Vine Apparel - Where it All Began
Hello 😊 it’s Shelley here, owner and founder of Vine Apparel.
In 2009 I was 23, I wanted to get new clothes, all the time, but couldn’t afford the prices in the shops near where I lived (or didn’t want to pay them). I loved dresses, pockets were a necessity. And I didn’t want to spend lots of money on anything, because I had other priorities. I was never a skinny mini (though I wish I was as big now as I thought I was then haha), and I wanted to be comfortable. I thought if that was what I wanted, then surely other people also wanted this. I didn’t want to spend more than $60 on anything, which was where the Nothing Over $59 came from.
And I honestly think that is what people knew us for. Good stuff at a really, really good price – ALWAYS. We kept it at Nothing Over $59 for TEN YEARS. (If you want to keep up to date with all our offers and fabulous bargains sign up for our Newsletter AND you'll be in with a chance to win a $500 Vine Gift Voucher - we give one away every month - sign up here)
Now I’ll go on.
So, I registered my business name in October 2009. Why Vine Apparel? Well, I love vines. Always have, always will. I love the colour. I love the way they can grow through and over almost anything, they always find a way. I actually met a person called Vine once, and had I not named us this, I would have named one of my children Vine. But Vine on it’s own for a clothing business didn’t sound very good, clothing wasn’t available, so I went Apparel.
I don’t really love the word apparel, but it’s a bit late now haha. Now the market scene in Sydney and surrounds used to be HUGE! Huge huge huge. And you generally started booking in to the big Spring Summer festivals in around April / May - they started in September.
It was October. The 24th actually. Random fun fact – I met my husband JP on this date in 2011 ❤ October was pretty late to be trying to book in to things, but I had to try. I contacted the Mona Vale Christmas Market, spoke to a man named Jeremy. I’ve got to say, this man was one of the first pivotal people on this journey, and I will be forever grateful.
Jeremy instead of just saying no, asked me to tell him my story – tell him why I was leaving it so late in the year to try and get a spot at this market which had booked out months ago. So I did, told him everything I’ve just written about. His response? “Shelley, I love everything you’ve just told me, and I’m going to find a spot for you. I’ll get back to you”. What an absolute legend.
My learning here – it never, ever hurts to ask. The worst that can happen is the answer is no. Be human. Be honest. Be genuine. And always ASK THE QUESTION.
So he did. Was it a great spot? I’m not sure, it was kind of in a walk way near the library, but it was perfectly perfect enough for us 😊 My dad and his girlfriend at the time came with me for the day. With my collapsible racks (which I do not recommend anyone ever uses ever ever ever) and my dark blue gazebo (which I also don’t recommend as it’s DARK, always use white), we set up our stall. I didn’t know what to take, what spares of things, so I had about 6-9 tubs sitting under my racks in my stall with spare sizes and extra stuff, and off we went.
That day I sold THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS worth of clothing – three thousand dollars!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?!?!?!?! I couldn’t, I just couldn’t. I was exhausted, beyond exhausted. We had people grabbing things out of tubs, off the racks, it was wild. You’ve got to remember we had Nothing Over $59, with so many things $19, $29, $39. I have no idea how many things we sold but far out! The tiredness had NOTHING on the adrenaline though, and the realisation that I just might be onto something.
Needless to say I went out to the Surf Rock (now known as The Collaroy) that afternoon with my friends after the markets and said “EVERYTHING ON MEEEEEE” hahahahaha – THE BEST, and such an epic memory.
So, now, where to next? HOW can I do that again? I know, I’ll book in to Kirribilli Markets. So I filled my dad’s van up with everything needed for a market, with a friend employed to help me for the day, and set off for Kirribilli – where we sold 13 things. THIRTEEN. What the actual fook? I know, Narrabeen Markets, there are always loads of people there when I went there. Same thing. Van filled to the brim, a friend in tow to help, 21 things. TWENTY ONE FREAKING THINGS. Maybe a few hundred dollars of sales for each day, which meant nothing in my pocket at the end of either of these days to reinvest as I’d had to pay my friend, pay the market stall fee and fill dads van up with petty.
