Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / From fashion blog to £5 million fashion empire at 28, this is Sarah Ashcroft's inspiring story (part 1)

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From fashion blog to £5 million fashion empire at 28, this is Sarah Ashcroft's inspiring story (part 1) · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Sarah Ashcroft for Female Startup Club. Hello, it's Dune here, your host and hype girl. Today on the show, we're learning from that pommy girl, Sarah Ashcroft.
• 0:22
  If you know her, you'll know of her super cool blog that's called That Pommy Girl. She started in 2013, which has led her down a path of super exciting entrepreneurship.
• 0:35
  After working on her blog for a number of years, Sarah started SLA the label in June of 2019. Originally born out of her love for airport outfits, she'd become known amongst her followers for her travel looks across her social media platforms. And as a result, when launching SLA the label, its first collection felt natural to start with loungewear.
• 0:59
  Everyone fell in love with the collection and it saw the first drop sell out within 24 hours, making around $60,000 pounds, actually, 60,000 pounds. And in just three years, it's turned over almost 5 million pounds in revenue. This is an episode for the fashion girls. I was so surprised at her highest performing marketing channel, and I think you will be too.
• 1:26
  If you love this episode, please do share it on your Instagram stories with us at Female Startup Club. And you can also find me in the IGDMs at Doon Roisin, where I love to chat and hear about what you are up to and what you're working on in business. Let's get into this episode. This is Sarah for Female Startup Club.
• 1:47
  Sarah, hi, welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast. Hello, thank you so much for having me. I'm very, very excited to be here. I'm very, very excited too. And congratulations for your launch yesterday. I've just been having a quick peek on your website and it is so fab.
• 2:04
  Thank you. I know. I feel like this one was one of my favorite ones that we've had so far, just because it's like a sequin explosion. I mean, SLA is a sequin explosion, but this one somehow just seems even more sparkly. I think we're just just every time we launch something, I'm like, can we really get any more sparkly? And then we do. But I love it. I mean, I'm all here for it. I'm just like, yes, be more sparkly.
• 2:28
  I know. I feel like that should just be a motto in life. It really just could work in so many different ways, couldn't it? Just be more sparkly. Yes. Yeah. I mean, you're speaking my language. I feel like that's my motto. Keep sparkling. How did it go? How was the feedback in the reception from last night before we jump into the story?
• 2:49
  It was really good. We always, it's always nerve wracking before you launch anything because you, I mean, obviously you always love your product, but there is always that fear that it might not go down well. But I feel like we are slowly but surely really understanding our customer. And just, I know that if I'm just in love with something, nine times out of 10, it will sell really well. And it has done so far. So let's just pray that stays.
• 3:16
  Oh my gosh, I love that. That's so cool as well to be like, I just have that instinctive feeling. What about the times where you're wrong? Have you been surprised?
• 3:24
  Oh, I mean, oh my God, there's been, there has been some serious times. And to be fair, it's funny because the biggest times that we're wrong is when we do something that is too, like, normal, too boring. Like, you know, something that's a bit more plain or something that was basically something you could get somewhere else. Like, we've realized that the SLA customer comes to us for that time.
• 3:49
  crazy out there outfit now whether that's the color of it or the fabric but if we launch something in a really mainstream kind of like just that sort of yeah just typical thing you could get in your asos is your zara's all that sort of stuff they don't want it they just don't want it oh my gosh that's so interesting i know and we've learned the hardware i must just say okay let's first go back because i feel like i'm jumping ahead of myself yes no go for it i can get into that i can get into it it's fun
• 4:17
  I feel like, yeah, I'm jumping the gun. I want to like stay on that trend, but I want to come back to that. Let's go back to like your early career when you were starting the blog. I think I read it was circa 2013. Can you like talk us through from this point of like, you know, who you are, what your vision was, what was kind of happening for you in life around this time?
