The Madgician S01E04 | “Mess Up to Level Up: The key to building a successful brand in the fashion industry” with Trinity Hislop, Founder at THIRD

 

This episode of The Madgician - a podcast with women entrepreneurs, is all about the intricacies of building a successful business in the fashion industry; a competitive industry that calls for patience, strength, innovation, and a tremendous amount of creativity. In this episode, we’ve had the pleasure of speaking with Trinity Hislop, founder of THIRD, the first search and comparison site for preloved luxury bags. 

We talked about building relationships that matter, overcoming challenges, not giving up in the face of adversity, and so much more.  

“I keep saying, 'slow and steady wins the race.' You have to hold on to that. I think the path of life materializes when you least expect it. We're all on different journeys, but in the same way, we're on the same journey.”

About THIRD: 

THIRD is a dedicated search & compare destination for preloved luxury bags. Offering the broadest range of products from the world’s most trusted resellers, THIRD acts as the origin for preloved luxury bags online. Operating as an inventory-free platform, you can discover and buy unique bags from the world’s most prestigious luxury brands.

What you’ll learn by listening

• Navigating business challenges: paths to sustained success 
• The intricacies of networking & how to build connections with like-minded people in the fashion industry 
• Timelines, deadlines, and setting achievable goals 
• Behind the glitz: marketing strategies that work
• The trust factor: building relationships that matter with partners and customers 
• How to build resilience and thrive in times of uncertainty 

Podcast transcription 

Georgiana: Hi, everybody. This is a new episode of The MADgician, this new podcast where I speak to women entrepreneurs working in fashion, tech, or various other areas. Today, I'm talking to an amazing founder from London. Her name is Trinity Hislop. Hello, Trinity! Welcome and thank you so much for joining me.

Trinity Hislop: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Georgiana: Before I jump into the questions that I've prepared, I was wondering if you can briefly let us know what your business does. It is a fashion business and how it is different from other models out there?

Trinity Hislop: Of course. Well, thank you so much for having me. Um, I am the founder of THIRD, or thirdfind.com is probably the easiest way to find it. Um, and what we do is, um, we are an aggregator for pre-loved luxury bags. So our model, um, partners with luxury resellers across the globe, including Rebag, Farfetch, Hardly Ever Worn It, And we show all their pre-loved bags inventory in one place.

Um, so we act as a little bit like Skyscanner for the pre-loved bags market. We work on a kind of, uh, search, find, and buy process. So we transfer you to the reseller site to buy, and you know that any product that you find on our platform is coming from a trusted source. So hopefully it takes the kind of initial fear out of shopping pre-loved luxury.

If you've never done that before. Um, and yeah, that's, that's what we're, we're building at the moment.

Georgiana: Is it in a way similar to what Lyst is doing? Just not for bags, but for fashion in general? 

Trinity Hislop: The Lyst model has definitely been a massive inspiration to us. Obviously, they have a massive range of inventory on their, their site, um, ranging from bags to shoes to dresses, et cetera. Um, we initially did think about doing that for all of, um, pre love, but there's such [00:02:00] strength in the bags category, bags, um, take up 49 percent of the, um, resale market in fashion.

So there are huge, huge category. And also so many people don't know that there's massive value to a certain preloved, um, luxury handbags, um, and they are considered investments. So, um, fourth behind cars, art and watches, you'll find handbags as one of the best luxury assets to invest in. And since it's a female focused category, I don't believe that there's a platform that caters for the female investors.

Um, and I think it just really stood out to us that, um, having a platform that focused on that category for now added a lot of value to what we want to achieve.

Georgiana: Amazing. Before meeting you and looking at your website, I would normally exclusively look at Rebelle or Vestiaire Collective, and then I found out that, oh wow, Farfetch also, uh, sells pre owned bags. Cool. That's, that's good to know. So, so when, so, so then my question goes, How did you go exactly into this business and how hard was it and is it to set up and to run constantly?

Trinity Hislop: I think that's such a nice point for you to mention because it's kind of the problem that I had, um, that I wanted to solve. So when I came up with the idea for third, um, a couple of years ago, I was looking for a specific pre loved version of a luxury handbag. I wanted to find it secondhand. I wanted a model that was a bit older and, um, hopefully a little bit less because obviously buying pre loved can save you money as well.