The devastation was real. Then it was Feb which means everything slows down and who knows what I was meant to do.
So I booked us in to do Glebe Markets every Saturday. Glebe was iconic, the most incredible market ever, and absolute CHAOS if you’re a stallholder.
As a person who loves markets, prior to doing them, I had NO IDEA how much work went into it. Support your local small businesses. Support market stall holders. Every single dollar is appreciated, and the work that goes in to every single set up is beyond crazy. Truly. And the fecking WEATHER.
So back to Glebe. The set up is hell, you need to get there SO early, there’s minimal parking, and it really just was a shit show. But it was on every Saturday, and I had to do something. Then came Kirribilli again. Every second Sunday and every fourth Saturday of the month. Palm Beach, the fourth Sunday of the month, and Rouse Hill which was the first Sunday – 7 regular markets a month.
I repeat. Support local small businesses. Buy things from stallholders, even if it’s a little bit more than it would be elsewhere. Honestly, every single dollar is appreciated, and you have no idea the work that goes into the day.
My dad used to have a partner and her daughter moved in with a friend on the other side of Sydney, and she asked me to come to her house with my clothes, and she’d have some friends over for drinks and they could shop because they didn’t have anything on that weekend.
I set up 3 racks in her lounge room, did a quick run through of everything on the racks, then they went WILD – literally. Another $3k of sales that day with a bunch of girls having drinks together and shopping at home.
INTRODUCING – Clothes Parties.
How does a clothes party work you ask? I would take 3 full racks of clothing with several tubs of spares to your place, and a bottle of champers of course, and you’d get $100 of free clothing for hosting. The only condition was you needed to have at least 10 friends there.
And they were UNREAL! Unreal. Most of the time. And I went everywhere. Corrimal, Newcastle, Port Stephens, allllll over Sydney, literally everywhere – east, west, north, south. Sometimes I’d have to leave work at 2:30 on a Friday afternoon to get somewhere for 6pm to set up for a 6:30 start, and I’d generally be there for 3 hours from start to finish before journeying home where I’d pull replacements for everything which had sold, write up all my orders for things people wanted but I didn’t have with me, and to take the inventory off my spreadsheet so I knew how many of everything I had.
These started before I had a website and understood easier ways to do things, so everything was recorded on an excel doc which tracked the cost price, rrp, how many of each item and variant I bought, how many had sold, and the result of how many remaining.
Man, I met so many good people doing clothes parties. And markets of course, but clothes parties were something really, really special. People welcomed me into their homes. They fed me, they drank with me, they helped me, it was just so much fun. So many good people, I actually get teary thinking about what a time this was. I went to some people's houses I reckon at least 10-12 times over the years, with many many people having two parties per year – summer and winter. And entire groups of beautiful ladies would take turns having me, so they got the perk of the free clothes.
I was doing 5 clothes parties per week, and generally 2 markets per weekend, whilst working full time in a hectic, hectic job with an absolutely AWFUL manager.
It was a lot. And I was learning, everything I did I was learning and making mistakes and working out how to do things better.
But the best, absolute best part? I was learning about my people. My customers. I was in my customers homes, speaking to them, to their friends, learning about them – what they liked, didn’t like, what they were having issues with, how they wanted to feel. At the markets as well, meeting and getting to know my customer inside and out – the best market research you could possibly do.
My learning? I don’t know everything, nor do I know how to make everyone want my things. What I could do though, was listen. Walk next to them, instead of ahead or behind, and do my best to get them what they wanted. Listen more than I talk.
It also helped me learn about my product. I have always tried everything on prior to buying it, did you know that? To check the fit, the fabric, whether it sits properly, make sure things had pockets. This in turn helped me learn to talk about it, to tell people about it.
In the beginning of a clothes party, I’d say “I’m going to run you through the racks. If you want me to hurry up, slow down or shut up please just let me know, I’ll do my best to be as fast as possible”. And I’d go through the racks for about 20 minutes, telling the ladies about the sizes and colours available, how they fit, whether I thought the item needed to be sized up or down.
I need to run out the door to take my girl to soccer now, but I’ll be back shortly with the next installment.
Big love, Shelley xo