• 4:39
  Yeah, so in 2013, I just finished fashion college. So I did a year at the Fashion Retail Academy in London. I didn't go to university. It wasn't, I just knew it wasn't going to be for me because I've always been sort of like, I just want to make money. It's just been me since I think literally since I was probably about five. I've always been very like, I need money. I'm very like...
• 5:00
  Just money driven. And I'm going to be super honest about that. So I left the Fashion Media Academy wanting to work in fashion PR. And it basically turned out that to get myself a job, having a blog alongside of that when I was in interviews was desirable to the employer. So I started That Pommy Girl.
• 5:18
  as it was once called, or was called, I say, because it doesn't, it doesn't not really exist anymore, which is kind of sad. And yeah, and then within sort of six months of starting it, it sort of grew and just out of nowhere. And I think, yeah, it was about six months in that I
• 5:36
  from it. And then I left my then sort of retail job, about 10 months into the blog, and then was doing it full time. And then everything's just gone from there. So it's, it is crazy how it started. But I do put that down to the success of it, because I wasn't trying to do it, if that
• 5:57
  because I didn't, I wasn't trying to be a blogger or an influencer. I mean, influencer wasn't even a word in 2013. It was just something that I was doing to get myself a job. It was, yeah, crazy.
• 6:09
  the authenticity of what you were doing really resonated with everyone, obviously. And obviously at that time when things, yeah, were really becoming, influencers were becoming a term and this was becoming a job. Very cool. So were you always thinking about launching a brand or were there a few moments in the lead up that made you be like, okay, I'm going to start my own, well, second company. I'm going to start my second company and start a fashion label.
• 6:36
  I think for me, it was probably around about 2018, which I think was about six years-ish, maybe a bit more, a bit less, can't do the maths, of having this blog influencer career, whatever you want to call it, that I just had this feeling. It was almost like every morning I woke up, I had this like,
• 6:56
  kind of like a gut feeling of just knowing that there was, it needed to be more. Cause you know, when you spent six years like creating and nurturing an amazing following and like this marketing platform, essentially I was like, there's got to be something I can do with this to turn it into something more
• 7:14
  than what it was and also like with anyone who does something that is the same for a long period of time you do get to a point where you feel like you want to change it and obviously you know as lucky as I was because no day was the same essentially it was you know if you just take it all the way down back to like the roots it's literally going out and taking pictures and uploading content and that's what you're doing all the time
• 7:36
  And I just, yeah, I think I just wanted to do more. So that was definitely like the main reason for starting SLA. But I would say I was lucky enough to have different collaborations with other online fashion brands. And that was so amazing for me because it really made me understand my own selling power. So when it came to starting SLA, it was obviously scary, but I knew that I could sell, you know, like a huge amount of product.
• 8:03
  which then gave me that confidence, I think, to start the brand. Because that obviously is always scary, isn't it? When you start a brand is thinking, is this going to sell? So I think I was very lucky to almost have that confidence. Well, I say that I didn't know for sure, but I had a little bit more of an inkling than maybe some people do have. Totally. How big was your audience on social media at that time, like 2018, 2019?
• 8:29
  I think I was just under like a million followers. I think I had like 900,000 or something like that. I can't remember exactly, but it was big. It was, yeah, I mean, I remember at the time just thinking this is crazy.
• 8:42
  Yeah, you'd clearly popped kind of thing by that point. I'm wondering like to your audience, because obviously you had a huge following. That's amazing. But were you pulling them and like asking them specifically what they wanted? Or were you kind of thinking, I already know what I want and I'm just going to like launch this with a bang?
• 8:59
  It's funny because I often get asked that about like, do you do like market research with your followers? But I think for the whole of my career, I had been I've been like a sponge without meaning to. So I've been learning so much about what my followers loved from just the reaction you get from your posts, you know, or your videos, because, you know, when something does well and when something doesn't do well.
• 9:22
  And so without even meaning to, I was literally gaining this knowledge of what people loved wearing.
