21. Motto Fashions

Revenue: $8.04 million
Growth: 34.76%
Founders: Lauren French and Faye Browne
Head office: Melbourne, VIC
Year founded: 1986
Employees: 15
Industry: Retail
Website: motto.com.au

How Motto Fashions started

Lauren French was eager to take the reins of family business Motto Fashions, started by her parents 30 years earlier. 

Envisioning sweeping changes, she used her fashion industry background – and knowledge of e-commerce – to propel the business into the modern age, splitting its bricks-and-mortar from online, and treating Motto Fashions 2.0 as her own startup.

Growth

Since 2017, the company has gradually transitioned into e-commerce, and when Covid-19 hit, it was truly sink or swim. It was here that French’s vision truly came alive. Before the pandemic, 82% of revenue was from in-store sales.

In 2021, French bought Motto Fashions from her parents, and immediately went on to make more than $5 million in revenue — five times more than in 2019.

Since then, the company has switched to a mass marketing strategy, including saturating social media with influencer collaborations, and targeting its audience of with strategic paid advertising.

Where to next

French’s new goal is to exceed $40 million in turnover by the time she turns 40 – just three short years.

To get there, Motto Fashions wants to expand internationally, tapping into new customer bases, offer pop-up shops to engage with customers more personally, and expand its range into prominent department stores like David Jones, boosting its retail footprint and accessibility.

Motto Fashions was shortlisted for the Retail Award at The Smart50 Awards 2023.

Back to The Smart50 Awards 2023.