Australian designer Samantha Wills gets real on what her next move looks like.
Dubbed “Australia&apos;s biggest export since Vegemite,” Samantha Wills is the definition of down to earth.
Hailing from Port Macquarie on the NSW mid north coast, the jewellery designer launched her namesake label from humble beginnings, pedalling her bohemian designs a stall at Bondi&apos;s markets when Wills was 22, while working in a surf shop during the day to pay the bills.
It wasn’t until 2004, when she was offered a spot to show at Australian Fashion Week, that the brand really kick started. After putting down $500 to take part, she received $18,000 worth of orders and decided to quit her job and give her business everything she had – but it wasn’t without its hurdles.
“I met my business partner [Geoff Bainbridge] three years into being a sole trader. I was $8000 in debt. I knew how to build a really strong brand, but I had no idea how to run a business. It was a really challenging time,” the now 34-year-old tells whimn.
Fast forward 14 years, and Wills has sales exceeding $12 million a year as well as a slew of celebrity fans and a loyal customer base, which only made last week’s news – that she was closing the company – harder to believe.
Career wise though, it will be the Samantha Wills Foundation, which she launched last year and aims to empower women in business, that Wills plans to focus on.
“The reason I started it is because I felt that there were so many stories about the &apos;overnight success&apos; and the glamorous life - the wins, the highlights - but that&apos;s not what business is,” she says.
Although she will do it with the same unfiltered approach that her fans and followers have come to love and respect.
And staying true to your own brand message is the one thing she hopes all women feel empowered to stand up and own.
“One of the biggest mistakes I made was straying from the brand in 2011. It was around the same stage that I moved to New York to start the business over there. Your consumer tells you what works for your brand. For us we had huge success in bohemian luxe, stones, layering, burnished metal. I went to the states and saw these heritage brands and I wanted Samantha Wills to go in a more premium direction, so we moved towards polished metal and petite designs,” explains Wills. But it backfired in a big way.
It was a valuable lesson though, and propelled her towards helping others find their voice and brand in the business world.
You can learn more about the Samantha Wills Foundation by visiting samanthawillsfoundation.org. If you’re a fan of her designs though, January 2019 will be the final month of trade for the brand, so we’d stock up now.