November 5, 2025 • 38 mins
What do you do, when you have invested all your money into an idea you thought was going off, and then the whole world shuts down?
Do you try to fight on? Or do you completely change your business to survive?
That’s the decision Aidan Bartlett faced.
He’s the co-founder and chief Executive of online marketplace Designer Wardrobe. It was, once upon a time, a designer rental shop.
Covid-19 wrecked the business but also gave it a new life.
Aidan Bartlett joined Kerre Woodham in studio in the latest episode of Bosses Unfiltered.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The big wins and the big losses, the hurdles, the pivots,
and the emotions, raw and honest New Zealand's great business
minds like you've never heard them before. This is Bosses
Unfiltered with Kerry Woodham on iHeartRadio powered by Newstalk Sedby.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
What do you do when you've invested all your money
into an idea you thought was going off and then
the whole world shuts down? Do you try to fight
on or do you completely change your business to survive?
That's the decision. Aidan Bartlett based He's the co founder
and chief executive of designer Wardrobe, an online marketplace and
(00:39):
once upon a time a designer rental shop. Covid wrecked
the business, but then also gave it a new life.
Nice to see you, Aiden.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Thanks for having me, Kry.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So how did it start?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Yes, So I am not the genesis of designer Wardrobe.
I owe that to donniel Brook, who's my very very
good friend and partner, and she started designer Wardrobe all
the way back in twenty fifteen. So we've actually just
celebrated our ten year anniversary, which is quite the milestone,
especially with everything that's happened in between. But she originally
(01:14):
started design a wardrobe because she had been recently diagnosed
with thyroid cancer at the time and she couldn't work
and she had a huge love for fashion. So when
you haven't got income, you need to start liquidating things.
And so the most value that she had was in
(01:35):
her wardrobe. So she started a Facebook group called Designer
Wardrobe and she started listing her things, initially just for
other people to buy them, essentially, and because she's this
incredible networker and community builder, it just slowly, well quickly really,
(01:58):
but slowly but quickly turned into this community of people
buying and selling fashion. And that's when I saw it,
and I said, we should really turn this into something.
So that's sort of where the genesis happened, and it
became this little network of people was.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
And you saw the opportunity to anaitize that and turn
it into a going concern.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Yeah, especially because I had some validation because overseas there
were other platforms that were sprouting up that were able
to compete against the incumbents like eBay and you know,
the big players like that. So I thought, you know,
maybe there's you know, enough demand for this in New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
And obviously the incumbent here has trade me.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
So the question is, you know, can we compete with
that and offer something that's different from them and something
with his value for both the buyer and a seller.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
And that was the hypothesis.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
So you went to her with that idea. Yeah, Donielle,
I think we can turn.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
The yeah a living Yeah, let's make something of this
and yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Let's be the first to build a fast only marketplace
in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
When did you get into the business of renting clothes?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Yeah, so that happened quite away on from Designer Wardrobe
the marketplace. So we with our core of the business,
like the DNA of Designer Wardrobe has always been the
buying and selling part and that's where my heart's always
been as well. We went through like an incubator, which
is basically like as a bit of a startup term,
(03:27):
but it's like a program almost that you go through
with the intention of condensing twelve months of knowledge into
three months and then presenting your business case to investors
and getting investments. So like a dragon's den exactly, almost
like a dragon's den would be a great way to
describe it and we got investment which was fantastic. We
(03:47):
had some amazing investors Shane and Simon have been the
lead investors the whole way through and still massive supporters
of Designer Wardrobe still on the board and everything, which
is amazing even ten years on again. But Rental came
a few years after that after getting investment with design
and Wardrobe. So we were growing as a business. But you know,
(04:08):
being New Zealand and being quite small, especially being venture backed,
there's an expectation to really grow and being very New
Zealand centric, we went seeing enough growth to just be
a pure play marketplace, we had to look at what
where else can we grow And on the marketplace we
were seeing people instead of you know, selling something, they
(04:33):
were you know, listing a dress and saying, oh, actually
this is for rent you're not actually buying it. So
we looked at that and thought that's really interesting. And
again I did my thing where I look overseas as
anyone else doing that, is there some validation for this?
And that had become this big category overseas where companies
would buy vast portfolios of dresses and rented out. So
(04:55):
that looked like a really great opportunity for us at
the time, as you can imagine without having the Crystal Ball.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
COVID, so rental was a great idea. But I imagine
that initially you didn't need that much seed money or
startup money when it's a purely online business. I know,
because I have to buy those dresses and there wasn't
a designer wardrobe when I was around doing black tie events.
I have got literally thousands of dollars and that's just me.
(05:22):
So there would have needed to have been a lot
more money invested in the business to get that stock
of design addresses.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
How much it was huge.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
We spent you know, well over a million dollars on
our first collection of dresses, and that was to get
you know, yeah, a couple thousand, two or three thousand,
and that were like those were, you know, before we
could have more leverage with talking to brands and getting
what you know, a special deal.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
It was like I just buy God.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Donielle must have.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Been like, oh yeah, me, yeah, yeah, no.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
She she did such a great job and she's got
a bit of an eye for it.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
And I imagine that not only would you need a
lot of stock, you'd need a business premises and you'd
also need stuff because Donna Donyell and you couldn't just
do it.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
It's a very logistically heavy heavy business. So we moved
from a I think it was a fifty meter squared
office that was above a lunch bar in Albany to
ares a thre undred meter square warehouse. You know, in
a very short space of time. And with that you
have to have staff on a different number of positions,
(06:34):
like people who are inbound in the stock, who a
photograph in the stock, writing descriptions, putting it up on
the site, and then all the reverse logistics that comes
with that, so you know, when you send something out,
you're not just sending it.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
You also need to get it back.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
So there's a lot of technology that we had to
build and then a lot of physical logistics that we
had to build alongside of two so year, it was
a very high touch business.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Investors. How did they feel when you presented the case
for the rental side of the business to them?
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Yeah, well, yeah, they were very much aligned with the
plan because it was something that we were seeing overseas,
and again without having COVID on the horizon, knowing nothing
about that it was very much like a blue Sky
category and one that made a heap of cents because essentially,
you know, you could buy address for retail or even wholesale,
(07:29):
and by the time you've rented out just six times,
it paid itself off. So the union economics made a
lot of sense. And we were typically renting out address,
you know, between twelve and twenty times, so the vast
majority addresses were paying themselves off relatively quickly.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
So you've done your planning, you had the stock, you
had the premises. Yeah, when did you open the doors?
Speaker 4 (07:53):
So twenty seventeen, Yeah, mid twenty seventeen is when we
initially had our very first rental store, and that was
in Grafton and that was actually just below our offices.
And the main reason we did that was again it
was relatively organic. We didn't actually set out to sort
of go back to the future with stores because stores.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Was never a part of the plan as a digital business.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
But the thing was that renting is such a high
stakes game for someone who is renting right.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Like as you're talking about like a black.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Tie event or horse races, like you need to know
that it fits, you need to see it, you need
to know that you can come and pick it up
at a specified time, rather than relying on careers and
things like that, which caused a lot of anxiety. So
there was a big enough percentage of people who wanted
to come try it on first and pick it up
(08:44):
that it made sense for us to have a physical premises.
