Within minutes of launching her second shoe collection, Lana Wilkinson had received 25 orders.
Focused on encouraging women to feel confident following the COVID-19 lockdown, the collection sold out in a matter of hours.
Speaking to Ragtrader, Wilkinson said that she wanted customers to feel confident in their purchase from the brand.
"I wanted it to really speak to the consumer and say, ‘we're here and we want you to step out.’
"If you're stepping out you want to make sure that what you're stepping out in you feel confident in.
"So if you going to spend your money and you choose to spend it with me, I want you to be reassured of the quality and that you've been thought of," she said.
To foster that authentic relationship further with the customer, Wilkinson adds that she pulled some styles from the range that weren’t suited to the current environment.
"I had some really cool bright bold statement shoes that I thought, ‘that's the wrong decision,’ because I know myself, I'm not buying those sorts of things right now.
"And even the way the shoot went changed because we wanted it to be soft, we wanted it to be really paired back, so no big sets and no extra furnishings.
"I didn't want to be outlandish because that's certainly not how any of us feel," she said.
Wilkinson added that alongside changing elements of the collection and shoot, the feelings about launching a second collection were different this time around.
"For the first collection I still felt that I was heavily styling.
"It had been a build up of two years and it was very much about getting people educated around the fact that I was a stylist and now I'm designing.
"The designs were bold, they were very fashion-forward and directional and the shoot then followed suit. It was like, 'bang! We're here.'
"Whereas this time around for me it felt that I wanted to be respectful for the industry that I'm in.
"I wanted to make sure that I was listening to my customer and what their needs were.
"It became very apparent even to myself - as a consumer - that the collection needed to reflect versatility it needed to be designed in a way could be worn multiple ways.
"In the lead up it felt scary. It was like, 'if I do this and it doesn't work what position is that going to leave me in?'" she said.
But, despite the market conditions, the customers came and purchased from the brand, which Wilkison said she is grateful for.
"I think I used to come in and be like, 'oh my gosh work work work.'
"And now I come in and I go, 'grateful grateful grateful'," she said.
Next for the brand is a summer collection and a potential collaboration collection, Wilkinson adds.
"I had talked about potentially doing a collaboration with someone who I really love and I'm hoping I can still do that for resort.
"We do have a summer collection that's going to come out in September [as well].
"I've got goals for the business longer term too.
"I'd love to take it international.
"We've had a lot of requests for different things and so I'd like to, as time goes on, really start to look at that but I think as well slow and steady wins the race," she said.