• 9:30
  And then when it sort of came to putting that down on paper as such, it was kind of like I just had this knowledge without having to ask people. It's kind of bizarre. But I do think it was. It was like I just unintentionally had all this market research within my head, which was amazing because I just knew, you know, as I mean, most people do know that SLA started off as predominantly loungewear. And that was because I was so known for my airport attire at the time. It just becomes such a thing that everyone was like, oh, what are you going to wear to the airport for your next trip?
• 10:00
  so it was so natural for me to start with loungewear and it was because of the response from followers you know that it's almost like that it's kind of like I didn't have to ask them I just knew because of the way they responded to my airport outfits that they were going to love loungewear so yeah it's it's quite I felt very lucky to be in a position like that because having that kind of direct to consumer contact that you didn't even realize you were having was amazing
• 10:28
  That's amazing. And how did you go about getting the brand started in terms of if you have to break down those early steps and tell someone who doesn't yet have a fashion label but wants to get into fashion? What are the kind of key moments to getting the brand ready to launch? Or what's that like early first year like, basically? I mean, I always say this and I wish I could go back in time and tell myself, but number one is do not rush. Yeah.
• 10:54
  Because I rushed, I think I rushed the beginning of SLA. And actually, when I look back on it, I don't cringe at the way it was when it launched, but I kind of do. Because it was nowhere near as what I maybe would have liked it to launch as. It's an odd one. But I think...
• 11:12
  give yourself the time to feel like you are 100% ready to launch because there is so much that could go wrong. And if you're not ready, that can actually be like quite detrimental because I feel like I was lucky enough to be financially, you know, stable from my influencer career to be able to like manage anything that might have come my way from launching too early. But some people might not be. So I think number one is don't rush. And then I always say as well, which is
• 11:40
  One other thing I would have loved to tell myself is launch with like a key product. Don't expand your products and your offering too quickly. Because I sort of wish that we'd stuck as just what we launched with, which was like a little crop top, a jacket and joggers for like a year. And just nailed that down because I think there would have been a lot less struggles if I'd done that.
• 12:05
  But I was just like, I want to launch more. I want to bring out more because I've seen success. And I was like, I want to try this. I want to do this. I want to launch more products. And actually, I think nailing that thing and really doing it well and getting a good customer base who come to you for that thing before expanding is just what I would say to anyone now. So what did you launch that didn't go well in those early days? Yeah.
• 12:30
  So we launched in June 2019. And we launched, as I said, with the sweats, the little crop tops and things. And we launched with some slogan teas. And they all sold so well. We sold out in 24 hours. It was amazing. And we got restocked back in and that sold out. And then I randomly, I mean, it's kind of random, but kind of not, I was like, we've got to do swimwear. We've got to do swimwear. It was coming up to summer. Bearing in mind, we launched in June. And I'm now like, we need to get some, we need to get bikinis online. I was like,
• 12:59
  where am I finding these bikinis? So I rushed the manufacture process. I rushed everything and had this swimwear collection launch. And I ordered the same amount of units that I had for the loungewear. And it flopped. Like literally, we sold maybe 150 units of each item, which obviously was good, but not compared to what we ordered. And I just remember thinking at the time, like that money should have gone on lounge sets, because that was what my customer wanted. And I
• 13:29
  wasn't listening and just, well, you know, I'm new to, I was new to it. I wanted to try everything because also I'm a big believer in nothing is ever a fail because actually it taught me.
• 13:39
  that that's not, you know, the customer didn't want that or they weren't ready for that at the time. So I learned from it. And then we just really went down the loungewear route and it was great. So without doing that, I would probably would have always been like, what if, and would have done it anyway. You know, I would have always tried the swimwear route, but yeah, it just really, it wasn't good for us. And I just think it was way too early. We were probably what, three, four months old before I launched swimwear. It was just really odd. Like it didn't, didn't match up. I don't know why it happened. It's bizarre, but
• 14:08
  How were you able to manufacture so quickly? I feel like every time I speak to anyone manufacturing anything, the process is just so long and arduous. So for us, and whenever I always say us, I say us because SLA to me is just like a, I can't say it for me. It's like a plural. So we...