Um, and I was looking on the usual platforms. Like you said, Vestiaire, I was familiar with even Depop and Vinted, um, and Just found that I couldn't find the products. I didn't know if the source I was shopping from was trusted. Um, cause back then they didn't have the authentication processing. Um, and then doing some research, I found that there's so many amazing luxury resale brands in their own right that exist in the world.

Um, and no easy way to discover them. And since preloved, um, as a category, every. Every item is individual. Everything is unique. So even if, uh, Farfetch are selling, um, a Gucci Jackie bag in black, Lux Collective might be selling the exact same bag, but they'll differ in price, location, condition, um, and having a platform that allows you to discover those products and then compare them side by side for all the values that matter to you didn't exist out there.

So. We kind of formulated this idea, um, with third, that, uh, essentially enabled you to discover these brilliant pre-loved luxury brands because there was no need for us to, to create a new one. Um, and, [00:05:00] um, and then also be able to search for products that, um, are one of a kind all over the world. Um, and then find the reseller that, that you can be connected to, to buy them.

Georgiana: It completely answers my question. I also know where I'll be spending a few hours tonight, to be honest with you, because it's always a good place to spend some time. It’s very inspiring regardless, um, where you work and what, what you do, what kind of fashion activity you have. And, you know, not only it's always inspiring to look at good quality handbags and shoes and it stroke a chord with me when you said that at some point in the beginning you had a certain problem and then you launched a business to sort of cater to other people who had the exact same problem.

Because I find that myself included and other founders that I know have started exactly from this, from a personal problem. In my case, I have to say it could have helped. for me to do more research because my problem is a common one, but I'm finding out that it's not expressed in the same way for other people, which makes me sometimes disappointed, sometimes wanting to, you know, give up, go a whole different direction.

I'm wondering what keeps you going? What do you do when you feel like you don't want to do it anymore? How does that go for you?

Trinity Hislop: That's a very good question. I think being a first time solo female, dare I say it, founder, it's really, really hard. Um, at the moment it is just me running the business. I have an amazing advisory board behind me, um, who have backed me and supported me from the very start. And I've met with incredible people like yourselves who, um, you know, uh, encouraging every day for what I do.

But yeah, it's really tough at times. I think trying to raise money, it can be demoralizing and trying to fix technical problems, it can be demoralizing. But every day that you get through and the small problems that you fix, uh, feel like massive achievements. And I think that keeps you going.

And also just, you know, I use networking as a way to be inspired. I think there's so many amazing people that I've met on the journey to get to where I am now, who have had really difficult, uh, journeys or stories to get to where they are and being able to use that as inspiration is, is, is amazing for me.

Um, and also at the end of the day, I love what I'm building. I'm, I'm really proud of it. It's the, the first, uh, Job, I guess. It is a job.

Georgiana: It is.

Trinity Hislop: Sometimes it doesn't feel like a job. So that's good. But it's the first thing that I really felt like I've really become myself in. So I think that's also something that kind of keeps, keeps me going as well. But yeah, it's hard. I would recommend it, but I will be honest, it's tough.

Georgiana: It is very tough. It is very tough. I'm trying to look at the journey. You know, everyone's telling you, just try to focus on the journey. Don't look at the end goal. Don't focus so much on what you're not achieving. And focus on what you've achieved so far. And just, you know, enjoy the journey.

And you try to do it, but sometimes you wish things went faster. You just wish they went faster. And then I talk to a lot of young designers and to older, more established ones and they tell me the process lasts a few years. You have to trust it. You have to trust that all these people that you've been speaking to along the way are going to materialize at some point into very valuable contacts, but give it time.

Trinity Hislop: Yeah.

Georgiana: And I'm not the patient kind.

Trinity Hislop: I keep saying slow and steady wins the race that just keeps going over in my head and you have to hold on to it. But you're so right. I think the path of life definitely kind of materializes probably as you least expect it to. We're all on different journeys, but the same journey in the same way.

Georgiana: I think so, I think so too, and you know, in the end, I tell myself, in my case specifically, if this whole thing doesn't work out, by the end of it, whenever that is, I will still have unique, amazing pairs of shoes that nobody else has, which is not so bad in the end, I guess, I have,

Trinity Hislop: Absolutely. And the experience gained as well. That's always what I say to people like that. I wouldn't change any of this, the world, if, if it doesn't, if it doesn't work out, then I've lost nothing because I've gained everything. I've gained contacts and a network and an understanding of self and, um, and understanding of business that I never really imagined to, achieve. And I think, um, there's so much to gain from, uh, starting a business and Um, pushing yourself, um, through the journey. 