So we did it as a bit of a pilot
below our stores, our office rather and it became very
popular very quickly, which made us go, okay, well, stores
maybe make sense for this business model because it's so
new and trust as such a high part of it
(09:06):
that this is perhaps how we.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Make it mainstream.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
So when did you open the big new market store.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
That way, Yeah, so that, believe it or not, was
February of twenty twenty. Yeah, yeah, so that was we
actually raised our biggest round of capital we raised in
twenty nineteen. It was December, and we signed the lease
for our flagship store in twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
So yeah, it's.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Was, again, hindsight right, a very difficult time for us
because that was a big investment.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Flagship store is not cheap as you can imagine, and
all that stock. Yeah yeah, yeah, So.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
When the announcement from the government came that everything was
to be locked down and we went to leave home.
Where were you when you heard that?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
And what did you do? Yeah, well, first it was.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
I think you go through those various stages of disbelief.
I remember very clearly there was these whispers of lockdowns
and we thought that was just propaganda almost at the time.
And then school Balls was also coming up, which is
a super important part of our business at the time,
and everybody was talking about school Balls might be canceled,
(10:28):
and we just said, no way, no way, School's going
to allow, you know, the flagship of end of the
year to be closed down.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
So that was it was just really scary, just so.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Many unknowns, and you know, we were well placed in
terms of like, you know, we had raised a good
round of capital, so we did have essentially money in
the bank, but at the same time, we had committed
a lot of this capital to capital to you know,
a part of the business that we couldn't essentially run
right because of these lockdowns and staff and had to worry. Yeah,
(11:02):
then it's becomes a whole other factor where it's like
we've got this stuff, like how do we take care
of them while also you know, taking care of the
business at the same time and doing right by shareholders.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
So a lot to balance. That's streetsful, Yeah, very stressful.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah, yeah, how did you deal with that streth?
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Yeah, we had a really great network of people around us,
which I'm extremely thankful for.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
So being a founder.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Is a lonely thing, as you know, notoriously lonely. You
you make a lot of sacrifices to do it. However,
very thankful to have such a great network around us,
especially around that time with our investors were incredibly supportive
and also just the team as well. Like you know,
Donnie is one of our lifelong friends, so we could
(11:49):
always be incredibly honest and same as Ruby, So we
had that support network.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
There which was incredibly.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
Yeah, in credibly necessary during that time. And then it
was just going back to let's just be pragmatic and
just do do what we can with what's in front
of us.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
So there were tough choices.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
In there, but again, yeah, just having those people around
you and also having a very supportive partner was just
paramount to getting through those times.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah, those first few weeks where you don't know what's
going to happen. Yeah, you don't know whether to sell
all the stock or yeah, keep it and hope that
things go back to normal.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
What does normal look like exactly?
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Yeah, Yeah, we didn't know what what normal would look
like at all. Yeah, And yeah, if you knew, okay,
this is going to be six months.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
And it's a completely different story, right.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
But having you know, lumpy lockdowns and and lots of
changes and then that traffic light system and all these
sort of things just made yeah, made the business extremely
necessary difficult to navigate.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, So how.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Did you navigate it? What did you do? Did you
ever think this is too hard? I'm done?
Speaker 4 (13:08):
No, No, I think a mix of stubbornness and just
belief that it should exist, you know. And yeah, I
think like the other thing being a founder, especially one
that I've been in I've been in it deeply, like
deeply for six years and sort of became like a
part of my identity, right, So.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I was like, I need to get us out of this.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
And yeah, it felt like if the business failed, then
it would you know, feel like feel very personal. And
so that that drive to pivot out and make the
still work despite all these things was.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah, there was a lot.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Of motivation there for me and we just made a plan.
It was every every you know week. It was like
we'd have this like three month plan like if things changed,
then then we can do this.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
If they don't, then we'll do that.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
But at the same time, we had this this silver
lining of what was going on on Designer Wardrobe, which
was while the rental part was almost turned off, the
marketplace side, the buying and selling because everybody was at home,
everybody all of a sudden had this abundance of time
to list things. We saw this huge boost and marketplace activity.
(14:20):
So that was also something that really kept us going
to see the other side of the business that was
sort of growing steadily in the background suddenly had this
big lift.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Of course, I totally get that people were going through
the wardrobes and coloring.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
I was buying, people were buying yeah, I mean maybe
more track suits than usual, but people were buying.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
People still just love to buy and especially just discover
as well.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
It's part of Designer Wardrobe as you discover something and
just yeah, it's just a way to.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Yeah, a way to pass time, and a lot of
ways tell people to use Designer Wardrobe.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
The honor story of being in business talking the wins
and the losses. Bosses Unfiltered with Kerry woodhem on iHeartRadio
powered by News Talks EDB. What it's really like to
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Speaker 2 (15:20):
We came out of COVID, Yeah, lockdowns were over. Yeah,
where did that leave Designer Wardrobe the marketplace, Designer Wardrobe
the store.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Yeah, well both actually took off right after the lockdowns
were lifted. So we were saying record you know, traffic
in the stores, which was which was amazing, and we
were very glad we didn't sell all the stock because yeah,
there was that period after those initial lockdowns where it
was everything was great again, right, and so.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Again we saw really great lift.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
In the foot traffic and people using design and ORDERB
and events were back on, which was great. But then
every time, you know, you'd go back into another lockdown
like Delta or you know Auckland lockdowns, all that sort
of thing, it just created a whole logistical nightmare for
us because it meant anything that was booked during those
(16:17):
times we have to refund, we have to get them
back and yeah, there was just a lot of moving
parts in that business.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
So when we finally said we're not going to have
lockdowns anymore, you know, the fight against COVID is over.
Were you exhausted from battling to keep everything together.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
It definitely took a mental toll, especially like being at home,
not being around other people, you know, apart from of
course your partner, but not being you know, not being
at work and having that.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Camaraderie and you know, that physical camaraderie.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
It's definitely really tough, and yeah, it's exhausting, right, but
when we finally saw each other again physically everything, you know,
you felt really renewed and you're ready to fight another
day in a lot of ways.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
But you and Donielle decided to separate the business out.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Yeah, so after all the uncertainty of the lockdowns, we
did end up having to make that really tough call
to essentially turn the stores off, which was, Yeah, that
was one of the hardest decisions that we made, was
that you know, at that time, again we just couldn't
(17:33):
see any consistency and how these lockdowns were folding out,
So we decided to shut the stores down. A lot
of ways, like our leases of running out, and it's
whether or not we commit to another two to three
years as well. So we just made that decision that hey,
let's turn the stores off and really focus on can
(17:54):
we make rental a.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Really amazing online only experience.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
So that's where we put a lot of energy, so
essentially transfer to energy from stores.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
And just make the online as good as it can be. Yeah,
and it did. It took Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
Well, that was the problem as well, was that it
was through no lack of trying, that we just couldn't
quite get that momentum back with the rental side of
the business. So the other thing about it is that
we had a marketplace which, as I mentioned, was going fantastically,
which was really great to.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
See, and.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
That was, you know, twenty percent of our effort versus
rental being as I said, like very high touch logistical
businesses eighty percent our efforts. So you just have to
make that really tough decision and go, okay, Wolf, we
actually spent one hundred percent of our time on the marketplace.