• 14:30
  We had to airship everything from the get-go. Number one, because of me rushing, hence why I say don't rush, because airshipping is stupid and costs so much money. But...
• 14:43
  The problem that we had in the beginning was constantly selling out. So whenever you produce more, we'd have to airship it in because otherwise the customer would be waiting up to like 13 weeks for a restock, which just made no sense to me. So because we were airshipping, it kind of in my head, I was just like, yes, let's get these bikinis made and we'll just airship them in. And it takes, you know, one to five days to.
• 15:06
  So that's why I was able to get it in. But now, obviously, we see shit and it takes so much longer. But that was why we were, because it was just for me. That was, but obviously in the fashion industry, air shipping is not what you do. And I've learned the hard way because the amount of money that we've spent on it is crazy. But it was also crazy.
• 15:25
  we kind of didn't have a choice because as I said we were buying so much product and what we thought was enough but it was selling out and then I was like I can't make I cannot let a customer wait 13 weeks for a restock because they might not want it so it was a real like kind of we were going around in circles I was like I don't know how we get out of this sort of like rat race of constantly paying for air shipping but with three years almost three years down the line we're finally seeing the end of it so yeah.
• 15:55
  When you say you were ordering so much stock, what's an example of how many units in the beginning or in those early times you'd be ordering per SKU? So our first launch, we had 350 units of each item. So we had so that was like, so, for example, the jogger, the crop top and the little zip up top that came with it. And so we did. And I think we launched with I think it came in four colors when it first launched, maybe three.
• 16:22
  And then the next, then we did the restock and we ordered 400 units. So it was quite like, you know, I was pretty pleased with what we were selling, but I didn't want to go any bigger because I thought, God, I don't want to be, but actually looking back on it, it annoyed me because I thought, God, I could have probably sold like thousands of units in the beginning, but obviously I was new and it costs money to buy the product. So I was spending what I could afford to spend on stock.
• 16:48
  And that was actually what I found really sort of hard to deal with at the beginning was because I was like, I need more money because I know this product is going to sell, but I can't pay for the product. So that was, I think, that was basically supplying the demand that was really difficult for us in the beginning.
• 17:05
  The struggle of every entrepreneur in e-com or in physical products. Literally. And also, you literally need a crystal ball in the e-com world because you just have no idea how much you're going to need and whether it's going to do well. So yeah, if anyone ever finds out how you work that one out, please let me know because nothing exists. Please give me the crystal ball. Yeah. Yeah.
• 17:31
  When you say, you know, the price difference of shipping by boat versus shipping by plane, can you give an actual example of how much it would have cost to ship that first order by boat and how much you actually paid to ship it by plane? I've never known this split.
• 17:46
  Yeah, so I can give you an example of, because that one obviously we wouldn't have even worked out, but I can give you an example of a collection that would have launched like more recently. So if we air shipped it, it would have been around, I think it was around 17 grand. If we C shipped it, it was like six and a half.
• 18:08
  So the difference is huge. Huge difference. Yeah, it really is. Like, and sometimes it can be depending on the time of year, the air shipping. I mean, I remember we air shipped in a collection for, I think it was to be a restock to be there in time for Black Friday. You know, I think it was in 2008.
• 18:30
  No, it would have been 2019. Yeah. So the Black Friday of our year of launch, I was like, we've got to get more stock in. We've got to do it. And I think our airship was like 22 grand. Oh, my God.
• 18:42
  It cost us to ship it in, bearing in mind the product was worth it. It was stupid. So you can imagine, yes, we were selling out and yes, we were making money, but our profit margins were severely reduced because of the fact that we were air shipping everything. So it's, yeah, that's the thing, isn't it? It's like you can make X amount of money, but it doesn't mean you're making huge amounts of profit. So, yeah.
• 19:04
  And I feel like, though, I've heard this before. It's like, especially in the beginning where you're trying to sort things out, it's like, do whatever you can at all costs to just make it work. Like, do the things that aren't scalable. Do the things that are expensive. Just do the things that are great for the customer first and figure out the rest after once you've kind of locked down your true fans.
