Q&A
TALK PEOPLE
The MD
magnif er Talk Business met Kal Di Paola, founder of BuyMyWardobe.com, a pre-loved designer clothing marketplace al Di Paola has been in the fashion industry for 15 years as a designer and entrepreneur. She started off designing clothes under her own label and selling them from her studio flat. Her business then grew to a West End showroom, with her label selling to over 140 independents, including a Topshop concession – and was endorsed by celebrities including Beyoncé, Victoria Beckham and Danni Minogue. When the recession hit in 2008 everyone had to reign in their spending, including Kal. Spurred on by a need to cure her shopping habit she decided to sell items from her overflowing wardrobe and BuyMyWardobe.com was born. Now the online marketplace has 400,000 members.
K
HOW DID BUYMYWARDROBE. COM START? It started life as a series of designer fashion recycling events. The first one was held in Feb 2008 when I brought together a group of ladies to sell off the contents of their wardrobes. The event was ticketed, held in an upmarket location and opened with a VIP Champagne preview hour.
Hundreds of women attended and thousands of designer items were sold and more events followed. It was after 10 sold out events that I decided the time was right to launch the concept as an online marketplace. In August 2011 I raised capital to start build on a platform that would connect buyers and sellers of pre-owned designer fashion. Our community is now operated online and offline at events. ARE YOU SURPRISED WITH YOUR SUCCESS? I’m surprised at how quickly women got behind the concept of the online community. One of our rules for seller membership is that all sellers must include their real names, a photo of themselves and a little bio on their profile. At the beginning there was a little bit of friction from people who were used to selling anonymously on other sites but as the numbers increased, more and more women have been open to embracing the social aspect of our platform. We’ve gone from 50 sellers at launch to 460.
It was after 10 sold out events that I decided the time was right to launch the concept as an online marketplace
DESCRIBE HOW YOU FEEL BEING A WOMAN IN BUSINESS IN ONE WORD… Fierce! WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE YOU’VE FACED IN BUSINESS? Making sure growth happens with very small budgets. We’re an incredible small team and we all wear many hats. I’ve had to learn to be very hands on and spend time learning about the things I don’t know enough about– it often means very long hours but it’s what I love, so it’s all worth it. DO YOU HAVE ANY SECRET OBSESSIONS? Hot water bottles in the winter. WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE COLOUR AND WHY? I love orange and yellow because they’re the colour of sunshine. NAME ONE THING YOU’D TAKE ON A DESERT ISLAND... A book about how to survive on a desert island. Contact: buymywardrobe.com
talkbusinessmagazine.co.uk
081 PEOPLE Q&A Buy My Wardrobe.indd 81
81
26/09/2013 14:24