bit daft – but it’s up to you and I accept none of my business."

Referring to the issue over copyright with photos, she said: "We have to protect our models. They sign a model release agreement for our use and not others."

She also referred members to her own firm’s recycling initiative called ‘A Mother To Another’.

She posted: "We have a big campaign to collect up good quality clothes (not just JoJo) and make them into gorgeous packs for a mother in need.

"We cover all the costs to check, sort and deliver to refugees in the camps along the Syrian border or via the Trussell Trust food banks in the UK."

The firm was founded as a mail order catalogue in 1993 but now has 70+ stores in the UK and an annual turnover of £50million.