Designer Suits A Cut Above
Jun 13th, 2008 | By admin | Category: FashionBy Harnessing the power of “word-of-mouth” advertising Patti Ainalis has driven her fashion label a long way from its humble beginnings in a spare room.
As a 21-year-old, Ms Ainalis decided that the three-by-two room opening onto a footpath, was perfect to display her women’s suits to the public.
“I thought, ‘Well, we’ll open the doors and see what happens’,” she said. “And we just had the door open and a client walked in.”
Today - more than 17 years later - Ms Ainalis still keeps in touch with that first client, demonstrating her impressive ability to stay connected to her customer base.
The designer grew her label, Patti Constas (her maiden name) by taking clients’ phone numbers and calling every time she produced new stock.
From there, the business developed quickly, so she changed her strategy, taking down addresses and sending out flyers instead.
“It was impossible to keep ringing everybody,” Ms Ainalis said.
Four years later, she opened her own boutique in Yarraville, her home suburb.
After giving birth to her first child, she decided to sustain the business by hiring out warehouses, sending out flyers and selling between 200 and 250 suits in two-week stints.
Like many of the respondents to the current RACV Business Insurance-Business Owner Small Business Issues Survey, building the business and balancing work and family has been a challenge.
To expose the brand to a wider network, she chose warehouses in different parts of Melbourne.
“By this stage, we were up to about 2500 customers, all word-of-mouth.”
The mother of two now showcases her collection from her own Yarraville warehouse, where she works with image consultants to help clients shape their style.
She uses an email database to communicate with her clients - about 6000 women.
Ms Ainalis was drawn to fashion because it was a creative and challenging career.
After finishing high school in regional South Australia, she completed a correspondence fashion course and later moved to Melbourne, studying at the Melbourne College of Textiles.
A big influence on Ms Ainalis was fashion designer Teena Varigos, whom she worked with as a fashion hand for two years.
“She pretty much took me under her wing,” Ms Ainalis said.
“She has fantastic workmanship. I absorbed as much as I could.”
Ms Ainalis, who found her niche creating clothes for corporate women, said the appeal of suits was that they were an easier way to dress.
While she always stocks classic styles, Ms Ainalis enjoys creating outfits with “a little bit of a twist”.
The designer’s next step will be branching out into corporate uniforms.
“There is a big demand out there for it and that’s going to be my main target.”
Ms Ainalis has created uniforms for real estate firms and has other projects to look forward to.
“And they’ve pretty much come through, again, no marketing, all through clientele who have been with me for many years, who have been happy with the product, who have actually referred me.”
It is an exciting next step for the hard-working designer, who has achieved the goal she set early on in her career: “I wanted to make something of myself and take it as far as I could, which I did and I’ve persisted. I’ve had tough run-ins, but you know, you get there.”
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