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TheSuperCool founders Kate Vandermeer and husband Noonie.
THE
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Giftguide chats to the husband and wife team behind TheSuperCool, which started as an experiment and has become a successful business celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
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hen TheSuperCool launched 10 years ago, pop-ups were still a new and exciting concept, something founders Kate Vandermeer and husband Noonie are well aware of. “Pop-ups were a fresh and new idea 10 years ago and now are de riguer,” says Vandermeer. “Homewares and interior items were not as saturated as they were then—there were less competitors. Carving our your own point of difference nowadays is more challenging and the costs of running a business are much higher; wages are crazy, freight for goods is nuts and general operating costs are much higher. “A great change for the better though is the focus on organic, ethically made, sustainable 12
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making and packaging. This has been a super pleasant change to see more brands getting on board. We’ve always supported these philosophies but with more groundswell, more brands are making these choices more affordable,” she enthuses. A lot can happen in 10 years on both a personal and business level. “Think of a child and how much they grow in 10 years—from baby to tween, that’s us. We have learned a lot; what began as an experiment has become a serious business that is our combined family income and during that time we’ve had two ‘real’ children, launched 30 pop-ups, done quite a few collaborations, launched four different versions of our online store and expanded three times into our current flagship emporium.
Melbourne Central pop-up.
TheSuperCool Fitzroy.