President Rhonda introduced Zoe who is the daughter of Rachel Randall. Zoe was adjudged the winner of the Unley Council's Fish Tank entrepreneurship award in the 18-25 age group for 2022-23. Her proposal was to develop a scheme which would give women confidence that clothing bought on-line would actually fit.
Zoe left the corporate world to develop this concept (with her sister) and their business is called Know My Fit. The problem is - women struggle to find clothes that fit. In the clothing indutry, sizing across brands and even within brands is laissez-faire. She did a survey of 300 women and 75% admitted to struggling with this issue. For example there is no such thing as a 'normal' size 10 dress - the actual size varies across the industry. By winning the Fish Tank contest she scored a place in the SAYES workshops on starting a business, conducted by the SA Business Chamber.
The question was how to best grapple with this measurement black box......particularly hard, in that neither she nor her sister are fashionados. And at the outset no clothing supplier was interested, despite the fact that 1 in 3 garments bought on line are returned for a refund and finish up in poorer countries or landfill. It is very expensive and wasteful. A breakthrough came when visiting the BowerBird market where designers display their wares - she managed to talk to 24 of them. They all agreed that inconsistent sizing was a major problem for sellers and buyers, and this is never going to change. Australia has 1000 small brands, most of which are struggling to survive due to the high up-front costs of establishment and the high risk of market failure.
A shopping website has been established catering for sizes 4 to 40 with 53 small fashion labels. Purchasers dial into the sophisticated (but easy to use) ordering matrix with their style demands and actual measurements matched against the measurements in each relevant supplier's size range (with a 5cm tolerance). One of their clients designs very high priced woolen wedding dresses. A 10% commission is paid on each successful sale and fortunately no apparel has yet been returned. The market being pursued is women with higher discretionary spending capacity. Zoe provided a practical demo of on-line ordering through their site. Zoe also volunteers in the Army reserves
The advantages of this scheme are 3 fold....the order actually fits, shopping locally but accessing globally, an aid to local manufacturing.
Zoe survived an amazing number of questions and was roundly applauded.
Editor's note - Us males have got it made....get the approximate size off the rack and let the scissors and needle go to work. On-line is far too intimidating. Fashion is transitory.
Spots
President Rhonda announced that at the forthcoming Board meeting effort will be made to update the club's asset base......anyone knowing where the odd million or two can be found should report it asap.
At the Group 3 regional meeting last week there were 3 examples of projects in which other clubs could participate.....collaboration was one of the key movers for the regionalisation experiment:
Blackwood made a profit of $13,000 from its Art Show and have invited other clubs to run a stall at the annual Christmas Fair in November; Edwardstown has a Feed the Farmers project operating; and Mitcham is into Birthing Kits.
Patsy Beckett advised that John Peacham is now walking with a stick after his knee reconstruction, Ken is on the mend and Wendy is back with us after her fall. She and Graham delivered 20 shelter bags (Community Services project) to Hutt St Centre for the homeless which was very well received with a certificate of appreciation.
Rob Freak wishes to see 2 microphones in use.....there is another one somewhere in the back room.
Simon Beckett reported a profit of $900+ from yesterday's Bunnings BBQ.
Vivienne Wood outlined the difficulty of filling rosters at the Thrift Shop - 2 of our mainstays had been away recently and there is a need to fill Virginia's spot for the afternoon of the second Saturday of each month; Vera Holt will be away on the 16th, and Wendy will fill in for JP next Saturday morning.
Marie Rothe urged members to fill tables for the Quiz Night on 30 August - only 17 people registered to date - and we need plenty more wine for the wine wall.
Chris Davis advised that the nomination for SA Police Officer of the Year 2025 plus reserve had been submitted to SAPOL. He needs more members to attend the reception following the award ceremony on 5 September at the Wayville Showgrounds. Rhonda mentioned that she recently had a chat with last year's winner Chris Mailey and he expressed appreciation not only for the award but also for the boost given to his campaign against domestic violence.
