This time five years ago, I was running my retail store in Melbourne, stocking more than 30 ethical and sustainable fashion brands while also organising a massive pre-loved designer wardrobe event with 20 industry peeps in the name of saving fashion from landfill. I don’t do things by halves.
October 2019 was gruelling. When I was handed the keys to my store, I walked into a space that wasn’t fitted out the way it was supposed to be, so we had to seal the concrete floor ourselves and open from scratch. It wasn’t meant to be like that, but I didn’t want to waste time fighting for it—I wanted to open when I’d planned to. I could have wallowed in my problems, but I’m the type to move forward and use challenges to grow stronger and get smarter.
So, we made lemonade with lemons, and I’m so glad we did.
Our Beaumaris store went on to build the most amazing local community of eco-shoppers, and we made an insane amount of sales for our ethical and sustainable designers.
It laid the foundations for our second store in Hampton the following year, and suburb by suburb, The Fashion Advocate built such a beautiful community.
I would catch the train from home and get off 5kms from the store so I could walk the rest of the way, choosing a different direction each day and hand-deliver postcards to mailboxes to promote the store. Me, the owner, the founder—because I knew I had to get creative with marketing when I didn’t yet have the budget for advertising.
I worked seven days a week most weeks, but I had an incredible support network—a beautiful team of staff who shared my vision, a partner who was (and still is, crazily) there for all the midnight push-throughs and meltdowns, and a mum who took over the reins when I needed to sleep on the floor for 10 minutes.
I worked HARD, but I LOVED it.
October 2019, five years ago, was intense, amazing, and rewarding—a massive growth period and a flex of everything I had.
But because I love what I do and I’m living my purpose, I got through it, and I’d do it all again because PURPOSE is powerful! If you're still searching for your purpose in business or you've fallen out of love with your ethical, sustainable, circular, handmade or slow fashion business, my Purpose For Profit Masterclass will give you clarity.
When you run a business built on purpose, anything is possible.
Claire x