Does that make a lot more sense as a business
than spending eighty percent of our time on marketplace and
(18:52):
trying to juggle the two.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
And we just had that really.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Honest conversation internally and with the board and our investors,
and we just arrived at you know, we're actually going
to go back to our roots, which is we're buying
and selling digital marketplace and we are just going to
lean as hard as possible into that. And that's the
Designer Wardrobe that it is today, is a fully digital
(19:18):
only marketplace for buying and selling.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
And that's lucky that you and Donnell were aligned on that.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Yeah, yeah, we were.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
So.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Donneelle loves marketplace, but she also really loves the rental
side of the business too, and that was a discussion
between us.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
It's like, we don't want to just you know, do
a fire sale of all our clothes. It just feels
like such a waste.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
And so Donneelle and her mum Donna, said, well, you
know what, maybe we could do this business ourselves and
we could be completely separate from Designer Wardrobe and we'll
call it something else. But we want rental to live
on in some way and we think that's you know,
the best use of our skill sets as well. And
so that's how the business essentially got separated was Designer
(20:06):
Wardrobe sold the assets of the rental business to Donnelle
and Donna, and they created a really great rental business
themselves called the dress Room, which is essentially what DW
Rentals was, and they have a store and Ted Street
of Newmarket which is going really well, which is fantastic,
and they just they're so such great operators of that business.
(20:26):
So it's so satisfying to see that although we had
to turn it off as part of Designer Wardrobe, it
still lives on through another business.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
You seem to be able to pick trends, you know,
because there's that whole social ethos now about not just
being inherently consumerist buying something and wearing at once and
biffing it, or you know, people are very very happy
to upcycle upflow dresses and to rent rather than have
(20:57):
yes and you were ahead of the game on that
really with you.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
Yeah, yeah, we saw that trend pretty early. In fact,
it's it had existed overseas, but.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Was very early in New Zealand.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
And we've been really eager, very happy to try things
as a business. Right There's there's a lot of different
ideas that we've tried as a business.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
That haven't worked out.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
But we're also just so glad to try things at
the same time, and rental was a big bet and
I think in a different.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
World it probably would have still really worked really well.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
It was just unfortunately a timing thing too that the
recession would have helped as well, Like you aren't going
to spend four hundred dollars on a beautiful y, yeah,
but they will buy somebody else's beautiful four hundred dollars
dress for two hundred or rented.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Yeah, yeah, you do see that.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
And it's the same as like the marketplace as well,
because typically when you buy something secondhand off designer wardrobe,
it's roughly you know, sixty percent off retail. So that
price factor, especially around you know, the current economic conditions
as a big part of why people use designer wardrobe
or their rent However, also not immune to people just
(22:13):
having less money in general, so there's also that factor that.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Comes into and you've noticed that, have you.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Yeah, absolutely, So, you know, we're really pleased we've had
certainly had some tough years, but really pleased it over
the past year we've seen some really good positive growth
as a business and you know, we can proudly say
one in ten people or one in ten women in
New Zealand assign up to Designer Wardrobe, which is such
a very proud milestone for us, and you know we're
(22:42):
you know, every month we've one to two million dollars
where the items are sold on Designer Wardrobe and that
is something that you know, we're proud of.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
It's it's really great to see.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Do you set yourself milestones for the business.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Yeah, it's done that absolutely, Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
And you know we've always been like a very New
Zealand centric business, like we want to give New Zealand
as the best experience possible with buying and selling. But
part of that is also growing as well in Australia
has become a market for us that's become quite interesting.
And again I sound like a broken record, but it
(23:20):
happened organically because it was Australian's actually trying to sign
up to design a wardrobe in New Zealand, trying to
buy things and not being able to and so they
are because you need a New Zealand address too.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Yeah, So it's just just a logistical thing.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
And so that that again made us look and go okay, well,
you know, can can we if we go back to
a mission statement which is to have pre loved in
every closet in New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Can we.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Still do that and have Australia in the mix too
and give everybody a better experience And the answer was yes,
So that's why we opened up the platform to Australia
as well.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
I was just gonna say, the Aussie girls in different
states have a very different style New Zealand girls, but
I guess that doesn't matter when you're not doing the
buying or the selling. We're just acting as a conduit
for to buy and sell.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Yeah, exactly, like we have quite a minimal platform design
as well, because we want the pieces themselves to do
all the talking. And when it comes to Australia, a
lot of learnings there too, because you know, before going
in you think so much of it is copy and paste.
You know, there's so much that is similar, and the
more you dig in and the more you try to
(24:34):
localize the platform, you realize how much is different. And
one of the reasons is what you're saying, there is
a lot of cross pollination with brands, but at the
same time there isn't.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
So it's something that we're learning.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
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Speaker 2 (25:08):
Do the quality control? Because I always seem to find
the sweet stained nylon Osti frock, whereas other friends of
mine have an absolute gift for a beautiful designer piece
that's never been worn. Hat does the community police itself
around quality?
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Yeah, so we do.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
We do our own moderation of items, but we also
mainly rely on the community as well. So for example,
if a listing is inconsistent, that can often get.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Flagged to us.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
And then we also are embedding AI a lot more
to try and have that quality control a bigger part
of designer wardrobe, but we're getting a lot better at that.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
How do you use AI to your advantage?
Speaker 4 (25:55):
So one of the biggest ones that we've done is
reducing friction for a seller, like, for example, if you
had a dress that you wanted to sell. One of
the most exciting features that we've just launched is you
take a picture of that dress, you take a picture
of the tag, and the AI will analyze both those
(26:17):
images and write a title. They I will write a description,
and then it'll extract the brand from the tag and
extract the size from the tag and then prepopulate that
into the listen item part of the website. So it
just reduces that friction of actually selling it, and then
on top of that, it will then look at all
the historical sales of similar items and then suggest a
(26:42):
suitable price as well.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Yeah, yeah, So that's something that I've been super obsessed
with over the past month or so because I really
want to get this right or as right as possible
with the tools that we have right now.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
And yeah, it's awesome to see it out in the wild.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Now, where do you see the business? Where's the where's
the next big milestone for you?
Speaker 4 (27:04):
Yeah, I think we've got a lot of room to
grow in New Zealand. You know, fashion, the resal fashion
category in New Zealand is with roughly seven hundred to
a billion dollars a year and it's still growing. Yeah, yeah,
and it's still growing fifteen fifteen percent roughly, And that's
(27:25):
the same in Australia. It's actually the same as what
you're seeing globally, So we don't feel like we've hit
the ceiling in New.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Zealand at all.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
We think there's a lot of room to grow here.
And then also, you know, Australia is something that we're
seeing some green sprouts too, and something that will continue
to nurture as well.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
You do look really invigorated when you talk about the business.