• 19:24
  100% and actually to be fair like I look back and I say all this stuff and I'm like I wish I did this and I wish I did that but I'm such a like go for it kind of person I don't really think things through I'm very like just yeah I'm very impulsive so impulsive so that's just my nature so I could sit here and say I wish I'd done it slowly and I wish but that was that's not me that would have never happened even if someone had told me it
• 19:49
  it still wouldn't have happened. So, you know, it's part of your story, isn't it? As a business owner, there's always some story that starts you up and this is ours, that things were basically a little bit of a bit of a bit of a nightmare in the beginning, but we're here. So it's fine. Bit of a shit show.
• 20:06
  Literally. Oh my gosh. It's funny because people looking in from the outside would see someone like you and be like, oh, she's like clearly got it all together. Everything's really working well. And then when you hear the actual reality and you're like, yeah, I still struggled with building the business, especially in the beginning, it makes it be like, oh, okay. Like, so anyone really can do this then.
• 20:29
  Literally, I mean, I laugh with people all the time. And I say, even to this day, I have not a clue what I'm doing, like, literally not a clue. I still feel like I don't like, I'm, you know, I've now got people that work for me, and they come in, and we have meetings, and we sit around and I'm, they're saying things, because genuinely, they are more intelligent when it comes to business than I am. But that's only because I've read so many business books where they keep saying, employ people that are cleverer than you, which is,
• 20:55
  definitely is the thing to do but they'll be speaking to me and I have to stop them and say can you just actually explain to me what you what you're talking about but I think that's actually really important in running a business or doing anything it will kind of yeah across it goes across all life don't pretend you know what you're doing because actually
• 21:13
  If you're just honest and you say, do you know what? I don't understand this. Can you explain or can you help me? You get so much more back from it. So I think I don't ever act like I know what I'm doing because I'm the first person to admit that I don't. I'm just winging it. But I think everyone is to some extent.
• 21:31
  I love that. And I think that's so true. There's a lot of this industry that's very like smoke and mirrors, fake it till you make it, like just kind of get on with it, make the decisions. And then one day you're going to wake up and be like, oh yeah, it's all worked out. We're all good over here. 10 years to overnight success. Yeah, honestly, I've never heard a truer statement. What kind of money did you actually need to invest to start the business? And how were you financing in the beginning slash like thinking about funding and the working capital piece?
• 22:01
  So in the beginning, I used a lot of the money I'd made throughout my influencer career, which obviously was amazing because a lot of people don't have that. So I felt really lucky to be able to fund the start of it myself because I know a lot of people have to get outside money. But it's quite funny because I know having, again, learned more of the business world as I've gone, people always say, do not invest your own money.
• 22:26
  spend other people's money. And so I, I sort of look back on it now, because I cringe, I put, like, I think, something like 55,000 pounds worth of my inheritance from my grandparents into SLA, which like my sister, she went and bought a flat in London, and all this sort of stuff. And I'm like, Oh, shit, did I do the right thing? But I have full faith that SLA is going to be amazing. So for me, that was the right thing to spend that money on.
• 22:55
  And I know that my grandparents, if they were still around, they would have said the same thing. But probably looking back at it now, I maybe wish I would have gotten like a 55 grand loan from the bank because it would have probably been nice to have spent a loan rather than my personal money. But it's just one of those things, isn't it? At the time, that's what you spend on. And luckily, it's been so far a success. It's stressful, but it's a success.
• 23:25
  towards the end of last year when this demand was so high and we were really struggling to supply it because we did go around in this sort of circle of you know just ordering what we could afford which was about three four hundred units and I was like the demand is there but we need to order more so I was like how do we do this so we actually went to um a platform called clearco have you heard yes I love clearco
• 23:48
  They're so great. Yeah. So good. Hey, so, so great. So my, my boyfriend, who's actually also a business owner, he introduced me to the sort of premise of Clearco and what they do. And I was like, this sounds exactly what I need. So yes, we got a loan from them about, I think it was a, what did we get? I think it was a hundred, a hundred grand. And that was huge for us because it was what number one, it was the most amount of money that I've ever seen. Like.
