October 19, 2024 • 6 mins
Designer Wardrobe, the famed online retail start-up, has confirmed it plans to expand over into Australia.
The company was founded in 2015, and it connects sellers looking to part with their pre-loved designer clothing with buyers looking for bargains.
CEO Aidan Bartlett says the company's seen a surge in demand - including increased interest from Australian consumers.
"For us, it's just saying - hey, we believe in this platform and where it can go. So we're just pushing that button and doing it now, rather than waiting. It just makes a lot of sense for us."
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Edb Right found that in twenty fifteen, Designer Wardrobe has
become the go to platform for buying and selling pre
loved high end designer fashion. It's been usually successful. We're
three hundred and twenty five thousand key we users. Designer
Wardrobe has now announced that they're expanding across the testament.
This is a good news retail story. CEO Aidan Bartlet
(00:32):
is worth now good morning.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Oh hi, Franchiscilla, how's it going good?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
So is now a good time for expansion?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I mean, I mean, look, it's like when you zoom out.
It is a tough economic climate. However, for Designer Wardrobe,
you know, we have been really cool to see increase
demand and some of that demand has actually come from
Australia and parts just saying hey, look we believe in this,
in this platform and where it can go, and so
(01:04):
just you know, pushing that button and do in it
now rather than wasting just makes a lot of sense
for us.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah, I mean so many positives of that. I mean,
what have you seen in recent times with new Zealand business.
I mean, has the cost of living potentially played into
your hands. People are looking for a bargain, you know,
or you know, looking for secondhand items.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Yeah. Absolutely, I think there is a growing appetite for
pre love because it does have a lot of benefits.
Part of it is that cost saving istually a tough
economic climate like right now. How it is also just
a growing interest in pre love in terms of its
environmental benefits. You know, textile waste is huge. It's the
(01:48):
second biggest contributor in the world, and buying pre loved
means you're not essentially buying you and creating all that
waste all over again. You know. For example, you know,
pains is fifty bathtubs worth of water. So there's a
lot that goes into producing a new item. And if
you can just make an Adam lasts longer, then that's
(02:08):
a great thing.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
As I mentioned in the intro, you launched in twenty fifteen,
So almost into double digits, is of this what sets
you look at from the likes of trade me and
Facebook and marketplace.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah. Absolutely, it's really exciting to actually have hit those
those double digits. We've certainly had a lot of you know,
up and downs of the business, and you know, we
haven't been a recent economic times as well, So really
thankful to be where we are in terms of what
sets us apart. But trade me is great, but it's
it's really set for all categories. You know. For example,
(02:44):
you could buy you know, your Nike shoes on there,
but essentially you can also buy a tractor, you know.
And for us, it's more about being super hyper specialized
and fashion and predominantly woman's fashion, and then the other
part of the business that we've had a huge we'll
put a lot of effort into as trust. So when
(03:05):
you purchase something on Design and Wardrobe, you're not paying
that seller directly like you would on other platforms. You
actually pay Designer Wardrobe and we hold your payment until
you've actually received the item, and then we pay the seller.
So it's really that hyper specialization and the trust factors
what has really set us apart. Come over the past
(03:26):
ten years.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
And I know that I mentioned before sort of the
cost of living in more recent pressures on how we
spend our dollar and things, But over the last ten years,
in terms of the demand for pre love clothing, what
have you seen, Yeah, it's.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
A category that's grown exponentially. It grows roughly fifteen to
twenty percent annually, which is huge, and that's on a
global level too. Certainly, one of the things that played
positively into it as well was covid as well. You know,
everybody was at home and they had both more time
(04:04):
to actually list the items closet that they weren't wearing,
but also everybody had shop online and that really helped
sort of catapult people getting apart or being part of
the ploved you know, what we call pre love, and
then also seeing that continue on post codes. But yeah,
certainly the living you know, everybody's got less money to
(04:28):
spend essentially, so again we're not immune to it, but
you know, we do have a really great offering in
terms of being able to buy really smartly, and typically
when you buy something on Design and Wardrobe it's you know,
up to sixty ten off the retailer, so there was
really great value there.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Aiden does this broaden the market and clothes available to kiwis?
Will people be able to buy from both sides of
the testament or are the two sites separate.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, that's a good question. That was actually a really
big decision for us like whether or not we make
it essentially two marketplaces or a single marketplace. What we
arrived at was there's a lot of cross pollination between brands,
like Australians love some of the big heavy brands like
Ruby and Karen Walker and Stolen Girlfriends and those sort
(05:13):
of brands, and at the same time, a lot of
New Zealanders love, you know, the big Australian brands like
Lack Zimmerman and those sort of brands. So for us
it was like, can we make a really great experience
where you know, someone from New Zealand could send something
to Australia and vice versa, And we arrived at yes,
we certainly can. So when you actually sell something to
an Australian on Designer Wardrobe, you can actually book the
(05:36):
shipping within Designer Wardrobe, so you don't have to fill
out all the customs forms or anything like that. So
we've taken a lot of the friction away while also
meaning that you can have a lot more optionality in
terms of what you can buy and you if you're
selling something, you know there's a lot more buyers out
there too.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Aiden thank you so much for your time today and
best of lack.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yeah, thanks so much, Francisco.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
That was Aiden Bartlett there, who is a CEO of
Designer Wardrobe. They announced they are going to expand across
the Testament.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Out for more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin.
