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Unemployable borthers fashion business
Two brothers believed they were ‘unemployable’ - so their only option was to create their own luxury fashion business. By ELLA WILLIAMS
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Two Liverpool brothers started their own luxury fashion business together - because of how ‘unemployable’ they were.
Ben and Joe Gallagher, from Formby, started their business “Luxe Collective” when they were just 17 and 22. Luxe Collective is all about delivering the most up-to-date, pre-owned luxury pieces directly to your door, offering a quick, stress-free selling process.
They noticed that pre-loved womenswear lacked a lot compared to menswear and Ben and Joe wanted to change that. Instagram pages were full of preloved menswear, but womenswear had not taken off as successfully. This is where the two found a gap in the market and ran with it.
Speaking to MNL, Ben, who is now 21, said: “We’ve always been entrepreneurial, Joe used to sell some of his stuff on eBay, anything from boxers to candles. “We didn’t do well with taking orders off people, I always described us as unemployable.” Starting with £1,200, from Joe’s leftover loan from buying a new car, and Ben’s £200 as a seventeen-year-old boy.
For the first six months, they bought off eBay and Depop and then would clean the stock in the back room of their house. They would then advertise it on their new Instagram page and for those first six months, drove round Liverpool delivering the products.
The brothers would oftendeliver products in person, surprising their female customers. Joe told Merseynewslive, “We’re described as quite the pair with the ladies!” Social media plays a huge part in how their business has rapidly grew. Ben told Merseynewslive: “After we came back from lockdown, we moved to a shop and people were coming down from all over to see us because we have a big following on TikTok.”
The social media platform played a big role during lockdown, when the brothers went from selling 100 items a month to selling around 10. To counter this lockdown slump, they decided they needed to create a TikTok account to gain back the followers they’d lost in lockdown. They create content about luxury items and sustainable fashion - but also, creating quirky content that is funny yet educational for viewers. From tutorials on lacing up, cleaning your shoes, to crazy facts about brands that you might not know. They grew to two hundred thousand followers, to seven hundred thousand followers in just a matter of months “We posted three to five times a day for eight months and that’s how our business really took off.” After them creating a TikTok account, not only does it reach the people of Liverpool. But Manchester, London and Glasgow audiences now reach out to them and want to come and see them. They don’t just sell preloved items. On their YouTube channel, they review trainers, clothes and bags to give as much information about a product to you as possible, so you know what you’re going to receive before you get it. They have videos such as “A day in
Luxe Colletive promises:
1. Authenticity is guaranteed All items we showcase on our website are 100% genuine. We ensure this through rigorous forms of testing by our team of authentication specialists who have a wide range of knowledge built up through several years of experience. 2. Condition is exactly as described We would never sell something we would not be happy receiving. We ensure that each item is accurately described against each condition ranking. We include any extra photos of wear we believe the buyer would want to see. 3. Best Prices when buying & selling Not only will we offer the best prices when purchasing from ourselves but when you want a wardrobe refresh and want to sell your old items, we promise to give fair, accurate prices to ensure peak customer satisfaction. (Image: Luxe Collective/press handout)
the life of Luxe Collective.”
In the next year, they hope to double their staff just with the sheer number of orders they’re getting - and they want to be the biggest in Europe in five years’ time.