• 24:14
  in alone I was like this is crazy it's quite scary but it was so big for us because it meant that our Christmas collection we just had so much stock and we could just do more and we weren't selling out but like that was a good thing like we were selling out but we were selling out after like a week rather than an hour so it kept the customers happy no one was getting angry when they were shopping on the website like the consumer experience like on there was better so it was huge for us really huge
• 24:42
  For anyone who hasn't been formally introduced to ClearCo, could you, in your words and like your experience, explain the process, how quick it was to sign up and kind of like, you know, just your insights into it?
• 24:57
  Yeah, so basically, we had like a Zoom meeting with one of the guys who works there, sort of explained SLA, you know, what it is, what we're doing, why we wanted the money, just all that sort of typical loan sort of style stuff. But I must just say, they're a lot less scary than like going for a bank loan, because we
• 25:18
  it is different in the sense where like you you pay it back they take like a percentage of how much you make on your Shopify like every day so it's just easier somehow than going for a loan where they're just a bit more scary I don't know it just was a nicer experience and so yeah I think it was after that we sent over all the sort of financials and you know that just to kind of verify everything and then I think
• 25:42
  Probably 48 hours later, we had the money in the Clearco account. So it was so and that's what obviously they say, don't they? It's like you can get it quickly. Crazy. So crazy. And it's just, as I said, I think for us, the nicest thing about using something like Clearco is because they take the payment daily from what you make. And also it's great because you can always afford to pay it back because they're only taking money.
• 26:07
  X amount of like what you've made that day. So if you've only made 50 pounds that day, they're just going to take 19, 20% of that 50 pounds. But if you've made 50 grand that day, they'll take 19% or 20% of that. So you can always afford to pay it back, you know, which I think is huge. And it's nice that it's just automated and then it just gets paid off and then you don't have to worry about it and it's done. So for me, I just, I'm a big advocate for it. I think it's great. And it's just can help so many people, I think.
• 26:36
  Yeah, I think it's so amazing. It's something we've spoken on the show about a few times now. And I actually met with them when I was in New York to kind of like truly understand the process a few months ago. And what was also really interesting to me is that they will fund any, well, not any brand, but you're eligible to be funded if you're making as little as 10K a month through your Shopify store. So it really is an achievable kind of like
• 27:02
  company to get funding through without, like you said, having to go to a bank, which is really scary. I feel like anytime you think about applying to a bank loan, you're like, oh, I'm not going to be approved or like it's going to be this huge, long process, which is really interesting. So I'm so glad you brought them up. I think they're so great. The people who work there are just so nice and so lovely. They're very cool as a company.
• 27:23
  Yeah, they are. And I think, you know, anytime you do anything financially related in a business, it's so scary. So to be able to actually just talk to someone who feels like a human, and someone who's nice, and not, as you say, like a scary bank, that's such an important thing as well. So yeah, as I say, I can't recommend them enough. Amazing. I love that.
• 27:47
  So, okay, since you've launched in 2019, you've obviously done so well. You've been selling out, restocking, trying to like understand your supply chain so that you can invest more in your stock and forecasting and things like that. But what's been working for you outside of your own community? Or are you still in the point where you're kind of only having to advertise or do anything within your own community? So we, I basically grew the brand off of the back of Sarah Ashcroft.
• 28:16
  up until I would say the 8th of August, 2021. So it was literally just last year, which was crazy because obviously having a platform that you were able to just solely market it through yourself was incredible. But then we reached a point where I was like, to grow this, I need to grow outside of me.
• 28:35
  Um, because I just think, you know, obviously not everyone has a clue who I am. So it was like trying to build that. So that's when we found, we work with this amazing marketing agency and they do all of our sort of like ad spend and all of our like Google shopping stuff. And for me, that was huge because it was the first time we'd done it. And it's crazy the return on like investment you get on that because it's,
• 28:58
  It's just mental. Like, I can't believe it. I think we're sitting at something like every one pound we spend, we get five pounds back. And I'm like, this is wild. Let's keep spending money.
