Market for fab rags asks for $1.2m
An Auckland-based web business which lets people buy, sell and rent designer clothes is looking to take its successful formula across the Tasman.
Designer Wardrobe was founded in 2012 by Donielle Brooke, who at the time was suffering from cancer and unable to work.
Her penchant for fashion led the then 25-year-old to set up a Facebook group for women interested in trading or renting posh, second-hand clothes.
Within weeks she had thousands of members. When her group membership hit 14,000 a few months later, Brooke and her friend Aidan Bartlett scraped together their savings and launched a website, with two mobile phone apps.
Last month, $300,000 worth of sales were made through the site which is also more sophisticated than its initial self.
Services include insurance for renters and lenders, a valet service which will do the listing for you, and new stock from a selection of top boutiques.
Through Snowball, an equity crowdfunding platform, the company is hoping to raise at least $1.2 million which would further develop its new Australian website, and add men’s and kids’ clothes to the mix.
They also hope to start buying stock to start a rental store, in addition to its existing service which lets members to lend to each other.
Brooke, who is celebrating her fourth year cancer-free, says she never really saw herself as an entrepreneur.
At school she had dyslexia, but she does see business as a creative force.
‘‘I love creating and I’m really good at growing something that I really believe in. I have had two jewellery labels and then I started DW. I think it’s my creative side that just loves to create.’’
With 85,000 members now in New Zealand and 5000 in Australia, Designer Wardrobe picked up steam after going though the Lightening Lab business acceleration programme.
Backers include Spark chief executive Simon Moutter and Grab One founder Shane Bradley, who are shareholder/directors, along with Iceangels and the NZ Venture Investment Fund.
Brooke says she wasn’t really surprised at the site’s success as there were few places to sell designer clothes for a reasonable price.
Sellers would be upset at being offered $20 for a $500 Karen Walker coat on traditional online marketplaces, and the condition of clothing wasn’t always top-notch.
‘‘I think sometimes I don’t really sit back and take it all in and see how far it’s come, but at the same time I understand why it has.
‘‘Women only tend to wear 20 per cent of their wardrobe, so they do need a place to sell the rest.’’
The Australian market is even bigger, with an estimated 1.2 million women in Designer Wardrobe’s target market.
Brooke said members from both countries would be able to access clothes from opposite sides of the Tasman.
Kiwis loved Australian designers and the feeling was mutual in Australia about Kiwi fashion, she said.
They would start in Melbourne, Australia’s fashion heart, then Perth and Sydney.
‘‘Because’s New Zealand’s like the size of Melbourne.’’
Bartlett, who is now chief executive, said a sharemarket listing in time would not be out of the question.
‘‘We’ve always envisaged a trade takeover as the most likely acquisition.
‘‘But we always keep our options open and being on the NZX would definitely be a dream.’’