Crafting a proudly South African clothing brand for the little ones
Owner Jaclyn Holmes tells us about her business Schnooky Pie, which started as a side venture started and has become a total hit with locals.
How did your business start?
When I was on maternity leave with my first child, I couldn’t find some of the dresses in South Africa that I had seen online, so I started making them with my mom. I soon left my job to work towards creating my first official range (Summer 2015/2016 Collection) that was 100% designed by myself.
Why did you choose this area to set up shop?
I live in Hillcrest and work from home in my office/garage space. There is room to store my stock in boxes and I have a desk with my laptop. Being online allows me to reach a greater audience, and I also do a lot of markets in the Durban area.
How did you find your premises?
I’m based in my home, while my online store is run through an online e-commerce template site called ThreeZee – its head office is based in Station Drive.
Why are the premises ideally suited to your business?
It’s convenient, I’m able to work from home, not limited to regular business hours and able to reach a greater audience. My suppliers are all over South Africa, so I could literally operate my business from anywhere in the world.
Who are your neighbours?
My neighbours are residential, and being online doesn’t allow me to have any work-wise, but there are a lot of other amazing local brands in South Africa which we should try a little harder to find and support.
What are the shop rental/sales prices like in this area?
I am spending around R2,500 – R3,000 a month on online and marketing fees.
How many people go through your store each day?
I’m able to easily measure my traffic, this varies depending on the time of day, week and month. On average I have about 20 – 50 people viewing my site in a day.
Do you have any expansion plans?
Yes, my new Autumn/Winter 2017 range will be launching at the end of May and I’m trying to create designs that are more trendy, local and go up to bigger sizes.
Do you operate online as well?
Yes, my business first started on Facebook and evolved to having its own website.
What’s your most popular item?
My little navy jumpsuits with a coral ice-cream design and coral pom-poms. I literally could not make enough of these for the demand.
Schnooky Pie
schnookypie.co.za
Words: Supplied | Images: Supplied