• 29:08
  Wow. Yeah, that's amazing. Holy moly. I feel like also that you hear since the iOS changes with Apple and, you know, that affected Facebook and Instagram ads and things like that, everyone's return on investment or the rowers went right down and kind of like changed in the blink of an eye. So to hear that for you, it's still going like unbelievably well is amazing.
• 29:29
  Yeah, but you know why? Honestly, it's actually a friend of mine who works at this marketing company. So we've got a really lovely relationship. And I think that's why I just am such an advocate for working with people that if you know them, it's just a better relationship. And so we have very honest conversations. And she tries every single angle for us. And our best performing social media platform is Snapchat.
• 29:51
  Which is wild because... What? That's so random. So random, right? I didn't even know that Snapchat was like still a thing. And do you know what the most wild thing is? It's not even the young like audience that's coming through from it. It's like my age range. So it's like 25 to 35. Because I thought I was like, surely we're talking like, you know, uni students. Because I just assume that they're the only people that use Snapchat because I don't use it.
• 30:17
  Yeah, that's what I thought Snapchat was. But no, we've got like, yeah, about 25 to 35. And we just see such an amazing, like response from our Snapchat ads. That's so cool. What kind of ads do you put on there? Like, what's the style of content on Snapchat these days? So the most important thing is with any ad platform that you're deciding to do it on, you really have to pay attention to what that platform, which I think is probably why Snapchat
• 30:45
  we're quite good with our ads because I am a social media influencer so I understand each platform so with the help of the marketing agency as well because they're always like trying to tell us like this will perform well you need to create this style content for it so snapchat this the ads on there are very you know like video focused you know so almost like you feel like you're watching someone's snapchat story so that it doesn't feel like an ad so it's trying to you know like
• 31:12
  change your ad to fit where it's being shown to get that response I think is really important you can't just put the same ad across all platforms it's not going to work because every platform now more than ever they are so different as much as Instagram is trying to be like TikTok it's not working stop doing it they just they're all so different and I think your ads have to kind of like mirror that
• 31:36
  Yeah, they really need to be native in the platform and kind of mirror the experience that you're having as a consumer scrolling on that platform or swiping or whatever you do on Snapchat. I'm not too sure. Does TikTok work for you as a channel? So TikTok is slower for us, but I think it's because we've only just started on there. And I think ads take so long to grow and learn and get within the algorithm and try. So I think we'll probably...
• 32:04
  I would have a better answer for you in like six months time as to whether TikTok's working for us. So we'll see. But it's not at the moment. It's not as strong. Yeah. Wow. Gosh. And so with all of this in mind, everything's going really well. It sounds really cool. You're smashing it on all the channels. What is the vision for this year? What exciting things have you got coming up that you can shout about and tell us about?
• 32:29
  So I think the thing I'm most excited about, which is what I just got back from Ibiza that the brand was shooting was, believe it or not, swimwear. It's back, which feels funny saying that now because obviously it was. Swimwear 2.0. Yeah, guys, get ready. I promise it's better this time around. But it just feels, I mean, I'll eat my words if this stuff doesn't sell. But it feels right now because obviously we launched SLA Luxe.
• 32:56
  in June 2021 and at the end of 2021 it had made up 61% of our sales so the shift away from loungewear was huge and now more than ever we're seeing customers just really are coming to us for our luxe so I'm not even like I don't even know whether our loungewear will continue for much longer but like we'll see
• 33:17
  Anyway, but then just kind of moving on from that, it's like I feel like that customer is now there who wants that like chic beachwear, you know, looking amazing by the pool. So I have faith that it's good and it's amazing. If I do say so myself, it's a dream, the collection. So that's exciting. We also are hosting our first ever influencer event next week, actually, which is crazy because, you know, I'm like the fact that I go to so many of these and I'm having my own one.
