In 2013 Donielle Brooke established Designer Wardrobe, a small Facebook group that allowed women to buy, sell and rent designer clothing reflecting the changing way in which New Zealand women shop now. Originally a sort of hobby, Brooke had launched it while taking time off work to
As the group grew, the young entrepreneur was joined by her partner, Aidan Bartlett, with the pair developing a more specialised website for women to trade their designer garments. That had over 2.5 million views in three months, and has recently relaunched with a sleeker design; while the original Facebook group now sits at 39,390 members.
Earlier this year local business accelerator Lightning Lab selected the digital start-up as one of nine in this year’s programme, which saw it receive $18,000 in seed funding and business mentoring, allowing the business to continue its growth with CTO Jarrad Salmon and designer Mike Braid joining the team.
