I've just been named as one of Australia’s Top 50 Small Business Leaders alongside an incredible line-up of founders using business as a force for good, but this is no overnight success story. I launched The Fashion Advocate in 2014, and even though I'm a decade in, I still have a lot to learn.
In the early days of my career, I was obsessed with making the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. I worked relentlessly, driven by my ego, a desire to succeed, and to be known as the best in the business. I was on a quest to sell, grow, scale, and yes change the world, but I wanted to build a name that would resonate far beyond the fashion industry.
Perfectionism, hustling, overachieving and working 24/7… That quest was fuelled by an insatiable need for external validation, and it led me down a path I wasn’t prepared for.
Five years into building my business, I hit a wall - a hard one. I burned out. I found myself in a hospital, hooked up to machines, stressed to my eyeballs with heart palpitations, vertigo, and migraines. My vision would blur unexpectedly, I couldn’t sleep, and my diet consisted of coffee, wine, Instagram likes, and adrenaline. I had pushed myself too far, chasing a dream that turned out to be more of a nightmare for my body and my mental health, it was a relentless drive to sell, sell, sell at my own cost. Even though it was sustainable fashion I was selling, it shouldn’t have come at the cost of my health and happiness.
So, I changed. I did the hard stuff, the ugly personal work, I faced my fear of failure, I worked on my obsession with perfection, and I slowed down, right down. The following five years weren’t ‘easy’ but they were so much easier, and I was so much happier, less of a hot frazzled mess running at everything, and more of a leader, a conscious business founder, a more considered and strategic operator.
Then I made over half a million dollars and now I’m here - in my happy place, sharing everything I know with my community of slow fashion brands, and mentoring sustainable businesses.
If there's any wisdom I can share from my past decade in business, it's that hustling isn’t the only way. Slowing down allows the space to create more calm, find more happiness, make more magic, deepen your purpose - and I highly recommend it.
Five years on from my burn out point and ten years into the entire journey, I've been recognised as one of Australia’s Top 50 Small Business Leaders, and it's pushed me to reflect on how different my approach to business is compared to those early years. My experience with the hustle and grind culture, and my subsequent crash, shaped The Fashion Advocate into what it is today. We’ve all become too caught up in the fast-paced nature of selling, making, consuming, and succeeding. In doing so, we’ve lost something valuable - connection, community, and the simple joy of having meaningful conversations with our customers.
The fashion industry today is obsessed with converting and convincing, but that’s exactly what I want to change. I want to bring back the magic of fashion by slowing things down, making it about people and the planet, not just profit. What I teach isn’t merely about boosting sales; it’s about selling less but selling better, it's quality over quality, it's about reconnecting with purpose, and finding joy in the journey.
Running a fashion business shouldn’t be about stress, overwhelm, or exhaustion, no matter how ethical or sustainable the product. People are important. The planet is important. Community and connection are important. These are the values that underpin everything I do at The Fashion Advocate.
If you’re here expecting a quick-fix strategy to explode your sales and become an overnight success in the fashion industry, I’m not your gal. But if you’re here because you believe your fashion business can be a force for good, because you care about your impact, and because you know you’re meant for something more than just making money - then you’re in the right place.
If I can step back from running Australia’s largest online store for ethical and sustainable fashion, reimagine my business, and help other fashion brands slow down and create change, then you can change your business for the better too.
Winning this award has been a reminder of the importance of staying true to my values and my vision. It's not about being the best; it’s about being the best version of myself and helping others do the same - so that we can create change together.
Claire x