Georgiana: And there's this one more thing I want to mention on this note is that a friend of mine told me at some point, don't think about it in terms of success or failure or what other people are thinking about it and how they see it because you wouldn't believe it at some point, but people admire you for that.

They wish they had the guts to be doing what you are doing. This is just between you and yourself. That's all. And you know what? That kind of made sense when I think about it this way. I'm like, yeah, okay Whatever happens happens. It doesn't matter. I won't be upset. It's just something that I've been willing to do and I'm giving it a go. 

Trinity Hislop: Yeah, it kind of links to the imposter syndrome. I think people definitely say, Oh, I can't believe you're doing this or it's amazing what you're doing. And I think when the days are hard and like we were saying, the moments where you do want to give up, you're like, I just don't understand why people are saying nice things about me or believe in it.

But yeah, it's it definitely. And I think that's definitely more of a female thing. Um, a hundred percent talking to other female founders, that kind of. Self-doubt and, um, self-deprecation is, is a problem. And, and pushing past that is really important. Um, so yeah, trying hard with that

Georgiana: I can confirm having spoken to a few guests on this podcast and to a lot of female guests in HR and employer branding. In my previous years in Berlin, I can confirm this is totally a feminine thing. It's totally a thing that we do to ourselves. But I guess it's just on some days, you know, when the days are bad, you think the worst of yourself and then the sun comes up and it's not so bad anymore.

You love bags and you've mentioned a brand that you've been following for a very long time. What is the one bag that you would wear every day and why?

Trinity Hislop: it's such a hard question and I, I think the reason I, the bag that kind of brought out the idea of third was actually the Gucci Jackie bag, and that was the bag around two and a half years ago that, um, that I saw a few people have, uh, wearing on Instagram and I just thought, Oh, I love, I love that. I think it's beautiful.

It's classic. Um, and then obviously it had a bit of a resurgence anyway. So the kind of, when I was looking, it wasn't so expensive in the resale market. And now you'll see that the price has doubled and it's interesting, but I think a black and black or black and white version of that is, It's classic, it's stylish, you could wear it day to night, um, but I, I, I don't actually own my own luxury handbag yet. 

Georgiana: It's part of the journey.

Trinity Hislop: journey to, uh, success is I'll know that I've done pretty, pretty well when I can buy myself a bag that I really want, um, I'm very lucky that I can borrow some of my mum's bags or friend's bags and, um, I, I have. Um, and I, for them, and I, I love watching people walk down the street. And now that I look at bags every day, I recognize them, which is really fun. 

Georgiana: I do that too. Yeah.

Trinity Hislop: What about you? Do you have a favorite bag? I know you're a shoes girl, but bags as well.

Georgiana: Yeah, it's very interesting with me and bags because I only got into this luxury handbag game when I turned 35, a few years ago. I actually went crazy after that. I had this time when I sold everything I had and got luxury bags, then I sold those and exchanged them for others. While you were speaking, I was thinking that I'm never gonna buy a new bag again because I did this twice and I remember how frustrating it was for me to sell on Vestiaire, where you have a huge commission, and it's pre-owned, so it cannot be sold for the same price you purchased it for, although they were in pristine condition.

 I was just going through my head and saying, no, I'm definitely buying pre-loved from now on because then I can sell them, and if I really like one, I'll just buy a pre-loved one and I won't feel bad about it when I sell it.

Trinity Hislop: Um, it allows you to add to that circularity model. So you buy one and then you buy another, and it goes into that model. From a sustainability angle, we have over 50,000 bags on the platform already. We're the largest platform for pre-loved bags in the world. Those are all bags that already exist. So why are we making so many more when there are so many products that exist out there that are the same or very similar to the products being made, and as good or even better quality? There's been some stuff in the press about the way Chanel is changing the way they make their bags, and the quality has definitely reduced over time. There's beauty in having something one of a kind. Even if it has been used before, it has a story and personality, and then you make it your own and can pass it on to someone else. There are so many benefits to shopping pre-loved, and it's good to hear that you're moving that way.

Georgiana: I'm moving that way. I'm definitely going to be staying that way. So, um, yeah. Thank you for, for convincing me one more time to go into that direction.