It looks like that you've been able to leave those
tough times in the back in the rearview mirror.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Yeah, I believe it or not. I actually could not
work from home for until a year ago because working
from home actually gave me anxiety because of it brought
me back to those years of you know, COVID and
just being inside and being and like, you know, holding
(28:15):
on for dear life is how it felt sometimes. But yeah,
I feel like I've been able to move past that
now and the businesses, you know, incredibly grateful for the
business being in a really positive place and we can
just keep looking forward now.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
And why do you think you have so much loyalty
from your investors.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
They just they've been incredibly invested in the business. They
know the stories so well, they're just very aligned on
the mission and what we're trying to do. And we've
also been very transparent with them over time, which I
is a really great lesson for me as well.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
And it's just that it actually.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Really pays to be as visible as possible and to
get their feedback early on, Like if there's an issue
that you think could be material, then it's worth talking
about it early and then you just you just build
that trust over time. And you know, we have our
investors have been there for yeah, ten years, as I say,
(29:17):
and just being able to have those candid, honest conversations
with them is just so important.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
And what do you think your biggest mistake has been?
Speaker 4 (29:36):
That's a really good question. It's I'm trying to separate
a mistake that is one that we couldn't have avoided,
like you know obviously COVID.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Yeah that wasn't on you, It doesn't it made meaning. No.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
I we certainly made mistakes, were definitely made mistakes as
a business.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
I think we did try to go too big too early, doesn't.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so we I think we we did
get a bit of ahead of our skis essentially with
with some of the insues that we had was just
going to full noise until we had you know, real validation.
But all in all, you know, I feel it we've
done a lot of things right. So I do look
back and I don't have those moments were like oh
(30:26):
if only we did this or that.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
We don't have that.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
Even though Rental ultimately didn't work out for us as
a business, it made sense at the time. So I
can't look look back at that with you know, a
heap of regret because it made sense with what was
in front of us at the time.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
And how does a friendship like yours and Donnells survive
incredible incredible pressure?
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yeah, yeah, well we were.
Speaker 4 (30:52):
Yeah, we were together. You know, we were a romantic
partner before before all that.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Yeah, so we.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
You know, we had all that and our relationship actually
we broke up as you know, when we were going
through Designer Wardrobe well before COVID, So that was that
was Another challenge within itself, is that you're running a
business with now your ex partner, but she's also like
my best friend and that as there's a lot of
(31:22):
obvious challenges within that. But I think it just comes
back to if you want what's best for each other,
and you care for each other, and you're both have this,
you know, very vested interest in and making this business
be as good as it can be.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
Then you can get through through anything.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
So actually getting through both COVID and you know, essentially
her parting ways of the designer wardrobe part of the
business was something that we knew we could get through,
you know, as as challenging as it is. And yeah,
we're just hanging out, We're just talking on Instagram, you know,
two minutes ago. You know, she's actually in China at
the moment for her brother's wedding. So it's it's it's
(32:02):
it's one of those ones where it's there's a bit
of an unbreakable bond there.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
God that that survived it. Yeah, And do you think
entrepreneurs are born and not made? Because you what was
your first business? It was when you were at school?
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Yeah, yeah, it was buying things from from China and
selling them on trade me essentially was like one of
the first businesses.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
And then how old were you then? I would have
been fourteen, I.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
Think, yeah, yeah, so it's yeah, it's that was actually
very early on from when trade Me started actually and
and then years as full circle that then.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Sam Morgan's sister.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Ruby Morgan ends up joining Designer Wardrobe, So it's a
bit of a a small world there.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
And then Donnielle and I also had a jewelry business
before starting Designer Wardrobe as well.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
So.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
I would say, yeah, you it's very much feels like
you're born with a entrepreneurial spirit, I would say.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Because that terrifies me, the thought of being an entrepreneur
a business person. I'm really happy working for someone that
I believe in, yep, and turning up and getting my
paycheck and going home. But that's not the way entrepreneurs think.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's right. Yeah, yeah, but I
find what you do pretty terrifying.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
What are the superpowers that you have to have within
your personality to be a successful entrepreneur?
Speaker 4 (33:31):
I think it's Yeah, it's like a mix of you
almost have to be a little bit delusional but also
realistic about that delusion, and yeah, just a stubbornness that
you know you can that this is a business that
should exist, right and also you do need to get
(33:55):
a thick skin pretty quick because people will tell you
that this idea is not worth pursuing or X will
just copy this, or this has already been done it
didn't work. You have to believe that you know what
you're doing is, and what you're doing and how you're
going to do it will be successful.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
And what will success look like for you?
Speaker 4 (34:17):
Yeah? I think like for design and wardrobe, we want
to keep keep growing. Got a long way to go
as a business. Ultimately, for any business, you either get
acquired or you or you go public, and for us
it will be you know, one of those two things
is where you get returned for or what you owe
(34:40):
to shareholders essentially right, or you pay a dividend. So
we're not quite there yet, but that's that's what success
will look like over the next couple of years.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
And what will be the first big ticket item you buy?
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (34:56):
I really want to have a a little man cave, Yeah,
out on the lawn. Yeah, that would be That would
be a lot of fun. Yeah, and then I don't
really need need a lot else.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
Yeah I don't. I don't need like the roles or
anything right now.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
But you can always rent its, yeah exactly.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Okay, quick fig what's your favorite clothing item that you've
bought recently?
Speaker 4 (35:25):
Actually, these jeans I bought from Super Et, these car
Heart jeans. I can tell as soon as I put
them on, I had this feeling that I think I'm
going to have these for life. It's like one of
those piers of jeans, you know.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Don't even lose them. I went through a phase of
losing clothing, but I think that was when I was
drinking as well. Yeah, and what was your first business
idea as a kid.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
I was.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
I was buying lighters from China and something with them
on trade me.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Yeah, yeah, like funny shaped lighters. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
Yeah, I shouldn't have been smoking at fifteen, but that's
sort of naturally. Where my entrepreneurial ship went was well,
buy some sort of accessory for this and sell it.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Since quit.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
But yeah, what is your favorite part of running a business?
Speaker 4 (36:16):
I love, Yeah, having to wear so many hats and
having so much variety every single day, Like, you know,
one day you might be having a meeting with an investor, or,
you know, doing a podcast like this, and maybe I'll
get back to the office and it turns out there's
no milk.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
In the fridge enough to go buy milk, you know.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
So I just love the variety, and just I get
a heck of a lot of satisfaction from building something.
So building a product that makes its way to design
a wardrobe and then seeing people use it and then
give positive feedback is extremely rewarding.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
So I love that and too young.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
If you're thinking of the young fifteen year old aid,
and if there's a young fifteen year old aid out
there listening, what would be your best piece of advice
for him or her?
Speaker 4 (37:03):
Yeah, I think I think one way to think about
it is, you know, if you have an idea, the
the friction now to actually do that is the least
it's ever been, right, So you can build something very
quickly now and validate it, and you can just try
(37:27):
things and scratch your own itch. I am still building,
you know, little things outside a Designer wardrobe.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
Because I just have that curiosity.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
So just having that curiosity and exploring, it's amazing where
that sort of thing can take you.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
And that was Aiden Bartlett, co founder of Designer Wardrobe,
talk about a COVID rise from the Ash's story. If
you want to hear more stories about what it's really
like to be a boss, make sure you check out
Bosses Unfiltered on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
Catch you next time, ye
The big wins and the big losses, the hurdles, the pivots,
and the emotions, raw and honest New Zealand's great business
minds like you've never heard them before. This is Bosses
Unfiltered with Kerry Woodham on iHeartRadio powered by Newstalk Sedby.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
What do you do when you've invested all your money
into an idea you thought was going off and then
the whole world shuts down? Do you try to fight
on or do you completely change your business to survive?
