In this personal piece of writing, Digbys Boutique founder Charlie Digby shares his love in making and selling fashion.
It was 1972. Gough Whitlam was the Australian Prime Minister. Shop rents in main shopping strips were around $50 per week, and shop wages were around $50/60 a week for 40-hour weeks. There was no late Friday night shopping and shops closed at 1:00pm on Saturday afternoon. If you opened Sundays, you go to jail. That makes me feel ancient.
So, at the age of 25, married with two toddlers, and having just built a house, I decided to walk away from hospitality and take out a lease on a "unisex boutique" at 297 Lygon St. Carlton. That is what we called them back then. Not a clue on business or fashion; absolutely NIL. What could go wrong?
It was shoulder to the wheel and going for it at full tilt. Come to think of it, nothing has changed. I think it's called passion. A quick learning process. It was learn or die.
I discovered Flinders Lane. It was New York's 57th street of back the time. Door knocking, selling myself, and buying. My first two labels were Sammi Parasol and Toronto. Unheard of now, they carried stock. You would go in, buy up a break, back to your shop, hang it up and sell it, then go back and repeat, and perhaps add another colour.
We were selling ladies' co-ordinates at $9.95. Later, one of my bravest moves was to drop the 95 cents in the pricing. Then we got on to knitwear, Trim Knit by John Vlahos, polo necks. We used to stick a polo under every garment we sold. Pure wool, at $9.95 in at least eight colours.
I used to go around in my 1964 Holden and fill up the boot and back seat. Paid cash and got 5 per cent discount. Back then, we were given 5 per cent discount for cash, 3¾ if you paid within 7 days, and 2½ if you paid within 30 days. All local. We had an industry.
Then for me, came what I call the Thomas Wardle stable. A king (or should I say, a queen) maker. From him came Perri Cutten, Teena Varigos, Anthea Crawford, Michael Francis, Graeme Stockley, and I also believe Stephen Bennett.
Of course, Steve with his talented and classy sister Jane Parker became Country Road. Before Country Road, there was the trusted brand Sportscraft. Back then, they were pleated check skirts and blouses. Country Road turned our fashion scene inside out.
Beautiful Italian fabrics (we bought from the same mills), and Armani (my God) suiting. All of a sudden, the daughter was buying from the same shop as her mum. It was new, and it was on song. We at DIGBYS were pumping. Consumers were consuming strongly.
Then came Covers by Barry Taffs and Marilyn Said. That last brand was cool, and we could not get enough of it. Shortly after we picked up on George Gross, Harry Who, and Marcus Tusch and Guanta. Their common denominator was beautiful Italian fabrics, which is why I gravitated to them.
Our business grew to 6/7 shops, always in the best locations. We were having fun, always professional, with integrity and excellent working relationships, and, most importantly, very successful.
About 10 years later, I noticed some headwinds facing the boutique industry. Brands started to expand into retail, which I fully understood the reasoning. Of course, they wanted to present themselves at their own best. That changed our model.
I had a meeting with myself, and decided my best option was to go totally vertical. That was a big mountain to climb. Not a problem — passion and enthusiasm prevail. Next chapter.
I need fabric, the best fabrics, exclusive. I need direction. This starts my love affair with Paris and Milano with a side serve of Como, Firenze and Rome. First stop, Premier Vision Paris, the ultimate fabric fair, Dracula in a blood bank. A steep learning curve, but hey, why not start at the top?
My template for the work trip was five days in Paris, consisting of three days sifting through the best fabric ranges, followed by checking out shops for a day and a half in Milano – three hours at Como, three hours at Firenze and R&R for a day and a half in Rome — coffee, pasta, red wine and people watching.
I did that trip at least 40 or 50 times, possibly more — I stopped keeping track.
In the meantime, I also checked out London, New York and Tokyo, but I decided that Paris and Milano was more me. Besides being responsible for fabric and styling, production was and remained mine. In my spare time, I delivered and merchandised. Just as well, I loved it. Our production was always in Melbourne, working with only the best, and that also enabled us to give our customer after sales service with repairs or alterations.
Our business flourished, and we established a legion of loyal customers, which we still have today. Expanding the number of shops was never in my plan, because I wanted to keep it exclusive. Besides, I was and remain a control freak.
We did not increase our number of shops in Melbourne, however, we embarked on doing trunk shows in Sydney and Canberra, each twice per year. We clocked up over 40 events, where we would take up the best of our range, about 400 garments in all sizes and operated from a serviced apartment. No advertising apart from emails to our customer base, and our customers came and conquered.
Of course, I drove up in a big truck loaded with the stock, all equipment and of course a bar. We celebrated our success, even when we weren't that successful. We kept on doing our thing for the next decade, or two, or three. In the process, we had been in and out of 29 different locations, as demographics change.
And now, the end is near. There comes a time. Time to slow down and smell the coffee. And I am struggling with this concept, big time. We have cut back our locations to two, reduced our production, and stopped purchasing fabric.
Is there a next chapter? Perhaps. I still have the passion and the fire in my belly, and thinking sideways, I believe I can contribute by embedding our brand into a larger company, on a freelance basis, in the departments of fabrication, styling, sourcing and much more.
One might say business is challenging. Consumers have cut back their discretionary spending because of the high cost of living, which is why we have been continuously flooded with sale signs, high markdowns highlighted with Black Friday sale, cyber sale, click frenzy, Afterpay sales, end-of-season sales, mid-season sales. Any excuse or reason.
Give me a break!
Besides all this, I feel that the Labor governments, Federal and Victorian, have sucked the joy and reward from many, many businesses, and I am over being a business partner with them. However, business is there. Business will always be there. I have always maintained "good shit sells."
It has been one hell of a journey for over half a century. I would not change any of it for quids. The name, the product, the fabrics, the styles, the quality, the service, the people, the suppliers, the incredibly loyal clientele and last but not least our awesome team and of course my partner and bodyguard Ms. Johan Greig.
I don't wanna go.