Trinity Hislop: I'll keep doing that. That's it. That is my job, technically. So I'll keep encouraging people where I can. I think there's a massive market for people that do still need to move into that. And that's technically what we're here for. We want to push the current luxury shopper into that market and show that there is I think there's, there's also, there's a lot of, um, uh, maybe fear around shopping pre-loved knowing that it's a trusted source, but also I think in the past kind of secondhand had that kind of shabbier rundown feel to it, but it's very much a luxury thing to do now to shop pre-loved.

It is a high end, it's a very cool and. Um, uh, uh, luxury way to shop at the same time. So I think we just need to educate more people on that and it will change, [00:17:00] hopefully change the luxury purchasing habits for sure.

Georgiana: Hopefully. You were talking about how hard some things have been and, um, everyone is, and we women especially, are talking about challenges constantly, work-life balance and, and all that. If you were to think of one particular challenge, one particular thing that you've overcome that made you feel super good about yourself, what would that be?

Trinity Hislop: Or that's a hard one. Cause I do feel like there's, there's something every day. I think with running a business, there's always little things and big things. Um, there's definitely. Some big things that I am still overcoming. Um, I think on a personal level, um, I've always suffered quite badly with anxiety.

I found, um, networking was always a really big challenge for me. And in my, my previous jobs, I was having to go to, um, events for like PR events. I worked in the food publishing industry and I I hated them. I found it so hard to go and speak to people in a room and know what to say. And even though I love speaking to people and I love introducing myself to new people and networking with people, it really takes a lot of courage.

And I think towards the end of last year, I was meeting with some very, very successful, amazing people and really just blanking out in meetings because it was just too much for me and basically resetting myself to a place where I felt confident enough to go back into that, realise how much it takes for me to do that, and then learning to be better.

Proud of myself for doing that has been a massive challenge to overcome. And I, I am incredibly grateful for the network that I have built. Um, just doing this. So whether reaching out to people on LinkedIn, being introduced to people at events and, um,meeting, meeting people through other contacts who have introduced me to people, it's been, um, probably the best thing out of doing this and, um, That as a challenge of speaking to those people with a lot of nerves and anxiety and then overcoming that, that's been a big, big challenge. 

Um, I mean, if, if we want to go into the technical side of things and all the kind of techie challenges, then that's a whole other topic. 

Georgiana: Yeah. Oh, believe me. Don't I know it with shoe manufacturing?

Trinity Hislop: Yeah, I can imagine. What about you? Do you have any challenges that you've overcome?

Trinity Hislop: was thinking while you were telling me about anxiety and meeting new people and networking, um, Um, I think we all feel nervous when meeting new people, maybe some of us more than others. what I feel has been a game changer for me as time passed by and as I grew, and you know, I'm approaching 40, I'll be 39 this September.

I feel like I'm now I'm much more capable of reading the energy of the room. 

Georgiana: And you know, we met at this fashion event in Paris at Fashion Conversations organized by Viv. I immediately knew when I got there that this is going to be an event where I will be enjoying networking where people are going to be like-minded. And we had such an amazing evening, didn't we? And we met very impressive, uh, people and people that were actually nice to talk to. And you wanted to, you know, continue afterwards and go have a glass of wine with them. But sometimes I find myself in situations where I have to do the same thing, and the energy is completely different.

And that is really difficult. That is super, super difficult. And you see there's like a wall that some of the people, um, you know, just tend to hide behind. And I know for some of them it's because they're, um, introverts or [00:21:00] they're shy themselves. But other times, it's just that they're not open to meeting new people and to networking at that particular time.

And it's hard to keep your smile on after you've been kind of, you know, put, put down like, like this. But I guess it's, it's part of the job. So this definitely is one of the hardest things I have to do, going into events and then talking to everybody, telling them what I do. 

Trinity Hislop: Yeah, I think that's a really good point as well, telling people what You do, I find I, I'm so, I feel I'm learning to get better, but selling yourself and your business, which also feels like a part of you can be really, really tough. And again, I do think that that is a massive thing for women. Um, It, it seems unnatural to, to, I think selling yourself almost comes, can come across as, or feeling like you're boasting.

And there's no, nothing wrong with that at all, because obviously, you should be proud of what you've achieved and what you're doing, but sometimes it can feel a little unnatural and that, that causes a sense of unease. So like you're saying in those situations where, when you're talking to someone who seems uninterested or, or doesn't, um, doesn't take, um, isn't, isn't kind of connecting with you in those conversations, it's very easy to take it personally and feel like it's, it's your, your own issue, but actually learning to not do that and just moving on and knowing that another conversation is around the corner that will be a lot more positive and you'll have a better effect on that person as well is, is definitely something that you, you have to take, um, yeah, take.