That's the decision. Aidan Bartlett based He's the co founder
and chief executive of designer Wardrobe, an online marketplace and
(00:39):
once upon a time a designer rental shop. Covid wrecked
the business, but then also gave it a new life.
Nice to see you, Aiden.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Thanks for having me, Kry.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So how did it start?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Yes, So I am not the genesis of designer Wardrobe.
I owe that to donniel Brook, who's my very very
good friend and partner, and she started designer Wardrobe all
the way back in twenty fifteen. So we've actually just
celebrated our ten year anniversary, which is quite the milestone,
especially with everything that's happened in between. But she originally
(01:14):
started design a wardrobe because she had been recently diagnosed
with thyroid cancer at the time and she couldn't work
and she had a huge love for fashion. So when
you haven't got income, you need to start liquidating things.
And so the most value that she had was in
(01:35):
her wardrobe. So she started a Facebook group called Designer
Wardrobe and she started listing her things, initially just for
other people to buy them, essentially, and because she's this
incredible networker and community builder, it just slowly, well quickly really,
(01:58):
but slowly but quickly turned into this community of people
buying and selling fashion. And that's when I saw it,
and I said, we should really turn this into something.
So that's sort of where the genesis happened, and it
became this little network of people was.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
And you saw the opportunity to anaitize that and turn
it into a going concern.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Yeah, especially because I had some validation because overseas there
were other platforms that were sprouting up that were able
to compete against the incumbents like eBay and you know,
the big players like that. So I thought, you know,
maybe there's you know, enough demand for this in New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
And obviously the incumbent here has trade me.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
So the question is, you know, can we compete with
that and offer something that's different from them and something
with his value for both the buyer and a seller.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
And that was the hypothesis.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
So you went to her with that idea. Yeah, Donielle,
I think we can turn.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
The yeah a living Yeah, let's make something of this
and yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Let's be the first to build a fast only marketplace
in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
When did you get into the business of renting clothes?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Yeah, so that happened quite away on from Designer Wardrobe
the marketplace. So we with our core of the business,
like the DNA of Designer Wardrobe has always been the
buying and selling part and that's where my heart's always
been as well. We went through like an incubator, which
is basically like as a bit of a startup term,
(03:27):
but it's like a program almost that you go through
with the intention of condensing twelve months of knowledge into
three months and then presenting your business case to investors
and getting investments. So like a dragon's den exactly, almost
like a dragon's den would be a great way to
describe it and we got investment which was fantastic. We
(03:47):
had some amazing investors Shane and Simon have been the
lead investors the whole way through and still massive supporters
of Designer Wardrobe still on the board and everything, which
is amazing even ten years on again. But Rental came
a few years after that after getting investment with design
and Wardrobe. So we were growing as a business. But you know,
(04:08):
being New Zealand and being quite small, especially being venture backed,
there's an expectation to really grow and being very New
Zealand centric, we went seeing enough growth to just be
a pure play marketplace, we had to look at what
where else can we grow And on the marketplace we
were seeing people instead of you know, selling something, they
(04:33):
were you know, listing a dress and saying, oh, actually
this is for rent you're not actually buying it. So
we looked at that and thought that's really interesting. And
again I did my thing where I look overseas as
anyone else doing that, is there some validation for this?
And that had become this big category overseas where companies
would buy vast portfolios of dresses and rented out. So
(04:55):
that looked like a really great opportunity for us at
the time, as you can imagine without having the Crystal Ball.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
COVID, so rental was a great idea. But I imagine
that initially you didn't need that much seed money or
startup money when it's a purely online business. I know,
because I have to buy those dresses and there wasn't
a designer wardrobe when I was around doing black tie events.
I have got literally thousands of dollars and that's just me.
(05:22):
So there would have needed to have been a lot
more money invested in the business to get that stock
of design addresses.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
How much it was huge.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
We spent you know, well over a million dollars on
our first collection of dresses, and that was to get
you know, yeah, a couple thousand, two or three thousand,
and that were like those were, you know, before we
could have more leverage with talking to brands and getting
what you know, a special deal.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
It was like I just buy God.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Donielle must have.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Been like, oh yeah, me, yeah, yeah, no.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
She she did such a great job and she's got
a bit of an eye for it.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
And I imagine that not only would you need a
lot of stock, you'd need a business premises and you'd
also need stuff because Donna Donyell and you couldn't just
do it.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
It's a very logistically heavy heavy business. So we moved
from a I think it was a fifty meter squared
office that was above a lunch bar in Albany to
ares a thre undred meter square warehouse. You know, in
a very short space of time. And with that you
have to have staff on a different number of positions,
(06:34):
like people who are inbound in the stock, who a
photograph in the stock, writing descriptions, putting it up on
the site, and then all the reverse logistics that comes
with that, so you know, when you send something out,
you're not just sending it.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
You also need to get it back.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
So there's a lot of technology that we had to
build and then a lot of physical logistics that we
had to build alongside of two so year, it was
a very high touch business.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Investors. How did they feel when you presented the case
for the rental side of the business to them?
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Yeah, well, yeah, they were very much aligned with the
plan because it was something that we were seeing overseas,
and again without having COVID on the horizon, knowing nothing
about that it was very much like a blue Sky
category and one that made a heap of cents because essentially,
you know, you could buy address for retail or even wholesale,
(07:29):
and by the time you've rented out just six times,
it paid itself off. So the union economics made a
lot of sense. And we were typically renting out address,
you know, between twelve and twenty times, so the vast
majority addresses were paying themselves off relatively quickly.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
So you've done your planning, you had the stock, you
had the premises. Yeah, when did you open the doors?
Speaker 4 (07:53):
So twenty seventeen, Yeah, mid twenty seventeen is when we
initially had our very first rental store, and that was
in Grafton and that was actually just below our offices.
And the main reason we did that was again it
was relatively organic. We didn't actually set out to sort
of go back to the future with stores because stores.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Was never a part of the plan as a digital business.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
But the thing was that renting is such a high
stakes game for someone who is renting right.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Like as you're talking about like a black.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Tie event or horse races, like you need to know
that it fits, you need to see it, you need
to know that you can come and pick it up
at a specified time, rather than relying on careers and
things like that, which caused a lot of anxiety. So
there was a big enough percentage of people who wanted
to come try it on first and pick it up
(08:44):
that it made sense for us to have a physical premises.