• 33:46
  nervous but super excited which is a big thing for the brand because having you know your first event is wild um and then yeah it's just more of the same like we've got so many products that are just launching that i'm so excited for we're kind of expanding a little bit into the accessory space um
• 34:02
  We've got a really amazing bag that's coming, which I'm obsessed with, but I won't say too much about it because it's still very much in production. But yeah, just so much I cannot wait to share. Oh my gosh. I'm so excited. When does the swimwear come out? So the swimwear launches on Friday, the 27th of May. So next Friday.
• 34:23
  Oh my gosh. So soon. I know. I know. So excited for you. Thank you. How fun. What is your key piece of advice for entrepreneurs coming into 2022 who are, well not coming into 2022, but in 2022 who are in that fashion industry space? So are we saying as in people who want to start a business or have a business or mixture? Yeah.
• 34:47
  Mixture, maybe both. Oh, I would say one thing I would say is weirdly enough is TikTok. TikTok, even personally for me, I feel like that platform for businesses is the only platform that is around right now where you can really get your business out there. Because it's so if you can understand how to create a video that will go viral now.
• 35:14
  you can go viral really easily on there. And if you can get a video, even to just reach like 50,000 views, that can be huge for your business. So I think if you're spending a lot of effort and time on your Instagram, just stop because I think Instagram is dying out. Like the engagement and the reach on there is just...
• 35:33
  painful but I think TikTok you can just I actually have a friend who's got business called Partner and Wine and she launched it in lockdown oh my god I bought it and I bought it through TikTok I saw her video go viral and I bought it stop you
• 35:48
  I've actually seen her before in Soho Works and I went up to her and I was like, I saw your video on TikTok and I bought it and like I just wanted to say hello. I love that you know this. That's what we said. That's my friend Lucy. So Lucy started that and then she said she woke up one morning and this video had gone viral and she literally, the sales were crazy. So honestly, if I just say anything in the 2022 social space,
• 36:14
  tick tock your heart out because and upload loads like keep uploading be really like consistent on there upload even the mundane things like if it's you in the office or you packing orders or because what's mundane to you is not mundane to other people because they don't see it every day and you just don't know what could go viral and if you go viral it could be huge so yeah I think that's my biggest piece of advice
• 36:38
  I mean, I am so with you. Everyone listening to the show right now is like, yes, okay, we've heard it a million times. We need to start TikTok. I just can't shut up about it because it's so like there is no other platform. This is like Instagram 2016 where like you have the chance to really grow. Every video has the chance to go viral. Every video you have the chance to get in front of hundreds of thousands of people. It blows my mind. It actually blows my mind. Literally. And if it makes anyone feel any better, I'm officially like I'm a fully fledged
• 37:06
  influencer social media influencer and I actually only started my TikTok in February this year so I am also one of those people that was like I don't want it I'm not going to do it and I did and it was the best thing I ever did so just do it oh my gosh that's amazing so if you have a TikTok video go viral do you see like instant kind of sales or is it that people then come to your Instagram like what's the impact of a video going viral for you
• 37:31
  So for SLA, I mean, it's weird. We haven't. So, for example, let's use a video that just recently on my my personal TikTok got like 500,000 views. And I was wearing this new P address that we just launched. And that was the number one bestseller of our launch yesterday. And I put that down to the fact that TikTok had 500,000 views because. Yeah.
• 37:55
  The other ones are all equally as amazing products, but that video has got 500,000 views and that dress has now been seen. So it's just like, you can just tell, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. That's amazing. Oh gosh. It's such a crazy platform. It's also so much fun. I really like being on there. Whereas I feel like Instagram drains me a little bit.
• 38:13
  Oh my God, I honestly come off Instagram being like, pass me a bottle of wine and I'm just going to go sit in a dark room. Like, that's not fun. Why are we coming off platforms feeling like that? You know, like that's not how it should be. I know. I hear you. Gosh, this has been so much fun.
• 38:34
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 38:58
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 39:21
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 39:37
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 40:02
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 40:25
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that. Thank you.