Georgiana: It takes time. I think it takes time and practice and experience. And then there is the technical aspect that you were talking about because I also come from tech and doing marketing and employer branding for tech companies is a whole different thing from building shoes. High heels from scratch. I know nothing about that still.

I just rely on the craftsmanship of the people I am working with. But I am learning from them, and I always ask them to send me photos of the process. I go look at the process whenever I can, travel to Bucharest and do that. I guess, I look at the fabrics, I look at how they assemble the parts of the shoes, so I'm learning as I go. But that is difficult. That is very difficult. And like I was telling you in the beginning, I should have maybe made more research before I launched the 10-cm heel stiletto, because now we're working on lower heel prototypes. And these have the potential of, you know, being a bigger success because everyone's telling me, Oh my God, they're so amazing.

But please, can you make a lower-heeled one? I want to wear it at work and I want to go there and do that. So this is hard, I think, with a lot of things you learn as you go, but that's called experience in the end.

Trinity Hislop: 100%. And it only makes things better, I think. So you have to, you have to, uh, to mess up or take the wrong path to, to get back to the right path. And it sounds like even with, with your journey, these, it's not that it was necessarily the wrong decision, but it's, it's leading you to something that will help you grow.

So I think there's, there's, there's a difference between, uh, wrong decisions and helpful decisions. So maybe that's a positive way to look at it for sure. But yeah, tech, tech and, um, development and all of that is so unfamiliar to me as well. So I, I would agree. It's been a challenge trying to navigate it when you don't know how to do it.

When you don't have an understanding of something and then trying to learn as you go, um, it can be, be tough. But depending on the people around you who do know, I think is, is always a good, good choice because there's so many amazing people that are experts in different things. We can't all be experts in everything.

Georgiana: No. And this journey I've learned so far is also about surrounding yourself with the right people because you cannot do things on your own. That's definitely, maybe you can be a solo founder, definitely. But you will always need suppliers. You will always need collaborators. You'll always need people to rely on.

Trinity Hislop: Yeah. Who are the people that you depend on or rely on most in your life?

Georgiana: I have my colleagues that I work with daily. I have a colleague that I've been working with for seven years. And she's kind of like a friend, a sister. She's not an employee anymore. We're way past that point.

Trinity Hislop: Yeah.

Georgiana: And then I have the artists I work with that create amazing accessories.

And of course, you build, you build chemistry with some people or more chemistry with some people and there's less with others, you know? And, um, yeah, as if, if I look behind, I'm always, you know, telling myself. Whatever happens, I've built these amazing partnerships, and I've met these amazing people, and I've learned a little bit about what they do in their own area of activity.

And I've discovered that we all have exactly the same fears and exactly the same challenges. Because when I was younger, you know, when I was a student, I would always look at artists. Like at this very different breed of people, or doctors, or, you know, you know, manufacturers. No, we're the same. And you know, we women are the same.

We do our jobs differently, but ultimately, it's exactly the same thing.

Trinity Hislop: We're all human. 100 percent.

Georgiana: And that's so nice, I think. It's so nice and comforting along the way to, to think about it and to realize it. Yeah.

Trinity Hislop: Yeah, it takes away that, that anxiety we were talking about as well, especially like just having conversations with people. And when you think about it, we're all human. I mean, I've met some incredibly successful and, um, uh, like pioneers in their field and, um, amazing people over the last year or so. And at the end of the day, when you start having a conversation, They do kind of like level out to that human level.

And I think it's so healthy for me to, um, uh, have a level of like huge respect and inspiration, um, for these people and to learn from them, but then to be able to have a conversation with them at the same time, that feels.

Georgiana: Human. Exactly. Exactly, exactly. Um, have there been, of course there must have been mistakes, we all make mistakes, but I'm wondering is there one mistake in particular that you made and that you feel has helped you, that you have transformed into a valuable lesson along the way?

Trinity Hislop: think probably so many, yeah, I think, um, on a kind of, uh, the technical side of things, I think there's, there's definitely a few things that I would, redo or rethink. And I think that comes from my lack of knowledge and perhaps my, I need to learn to not have such big ideas perhaps and to, uh, start small and then grow big.