So we did it as a bit of a pilot
below our stores, our office rather and it became very
popular very quickly, which made us go, okay, well, stores
maybe make sense for this business model because it's so
new and trust as such a high part of it
(09:06):
that this is perhaps how we.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Make it mainstream.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
So when did you open the big new market store.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
That way, Yeah, so that, believe it or not, was
February of twenty twenty. Yeah, yeah, so that was we
actually raised our biggest round of capital we raised in
twenty nineteen. It was December, and we signed the lease
for our flagship store in twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
So yeah, it's.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Was, again, hindsight right, a very difficult time for us
because that was a big investment.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Flagship store is not cheap as you can imagine, and
all that stock. Yeah yeah, yeah, So.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
When the announcement from the government came that everything was
to be locked down and we went to leave home.
Where were you when you heard that?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
And what did you do? Yeah, well, first it was.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
I think you go through those various stages of disbelief.
I remember very clearly there was these whispers of lockdowns
and we thought that was just propaganda almost at the time.
And then school Balls was also coming up, which is
a super important part of our business at the time,
and everybody was talking about school Balls might be canceled,
(10:28):
and we just said, no way, no way, School's going
to allow, you know, the flagship of end of the
year to be closed down.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
So that was it was just really scary, just so.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Many unknowns, and you know, we were well placed in
terms of like, you know, we had raised a good
round of capital, so we did have essentially money in
the bank, but at the same time, we had committed
a lot of this capital to capital to you know,
a part of the business that we couldn't essentially run
right because of these lockdowns and staff and had to worry. Yeah,
(11:02):
then it's becomes a whole other factor where it's like
we've got this stuff, like how do we take care
of them while also you know, taking care of the
business at the same time and doing right by shareholders.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
So a lot to balance. That's streetsful, Yeah, very stressful.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah, yeah, how did you deal with that streth?
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Yeah, we had a really great network of people around us,
which I'm extremely thankful for.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
So being a founder.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Is a lonely thing, as you know, notoriously lonely. You
you make a lot of sacrifices to do it. However,
very thankful to have such a great network around us,
especially around that time with our investors were incredibly supportive
and also just the team as well. Like you know,
Donnie is one of our lifelong friends, so we could
(11:49):
always be incredibly honest and same as Ruby, So we
had that support network.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
There which was incredibly.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
Yeah, in credibly necessary during that time. And then it
was just going back to let's just be pragmatic and
just do do what we can with what's in front
of us.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
So there were tough choices.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
In there, but again, yeah, just having those people around
you and also having a very supportive partner was just
paramount to getting through those times.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah, those first few weeks where you don't know what's
going to happen. Yeah, you don't know whether to sell
all the stock or yeah, keep it and hope that
things go back to normal.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
What does normal look like exactly?
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Yeah, Yeah, we didn't know what what normal would look
like at all. Yeah, And yeah, if you knew, okay,
this is going to be six months.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
And it's a completely different story, right.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
But having you know, lumpy lockdowns and and lots of
changes and then that traffic light system and all these
sort of things just made yeah, made the business extremely
necessary difficult to navigate.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, So how.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Did you navigate it? What did you do? Did you
ever think this is too hard? I'm done?
Speaker 4 (13:08):
No, No, I think a mix of stubbornness and just
belief that it should exist, you know. And yeah, I
think like the other thing being a founder, especially one
that I've been in I've been in it deeply, like
deeply for six years and sort of became like a
part of my identity, right, So.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I was like, I need to get us out of this.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
And yeah, it felt like if the business failed, then
it would you know, feel like feel very personal. And
so that that drive to pivot out and make the
still work despite all these things was.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah, there was a lot.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Of motivation there for me and we just made a plan.
It was every every you know week. It was like
we'd have this like three month plan like if things changed,
then then we can do this.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
If they don't, then we'll do that.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
But at the same time, we had this this silver
lining of what was going on on Designer Wardrobe, which
was while the rental part was almost turned off, the
marketplace side, the buying and selling because everybody was at home,
everybody all of a sudden had this abundance of time
to list things. We saw this huge boost and marketplace activity.
(14:20):
So that was also something that really kept us going
to see the other side of the business that was
sort of growing steadily in the background suddenly had this
big lift.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Of course, I totally get that people were going through
the wardrobes and coloring.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
I was buying, people were buying yeah, I mean maybe
more track suits than usual, but people were buying.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
People still just love to buy and especially just discover
as well.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
It's part of Designer Wardrobe as you discover something and
just yeah, it's just a way to.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Yeah, a way to pass time, and a lot of
ways tell people to use Designer Wardrobe.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
The honor story of being in business talking the wins
and the losses. Bosses Unfiltered with Kerry woodhem on iHeartRadio
powered by News Talks EDB. What it's really like to
build a business in New Zealand. Bosses Unfiltered with Kerry
woodhem On iHeartRadio powered by News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
We came out of COVID, Yeah, lockdowns were over. Yeah,
where did that leave Designer Wardrobe the marketplace, Designer Wardrobe
the store.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Yeah, well both actually took off right after the lockdowns
were lifted. So we were saying record you know, traffic
in the stores, which was which was amazing, and we
were very glad we didn't sell all the stock because yeah,
there was that period after those initial lockdowns where it
was everything was great again, right, and so.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Again we saw really great lift.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
In the foot traffic and people using design and ORDERB
and events were back on, which was great. But then
every time, you know, you'd go back into another lockdown
like Delta or you know Auckland lockdowns, all that sort
of thing, it just created a whole logistical nightmare for
us because it meant anything that was booked during those
(16:17):
times we have to refund, we have to get them
back and yeah, there was just a lot of moving
parts in that business.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
So when we finally said we're not going to have
lockdowns anymore, you know, the fight against COVID is over.
Were you exhausted from battling to keep everything together.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
It definitely took a mental toll, especially like being at home,
not being around other people, you know, apart from of
course your partner, but not being you know, not being
at work and having that.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Camaraderie and you know, that physical camaraderie.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
It's definitely really tough, and yeah, it's exhausting, right, but
when we finally saw each other again physically everything, you know,
you felt really renewed and you're ready to fight another
day in a lot of ways.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
But you and Donielle decided to separate the business out.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Yeah, so after all the uncertainty of the lockdowns, we
did end up having to make that really tough call
to essentially turn the stores off, which was, Yeah, that
was one of the hardest decisions that we made, was
that you know, at that time, again we just couldn't
(17:33):
see any consistency and how these lockdowns were folding out,
So we decided to shut the stores down. A lot
of ways, like our leases of running out, and it's
whether or not we commit to another two to three
years as well. So we just made that decision that hey,
let's turn the stores off and really focus on can
(17:54):
we make rental a.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Really amazing online only experience.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
So that's where we put a lot of energy, so
essentially transfer to energy from stores.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
And just make the online as good as it can be. Yeah,
and it did. It took Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
Well, that was the problem as well, was that it
was through no lack of trying, that we just couldn't
quite get that momentum back with the rental side of
the business. So the other thing about it is that
we had a marketplace which, as I mentioned, was going fantastically,
which was really great to.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
See, and.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
That was, you know, twenty percent of our effort versus
rental being as I said, like very high touch logistical
businesses eighty percent our efforts. So you just have to
make that really tough decision and go, okay, Wolf, we
actually spent one hundred percent of our time on the marketplace.
