Julia Grieve runs into the coffee
shop eight minutes late for our meeting. “So sorry, it’s
so hard getting out of the house with two kids!” To her credit,
this is a start of a very busy day. One she never imagined would
happen, her company's 12th birthday!
Just over twelve years ago Julia
was a model, flying around the world for shows and getting tired
of it. She decided to take a risk. Using savings and a Youth Venture
grant, she opened the doors to Preloved on Queen.
“I’ve always had a
love of vintage clothing, and taking it apart; now I just do it
on a larger scale".
That larger scale now means that
Preloved’s Fall/Winter collection requires 50, 000 vintage
sweaters! Preloved is a brand that sells in shops from London to
Los Angeles; it has boutiques in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.
In July of this year Preloved opens it’s first flagship franchise,
Handcut by Preloved, in Sydney, Australia. It is the largest manufacturer
of re-made vintage clothing in the world with production averaging
1,000 pieces a week.
“I never imagined I would
be here twelve years later. We’ve had a no ad campaign policy
and all of our growth has been thanks to word of mouth,” says
Julia. The word of mouth has spread to the press.
Keeping Mother Nature happy has,
thankfully, never been as in vogue as now, and magazines from Flare
to Ion and LouLou are touting Preloved as the forefront of EcoFashion.
“For every thousand pieces of clothing we make,” boasts
Julia, “ that’s two thousand pieces of vintage clothing
that do not end up in landfill.”
The near future continues to look
exciting for Julia and Preloved. Fall 07 will see the launch of
meme by Preloved, mini versions of the adult collection for Preloved
lover’s babies and kids, as well as a stronger focus on design
and structure in the adult line. As for the more distant future
Julia sees the possibility of a concept store. “I’d
like to do something big,” she says, “ maybe 4000 square
feet. In Toronto or New York. A lifestyle store that will sell Preloved
along side other lines, home stuff, books.”
Later that night, at the Preloved
birthday party, in the otherwise immaculate store, a light fixture
dangles ominously over the head of Dj Barbi. In her summer dress
and stilettos Julia runs to the back and emerges with a ladder twice
the size of her. Her beaming, obviously proud father sets down his
drink, hops up on the ladder and saves the day.
“I never want to be a figurehead
owner,” believes Julia, “Preloved is who I am.”
