With so many incredible local businesses on the Gold Coast, one begins to wonder: how did they all come to be? In our series, ‘The story behind…’, we chat with local founders and owners about how their business came to be, their biggest learnings and their tips for other self-starters.
This time, we caught up with Jason McDonnell and Ash Tardrew, the duo behind the coast’s coolest clothing brand, Sabbi.
When did the idea for your business first come about? And how?
We’ve both worked in the clothing industry for years. We couldn’t find things we liked that we could afford, so we thought we would design it instead. We also wanted to bring some fun and good vibes back to fashion and wanted people to feel good wearing it. So, we decided to throw our last dollars into it and give a shot. Enter: Sabbi.
Where did you start?
We literally started in our lounge room. We would find time between the kids, the dogs and our other jobs to work on Sabbi. We came up with a lot of shit samples in the beginning before we finally came up with the blue linen set, “This Senorita needs a margarita”. When we picked them up from the post office and opened the samples, we looked at each other and thought, “This is it! This is gold.”
What were some of the challenges you faced in the beginning? How did you overcome them?
So, so, so many challenges. Firstly, money. We sold everything – literally everything. I was selling my old clothes and shoes, Jase sold his boat… literally anything we could to put into getting it started. We were so broke, we were Afterpaying our groceries. It was a super stressful time, but it paid off.
Sampling and nailing the designs was another challenge. Our first round of samples was sooo bad. I remember getting them out of the box and looking at them thinking, “This is bad.” You have this idea in your head, and you put so much into a design and when it doesn’t translate, it’s such a kick in the stomach.
Once you get a collection you are proud of, the next challenge getting your name out there and getting wholesalers to even look at you. Competition is brutal. I sent out hundreds and hundreds of emails with our lookbook to shops all around Australia, and from those we got about 5 or 6 replies.
What has been your biggest learning since starting the business?
We would say just be true to you and your vision. Not everyone is going to like it and not everyone will see your vision, but not everyone has to. Also, it doesn’t have to look pretty. I think Instagram makes people think that everyone knows what they are doing, and it all looks beautiful getting there… We run the biggest shit show, it’s chaotic and messy and we have fuck ups. We have no clue what we are doing from one minute to the next. But we figure it out and learn from our mistakes along the way.
And what about your biggest ‘I’ve made it’ moment?
I think our biggest ‘we made it’ moment was when I woke up early one morning and saw we had a heap of DMs from the Sabbi Instagram community, who had sent us a post that Fisher had just done. He was wearing our new pants. And everyone who had sent it was just so, so excited for us. It was just so cool to not only see Fisher wearing the pants, but just to see how excited the Sabbi customers were about it for us. Its’ like having this huge cheer squad behind us rooting for us along the way.
What does a working day in your life look like?
A hot mess express, lol. No day is ever the same. It usually starts with getting the twins ready for school and out the door, running the dogs then heading into the office. There, Jase will paint, we’ll send a zillion emails, have people dropping in, do some content creating… This week we were off to the skate rink to get skates, then coming back to the office to get footage of us trying to skate (key word: ‘trying’) for the latest collection. We usually try fit in a gym workout, plus multiple walks down to the bakery in front of the office for cronuts. All that, and everything and anything in between.
What do you love about the Gold Coast community, especially as a business owner?
It feels like everyone is rooting for each other. I love that it’s a tightknit community and everyone wants to support each other.
So, where to next? What’s in the pipeline for your business?
We have so many plans. We are off to China next week to start creating Sabbi Summer. Lots of new fabrics, lots of new shapes.
What is your biggest tip for local business owners?
Our biggest tip is to do you. Not everyone is going to like you, and everyone has their own opinions on what you should or shouldn’t do… but stay true to you. My dad always told me, “Opinions are like assholes: everyone has one but most of them stink.”
