full interview: creating a profitable D2C knitwear brand with Molly O'Halloran
A summary of May's YKWU digital session with knitwear designer and entrepreneur Molly O'Halloran.
On Monday, we hosted the third edition of our YKWU Digital series and learnt how to create a profitable D2C knitwear brand from Molly O’Halloran.
Molly started her career as a knitwear designer and product developer after graduating in 2019. She gained broad industry experience through internships at prestigious brands like Marc Jacobs, Pringle of Scotland, and Country of Origin. This exposed her to different company types and processes. In 2020 during the pandemic, she began experimenting with knitting techniques like cabling and hand dyeing at home for her own portfolio. Seeing potential in her knitwear, she launched a Depop store in 2020 and found early success selling unique two-tone designs. Demand grew quickly through her Instagram marketing, allowing Molly to leave her job and focus full-time on running her own brand within a few months.
She has since developed the business into a recognised knitwear label, while maintaining her handmade quality and style.
Despite having a hectic day, Molly was in good spirits throughout the session and covered a variety of topics, from managing a business to selling on platforms such as Depop. She also answered questions about being a lone designer and how she eventually hired a team.
Lessons learned:
Think of yourself as your target audience
Before you start selling, think about the type of clothes you'd want to wear.
Manage running costs
Keep track of material, studio, packaging, and postage costs.
Less is more
If you’re a lone designer, you should focus on making unique garments rather than a full collection.
Understand pricing
D2C includes more running costs but allows you to retain the margins that would otherwise go to wholesalers and retailers.
Embrace newness
Keep your brand updated, whether it's stocking 1 or 2 new items every month, or reshooting pieces with different models.
Be unique
Good graphics and images make your brand stand out on social media and selling platforms as people buy with their eyes.
Trust is key
Collaborating with influencers is a good way of bringing awareness to your brand, but make sure you're on the same page.
Watch a preview:
Become a member to access the full video and Molly’s presentation. Plus we’ve picked out answers to our favourite questions including how to create an initial pricing strategy, hiring and leveraging media. Plus where to source high quality yarn. Get access to this plus previous YKWU Digital talks for £5.