Listen live to News Talks A B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Edb Right found that in twenty fifteen, Designer Wardrobe has
become the go to platform for buying and selling pre
loved high end designer fashion. It's been usually successful. We're
three hundred and twenty five thousand key we users. Designer
Wardrobe has now announced that they're expanding across the testament.
This is a good news retail story. CEO Aidan Bartlet
(00:32):
is worth now good morning.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Oh hi, Franchiscilla, how's it going good?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
So is now a good time for expansion?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I mean, I mean, look, it's like when you zoom out.
It is a tough economic climate. However, for Designer Wardrobe,
you know, we have been really cool to see increase
demand and some of that demand has actually come from
Australia and parts just saying hey, look we believe in this,
in this platform and where it can go, and so
(01:04):
just you know, pushing that button and do in it
now rather than wasting just makes a lot of sense
for us.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah, I mean so many positives of that. I mean,
what have you seen in recent times with new Zealand business.
I mean, has the cost of living potentially played into
your hands. People are looking for a bargain, you know,
or you know, looking for secondhand items.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Yeah. Absolutely, I think there is a growing appetite for
pre love because it does have a lot of benefits.
Part of it is that cost saving istually a tough
economic climate like right now. How it is also just
a growing interest in pre love in terms of its
environmental benefits. You know, textile waste is huge. It's the
(01:48):
second biggest contributor in the world, and buying pre loved
means you're not essentially buying you and creating all that
waste all over again. You know. For example, you know,
pains is fifty bathtubs worth of water. So there's a
lot that goes into producing a new item. And if
you can just make an Adam lasts longer, then that's
(02:08):
a great thing.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
As I mentioned in the intro, you launched in twenty fifteen,
So almost into double digits, is of this what sets
you look at from the likes of trade me and
Facebook and marketplace.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah. Absolutely, it's really exciting to actually have hit those
those double digits. We've certainly had a lot of you know,
up and downs of the business, and you know, we
haven't been a recent economic times as well, So really
thankful to be where we are in terms of what
sets us apart. But trade me is great, but it's
it's really set for all categories. You know. For example,
(02:44):
you could buy you know, your Nike shoes on there,
but essentially you can also buy a tractor, you know.
And for us, it's more about being super hyper specialized
and fashion and predominantly woman's fashion, and then the other
part of the business that we've had a huge we'll
put a lot of effort into as trust. So when
(03:05):
you purchase something on Design and Wardrobe, you're not paying
that seller directly like you would on other platforms. You
actually pay Designer Wardrobe and we hold your payment until
you've actually received the item, and then we pay the seller.
So it's really that hyper specialization and the trust factors
what has really set us apart. Come over the past
(03:26):
ten years.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
And I know that I mentioned before sort of the
cost of living in more recent pressures on how we
spend our dollar and things, But over the last ten years,
in terms of the demand for pre love clothing, what
have you seen, Yeah, it's.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
A category that's grown exponentially. It grows roughly fifteen to
twenty percent annually, which is huge, and that's on a
global level too. Certainly, one of the things that played
positively into it as well was covid as well. You know,
everybody was at home and they had both more time
(04:04):
to actually list the items closet that they weren't wearing,
but also everybody had shop online and that really helped
sort of catapult people getting apart or being part of
the ploved you know, what we call pre love, and
then also seeing that continue on post codes. But yeah,
certainly the living you know, everybody's got less money to
(04:28):
spend essentially, so again we're not immune to it, but
you know, we do have a really great offering in
terms of being able to buy really smartly, and typically
when you buy something on Design and Wardrobe it's you know,
up to sixty ten off the retailer, so there was
really great value there.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Aiden does this broaden the market and clothes available to kiwis?
Will people be able to buy from both sides of
the testament or are the two sites separate.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, that's a good question. That was actually a really
big decision for us like whether or not we make
it essentially two marketplaces or a single marketplace. What we
arrived at was there's a lot of cross pollination between brands,
like Australians love some of the big heavy brands like
Ruby and Karen Walker and Stolen Girlfriends and those sort
(05:13):
of brands, and at the same time, a lot of
New Zealanders love, you know, the big Australian brands like
Lack Zimmerman and those sort of brands. So for us
it was like, can we make a really great experience
where you know, someone from New Zealand could send something
to Australia and vice versa, And we arrived at yes,
we certainly can. So when you actually sell something to
an Australian on Designer Wardrobe, you can actually book the
(05:36):
shipping within Designer Wardrobe, so you don't have to fill
out all the customs forms or anything like that. So
we've taken a lot of the friction away while also
meaning that you can have a lot more optionality in
terms of what you can buy and you if you're
selling something, you know there's a lot more buyers out
there too.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Aiden thank you so much for your time today and
best of lack.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yeah, thanks so much, Francisco.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
That was Aiden Bartlett there, who is a CEO of
Designer Wardrobe. They announced they are going to expand across
the Testament.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Out for more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin.
Listen live to News Talks A B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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