And actually to be fair, my advisory CTO has been such a big help for that because when I met him at first, I had such big. aspirations for what we could build with the platform, um, from a technical standpoint, at least. And he just said, look, let's focus on one thing at a time, take it step by step. Um, and, and we have had some mistakes along the way, and I think that's just how, how it goes.

But I dread to think of how bigger, how much bigger they would have been if we had tried to do everything in one go. So I think it's learning to kind of, you know, pace yourself. I know we, we spoke about time and how frustrating it can be that things go slower than you expect or slower than you want them to.

But, uh, setting realistic timelines and deadlines and, uh, expectations on them is, is, um, is definitely something that I'm learning to dobecause in the past I, I have not done that very well.

Georgiana: Yeah.

Trinity Hislop: How about you?

Georgiana: It's the same for me, I think. I think it's complicated because we all want to get to that end goal, whatever that is, as soon as possible. But I'm also learning as I go that I need to know my audience. as well as possible and that takes time and patience and a lot of trial and error because ultimately I think marketing is what is going to make the difference between a successful product and an average one or a less successful one.

And getting to know your audience is one of the hardest thing, things I've had to do.

Trinity Hislop: Yeah, I think that's a really good point that you made about trial and error. And I think there's definitely an overlap between mistakes and trial and error, especially in marketing, because it is so much about testing. I mean, with all the platforms that we have right now, from TikTok to Instagram, to newsletters, to, uh, just, uh, paid marketing.

Um, and it is about testing so many different things and some things will work and some things won't. won't, but I think looking at it as trial and error rather than mistakes that, uh, is a much kind of more positive way to look at it because you will find your audience, it's just, it's like, uh, a bit of an obstacle to get to them.

That's, that's how I think about it.

Georgiana: That is true. And speaking of marketing, this is a question that I ask all my guests because I know marketing is important. I have been working in marketing for B2B in tech, though, for most of my adult life. So I know how important it is. But I'm discovering every day that marketing in fashion is a whole new different story and there's a whole new level of competition out there.

And so I need to reprioritize budgets and to make new decisions. So I'm wondering, What has worked for you so far? One decision or let's call it one marketing strategy that you would replicate continuously from now on.

Trinity Hislop: It's a really interesting one, I think, um, there's the kind of two sides for it. For us at the moment, because for us to work and exist as a platform, we have to partner with these luxury resellers that exist and are incredible businesses in their own right. So I think in that sense, I, I guess that's the kind of sales marketing, uh, on the B2B side.

And. Building those relationships has been the best thing that has come out of this. And I think is actually one of our USPs as a business is, um, we have these amazing relationships with these amazing trusted resellers across the globe. And that has all come from me. reaching out to the founders or the teams of relevant people and telling them about what we're building and knowing that their products are going to sit in a trusted site that's gonna, I always call us a bit like an art gallery for their beautiful pieces of art.

Um, and, um, on that side, I think building that trust between us and the resellers, because obviously we also work on a commission model as well. We have to, um, ensure that we're sending customers to their site. And of course, at the moment it is early stages. So we're not, we're not, um, we're not gaining a huge amount of traffic because we don't have a paid marketing budget and we don't have, um, a huge amount of, um, following or, um, knowledge that we exist at the moment, but having that trust with those.

Uh, B2B partners has been, uh, so essential, but from a kind of, uh, B2C, um, marketing perspective, I mean, I'm trialing things at the moment and it's, it's hard. Like we've done pretty well on TikTok. We've had a few viral TikToks, but it's not necessarily sending people to the site. It's not, it's not conversions that we want.

Um, and, um, we are doing very, um, exciting collaborative, um, Um editorial style photography campaigns with our partners, which is creating some beautiful assets that we hope will be featured in The press and then also across our sites and their sites and I think the cooperative element that partnership element when it comes to marketing as as we are an aggregator who partners with other businesses is so important.

So it's, I guess, leaning on each other. Um, but to be honest, it's still a challenge every day. At the moment, we are so early on that finding our audiences is still part of a daily challenge. And I think Having two very different types of audience as well. I know there's the kind of younger Gen Z market who are looking for their first pre love luxury purchase, and they want to shop at pre love because it's cheaper and they know that they can resell it and it's fits in with the trends.