Does that make a lot more sense as a business
than spending eighty percent of our time on marketplace and
(18:52):
trying to juggle the two.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
And we just had that really.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Honest conversation internally and with the board and our investors,
and we just arrived at you know, we're actually going
to go back to our roots, which is we're buying
and selling digital marketplace and we are just going to
lean as hard as possible into that. And that's the
Designer Wardrobe that it is today, is a fully digital
(19:18):
only marketplace for buying and selling.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
And that's lucky that you and Donnell were aligned on that.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Yeah, yeah, we were.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
So.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Donneelle loves marketplace, but she also really loves the rental
side of the business too, and that was a discussion
between us.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
It's like, we don't want to just you know, do
a fire sale of all our clothes. It just feels
like such a waste.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
And so Donneelle and her mum Donna, said, well, you
know what, maybe we could do this business ourselves and
we could be completely separate from Designer Wardrobe and we'll
call it something else. But we want rental to live
on in some way and we think that's you know,
the best use of our skill sets as well. And
so that's how the business essentially got separated was Designer
(20:06):
Wardrobe sold the assets of the rental business to Donnelle
and Donna, and they created a really great rental business
themselves called the dress Room, which is essentially what DW
Rentals was, and they have a store and Ted Street
of Newmarket which is going really well, which is fantastic,
and they just they're so such great operators of that business.
(20:26):
So it's so satisfying to see that although we had
to turn it off as part of Designer Wardrobe, it
still lives on through another business.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
You seem to be able to pick trends, you know,
because there's that whole social ethos now about not just
being inherently consumerist buying something and wearing at once and
biffing it, or you know, people are very very happy
to upcycle upflow dresses and to rent rather than have
(20:57):
yes and you were ahead of the game on that
really with you.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
Yeah, yeah, we saw that trend pretty early. In fact,
it's it had existed overseas, but.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Was very early in New Zealand.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
And we've been really eager, very happy to try things
as a business. Right There's there's a lot of different
ideas that we've tried as a business.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
That haven't worked out.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
But we're also just so glad to try things at
the same time, and rental was a big bet and
I think in a different.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
World it probably would have still really worked really well.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
It was just unfortunately a timing thing too that the
recession would have helped as well, Like you aren't going
to spend four hundred dollars on a beautiful y, yeah,
but they will buy somebody else's beautiful four hundred dollars
dress for two hundred or rented.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Yeah, yeah, you do see that.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
And it's the same as like the marketplace as well,
because typically when you buy something secondhand off designer wardrobe,
it's roughly you know, sixty percent off retail. So that
price factor, especially around you know, the current economic conditions
as a big part of why people use designer wardrobe
or their rent However, also not immune to people just
(22:13):
having less money in general, so there's also that factor that.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Comes into and you've noticed that, have you.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Yeah, absolutely, So, you know, we're really pleased we've had
certainly had some tough years, but really pleased it over
the past year we've seen some really good positive growth
as a business and you know, we can proudly say
one in ten people or one in ten women in
New Zealand assign up to Designer Wardrobe, which is such
a very proud milestone for us, and you know we're
(22:42):
you know, every month we've one to two million dollars
where the items are sold on Designer Wardrobe and that
is something that you know, we're proud of.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
It's it's really great to see.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Do you set yourself milestones for the business.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Yeah, it's done that absolutely, Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
And you know we've always been like a very New
Zealand centric business, like we want to give New Zealand
as the best experience possible with buying and selling. But
part of that is also growing as well in Australia
has become a market for us that's become quite interesting.
And again I sound like a broken record, but it
(23:20):
happened organically because it was Australian's actually trying to sign
up to design a wardrobe in New Zealand, trying to
buy things and not being able to and so they
are because you need a New Zealand address too.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Yeah, So it's just just a logistical thing.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
And so that that again made us look and go okay, well,
you know, can can we if we go back to
a mission statement which is to have pre loved in
every closet in New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Can we.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Still do that and have Australia in the mix too
and give everybody a better experience And the answer was yes,
So that's why we opened up the platform to Australia
as well.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
I was just gonna say, the Aussie girls in different
states have a very different style New Zealand girls, but
I guess that doesn't matter when you're not doing the
buying or the selling. We're just acting as a conduit
for to buy and sell.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Yeah, exactly, like we have quite a minimal platform design
as well, because we want the pieces themselves to do
all the talking. And when it comes to Australia, a
lot of learnings there too, because you know, before going
in you think so much of it is copy and paste.
You know, there's so much that is similar, and the
more you dig in and the more you try to
(24:34):
localize the platform, you realize how much is different. And
one of the reasons is what you're saying, there is
a lot of cross pollination with brands, but at the
same time there isn't.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
So it's something that we're learning.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Wins, losses and the real stories behind our great companies.
Bosses Unfiltered with Kerry Woodhem on iHeartRadio powered by News
Talks be the big lessons from New Zealand's youngest and
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my News Talks B How do you.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Do the quality control? Because I always seem to find
the sweet stained nylon Osti frock, whereas other friends of
mine have an absolute gift for a beautiful designer piece
that's never been worn. Hat does the community police itself
around quality?
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Yeah, so we do.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
We do our own moderation of items, but we also
mainly rely on the community as well. So for example,
if a listing is inconsistent, that can often get.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Flagged to us.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
And then we also are embedding AI a lot more
to try and have that quality control a bigger part
of designer wardrobe, but we're getting a lot better at that.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
How do you use AI to your advantage?
Speaker 4 (25:55):
So one of the biggest ones that we've done is
reducing friction for a seller, like, for example, if you
had a dress that you wanted to sell. One of
the most exciting features that we've just launched is you
take a picture of that dress, you take a picture
of the tag, and the AI will analyze both those
(26:17):
images and write a title. They I will write a description,
and then it'll extract the brand from the tag and
extract the size from the tag and then prepopulate that
into the listen item part of the website. So it
just reduces that friction of actually selling it, and then
on top of that, it will then look at all
the historical sales of similar items and then suggest a
(26:42):
suitable price as well.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Yeah, yeah, So that's something that I've been super obsessed
with over the past month or so because I really
want to get this right or as right as possible
with the tools that we have right now.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
And yeah, it's awesome to see it out in the wild.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Now, where do you see the business? Where's the where's
the next big milestone for you?
Speaker 4 (27:04):
Yeah, I think we've got a lot of room to
grow in New Zealand. You know, fashion, the resal fashion
category in New Zealand is with roughly seven hundred to
a billion dollars a year and it's still growing. Yeah, yeah,
and it's still growing fifteen fifteen percent roughly, And that's
(27:25):
the same in Australia. It's actually the same as what
you're seeing globally, So we don't feel like we've hit
the ceiling in New.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Zealand at all.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
We think there's a lot of room to grow here.
And then also, you know, Australia is something that we're
seeing some green sprouts too, and something that will continue
to nurture as well.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
You do look really invigorated when you talk about the business.
It looks like that you've been able to leave those
tough times in the back in the rearview mirror.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Yeah, I believe it or not. I actually could not
work from home for until a year ago because working
from home actually gave me anxiety because of it brought
me back to those years of you know, COVID and
just being inside and being and like, you know, holding
(28:15):
on for dear life is how it felt sometimes. But yeah,
I feel like I've been able to move past that
now and the businesses, you know, incredibly grateful for the
business being in a really positive place and we can
just keep looking forward now.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
And why do you think you have so much loyalty
from your investors.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
They just they've been incredibly invested in the business. They
know the stories so well, they're just very aligned on
the mission and what we're trying to do. And we've
also been very transparent with them over time, which I
is a really great lesson for me as well.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
And it's just that it actually.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Really pays to be as visible as possible and to
get their feedback early on, Like if there's an issue
that you think could be material, then it's worth talking
about it early and then you just you just build
that trust over time. And you know, we have our
investors have been there for yeah, ten years, as I say,
(29:17):
and just being able to have those candid, honest conversations
with them is just so important.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
And what do you think your biggest mistake has been?
Speaker 4 (29:36):
That's a really good question. It's I'm trying to separate
a mistake that is one that we couldn't have avoided,
like you know obviously COVID.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Yeah that wasn't on you, It doesn't it made meaning. No.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
I we certainly made mistakes, were definitely made mistakes as
a business.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
I think we did try to go too big too early, doesn't.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so we I think we we did
get a bit of ahead of our skis essentially with
with some of the insues that we had was just
going to full noise until we had you know, real validation.
But all in all, you know, I feel it we've
done a lot of things right. So I do look
back and I don't have those moments were like oh
(30:26):
if only we did this or that.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
We don't have that.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
Even though Rental ultimately didn't work out for us as
a business, it made sense at the time. So I
can't look look back at that with you know, a
heap of regret because it made sense with what was
in front of us at the time.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
And how does a friendship like yours and Donnells survive
incredible incredible pressure?
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yeah, yeah, well we were.
Speaker 4 (30:52):
Yeah, we were together. You know, we were a romantic
partner before before all that.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Yeah, so we.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
You know, we had all that and our relationship actually
we broke up as you know, when we were going
through Designer Wardrobe well before COVID, So that was that
was Another challenge within itself, is that you're running a
business with now your ex partner, but she's also like
my best friend and that as there's a lot of
(31:22):
obvious challenges within that. But I think it just comes
back to if you want what's best for each other,
and you care for each other, and you're both have this,
you know, very vested interest in and making this business
be as good as it can be.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
Then you can get through through anything.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
So actually getting through both COVID and you know, essentially
her parting ways of the designer wardrobe part of the
business was something that we knew we could get through,
you know, as as challenging as it is. And yeah,
we're just hanging out, We're just talking on Instagram, you know,
two minutes ago. You know, she's actually in China at
the moment for her brother's wedding. So it's it's it's
(32:02):
it's one of those ones where it's there's a bit
of an unbreakable bond there.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
God that that survived it. Yeah, And do you think
entrepreneurs are born and not made? Because you what was
your first business? It was when you were at school?
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Yeah, yeah, it was buying things from from China and
selling them on trade me essentially was like one of
the first businesses.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
And then how old were you then? I would have
been fourteen, I.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
Think, yeah, yeah, so it's yeah, it's that was actually
very early on from when trade Me started actually and
and then years as full circle that then.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Sam Morgan's sister.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Ruby Morgan ends up joining Designer Wardrobe, So it's a
bit of a a small world there.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
And then Donnielle and I also had a jewelry business
before starting Designer Wardrobe as well.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
So.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
I would say, yeah, you it's very much feels like
you're born with a entrepreneurial spirit, I would say.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Because that terrifies me, the thought of being an entrepreneur
a business person. I'm really happy working for someone that
I believe in, yep, and turning up and getting my
paycheck and going home. But that's not the way entrepreneurs think.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's right. Yeah, yeah, but I
find what you do pretty terrifying.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
What are the superpowers that you have to have within
your personality to be a successful entrepreneur?
Speaker 4 (33:31):
I think it's Yeah, it's like a mix of you
almost have to be a little bit delusional but also
realistic about that delusion, and yeah, just a stubbornness that
you know you can that this is a business that
should exist, right and also you do need to get
(33:55):
a thick skin pretty quick because people will tell you
that this idea is not worth pursuing or X will
just copy this, or this has already been done it
didn't work. You have to believe that you know what
you're doing is, and what you're doing and how you're
going to do it will be successful.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
And what will success look like for you?
Speaker 4 (34:17):
Yeah? I think like for design and wardrobe, we want
to keep keep growing. Got a long way to go
as a business. Ultimately, for any business, you either get
acquired or you or you go public, and for us
it will be you know, one of those two things
is where you get returned for or what you owe
(34:40):
to shareholders essentially right, or you pay a dividend. So
we're not quite there yet, but that's that's what success
will look like over the next couple of years.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
And what will be the first big ticket item you buy?
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (34:56):
I really want to have a a little man cave, Yeah,
out on the lawn. Yeah, that would be That would
be a lot of fun. Yeah, and then I don't
really need need a lot else.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
Yeah I don't. I don't need like the roles or
anything right now.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
But you can always rent its, yeah exactly.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Okay, quick fig what's your favorite clothing item that you've
bought recently?
Speaker 4 (35:25):
Actually, these jeans I bought from Super Et, these car
Heart jeans. I can tell as soon as I put
them on, I had this feeling that I think I'm
going to have these for life. It's like one of
those piers of jeans, you know.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Don't even lose them. I went through a phase of
losing clothing, but I think that was when I was
drinking as well. Yeah, and what was your first business
idea as a kid.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
I was.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
I was buying lighters from China and something with them
on trade me.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Yeah, yeah, like funny shaped lighters. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
Yeah, I shouldn't have been smoking at fifteen, but that's
sort of naturally. Where my entrepreneurial ship went was well,
buy some sort of accessory for this and sell it.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Since quit.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
But yeah, what is your favorite part of running a business?
Speaker 4 (36:16):
I love, Yeah, having to wear so many hats and
having so much variety every single day, Like, you know,
one day you might be having a meeting with an investor, or,
you know, doing a podcast like this, and maybe I'll
get back to the office and it turns out there's
no milk.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
In the fridge enough to go buy milk, you know.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
So I just love the variety, and just I get
a heck of a lot of satisfaction from building something.
So building a product that makes its way to design
a wardrobe and then seeing people use it and then
give positive feedback is extremely rewarding.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
So I love that and too young.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
If you're thinking of the young fifteen year old aid,
and if there's a young fifteen year old aid out
there listening, what would be your best piece of advice
for him or her?
Speaker 4 (37:03):
Yeah, I think I think one way to think about
it is, you know, if you have an idea, the
the friction now to actually do that is the least
it's ever been, right, So you can build something very
quickly now and validate it, and you can just try
(37:27):
things and scratch your own itch. I am still building,
you know, little things outside a Designer wardrobe.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
Because I just have that curiosity.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
So just having that curiosity and exploring, it's amazing where
that sort of thing can take you.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
And that was Aiden Bartlett, co founder of Designer Wardrobe,
talk about a COVID rise from the Ash's story. If
you want to hear more stories about what it's really
like to be a boss, make sure you check out
Bosses Unfiltered on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
Catch you next time, ye
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