And then also there's the other end of the scale, which is the high net worth individuals who want the investment [00:34:00] pieces, who know they're going to be able to afford 40, 50, 60, 000 pound handbags. And then we'll make a return on them in the future. Targeting. Such different audiences at the same time is, is another challenge that we, we are facing every day, but, um, trial and error, as we said.

Georgiana: Mm-Hmm. and partnership, I think is the, is the key word here. And I'm hearing about this more and more, especially when it comes to small, uh, clothing or, you know, accessory brands such as ours. We are also right now in the process of building partnerships and of re reaching out to, uh. resellers for our shoes.

And everyone keeps telling me, everyone who's been in the business keeps telling me, yeah, okay, you're going to be selling through your website, but you need to first sell on websites that are already highly ranked and that are already trusted by, uh, your customers. So this seems to be a more and more the case for us as well, build as many partnerships as possible. 

Trinity Hislop: Yeah. But then that also all relates back to that word. You just use trust. And that's something that is, is so important. I mean, even though we're all so used to shopping online now, there's still that element of trust that everyone wants to feel when you're, when you're putting in your car details online and you're buying a product from a place that you've never bought from before and from a brand that you've never heard from before.

So how you create that level of trust is, is so important whether it's across your platform, across social media, across word of mouth. I'm a massive, massive believer in word of mouth recommendations. I think it's If we could go back to the olden days and do it that way, I think there's so much power in that.

So every angle that you can create trust, um, in marketing is, is, is incredibly valuable.

Georgiana: You are right. It has worked for us as well. I mean, I think the best vehicle for our self promotion was me [00:36:00] wearing the shoes at various events. Where, you know, people would come up to me, women would come up to me, and they would ask me, where did you get these shoes from? I said, well, you know, I make them.

Can I try them on? Yeah, sure. See if they fit. It's

Trinity Hislop: Now you're encouraging me to go buy a bag.

Georgiana: yeah, well, I'm always for that. Always, always, always.

Trinity Hislop:You are the brand and the brand is you at the same time. So you'll, you'll wear it in a way that will reflect that and people will kind of, although it probably seems a bit silly, but you will reflect that and you will, um, show them off in a way that I wouldn't or another person

Georgiana: yeah, of course. And if only we could replicate ourselves, you know, and take part in as many networking events as possible. But maybe in the future. And I think this is this comes back to what we were discussing earlier. There's a slower pace to the business. And this can definitely also work in the in the future.

And there's a faster one. And I think B2B partnerships might be the key to the faster, uh, base of development.

Trinity Hislop: I think so. Yeah, I think, and again, it all comes back to that, that trust thing. It all it, I really believe in it. Very, very true.

Georgiana: To conclude our amazing discussion, which I've enjoyed so much. I have this last question, which doesn't relate to business much, but it more relates to what you do with your free time and what you choose to do to detach from the business activities.

Trinity Hislop: Gosh. Well, do you know what I, I, I am working in fashion now. I love fashion. I always knew that I wanted to end up in fashion. I, um, but my other love is food and I worked in, uh, for, uh, food magazines in the past and health magazines. Cooking is definitely my time where I [00:38:00] switch off. I don't look at a screen.

I, um, make things up in my head. It's like a bit of art for me. Um, so yeah, and also just going out and eating with friends is another part of that. So I'm, I love, I love that we're, I'm so lucky to live in London and the London restaurant scene is incredible. Um, so that is always, um, uh, A nice switch off for me is eating with friends, talking with friends, um, and I think the social element that food creates is, is a big thing for your mental health.

Um, what about you? What's your, what's

Georgiana: I kind of, I kind of have the same passion. I also have a daughter, so I try to spend as much time with her as possible, and it relaxes me, and I enjoy every minute of it, obviously. But food is also one of my, uh, secondary passions, if I can call it this way. I've purchased a Thermomix recently.

Trinity Hislop: Amazing.

Georgiana: I love it. I love the fact that I don't have to think so long about what I'm going to prepare for next week. It has just endless possibilities and, you know, you can look up ingredients, you can look up recipes, whatever you want. It just takes the pressure off. So I love that. I love that. And then, of course, if you have the social aspect to sharing what you've cooked with friends, that's all the better.

Trinity Hislop: Exactly. I think it brings people together. I think fashion does as well. I think anything that you can relate to people or talk over or, uh, yeah, I think it's, it's important to have, uh, conversations that don't involve a screen. 

Georgiana: Thank you. Thank you so much for talking to me today. I wish you the best of luck with your business and we'll be in touch.