It’s a start-up fairytale: friends with skills that
complement each other (Yan, law and finance
acumen; Santilli, fashion experience) filling a
void in a market that’s on the cusp of exploding.
Five years ago Nimble Activewear was born,
and today the homegrown brand has
e-commerce and two bricks and mortar stores.
“We launched out of our genuine need for
highly technical activewear that performed
during any exercise class but was also stylish
enough to wear out to brunch, too,” says Santilli.
“It was a fledgling trend when we started, but
as the business has grown we’ve learnt so
much about the industry that we’re increasingly
focused on doing our bit to make the world
a better place through our sustainable and
philanthropic efforts.”
The next chapter for Nimble is a thoughtful,
sustainable one, as the brand launched their
Compresslite range made from recycled
plastic bottles. “By June, we would have saved
550,000 bottles from going into landfill,”
says Santilli. “Sadly the fashion industry is the
second biggest polluting industry in the world
and we’re determined to help turn this around;
innovation for us means
constantly evolving our
sustainability practices,”
she says. And they hope
other brands will follow
suit. “We think all brands
should commit to being
innovative with product
development and eco
and ethical practices,
regardless of whether
they’ll get kudos for it,”
says Yan. “It’s brilliant we’re in a time where
consumers appreciate transparency and can
spend their hard-earned money with brands
that align with their values. It’s the best way wecan bring about change in our industry.” (^) >
In just a handful of years, Rajarethnam
has gone from being an entry-level
marketing and PR coordinator to the
CEO. The lightning fast progression
is unusual, but completely on brand
for Rationale, the Melbourne-based
luxury skincare company founded by
Richard Parker, which prides itself on
moving to the beat of its own drum.
As she quickly climbed the ladder,
Rajarethnam was afforded different
views from each rung, an advantage
now that she’s navigating a massive
growth phase. “I’ve experimented
doing almost every role in the
business and understand how every
single department and role is vital
to our success,” she says. “I believe it
has also set me up for success.
It developed my resilience, initiative,
agility and tenacity and underscored
the importance of guardianship
within a brand.” Here are her three
rules for success...
RULE 1:
KNOW YOUR BRAND
“I am steadfast in my belief that we
have remained relevant and world
leaders in the luxury skincare industry
because we don’t deviate from our
DNA and heritage. We are quietly
determined to provide the best
offering to our clients in a timeless but
contemporary way. With our Lab
and Research Team, led daily by
Richard, we have the resources and
capacity to create an endless stream
of world-leading formulations. But we
have never been a trend-focused
brand and we never will be.”
RULE 2:
STAY FOCUSED
“Our simple but complex concept of
delivering to our clients luminous skin
for life underpins everything we do at
Rationale. It has empowered us to
stay focused on our clients, who in
turn speak on our behalf. Happy
clients are incredibly important and
powerful, however, and this may
seem controversial, we’ve never
been a brand that’s been led by
our client. Instead, we have always
focused on what we know our client
needs and deserves and we continue
to innovate and challenge every part
of our business to deliver this.”
RULE 3:
THERE ARE NO BAD IDEAS
“The beauty industry is formidable
and has a powerful platform, and
we have a responsibility to push
innovation not only across products
and services but through our talent
and business functions. It is my
responsibility to encourage the
leaders in the business to think
differently and suspend judgement
on how things should traditionally be
done. We run quarterly sessions
called ‘Innovation Kitchens’
where everyone participates
in putting forward ideas.
During these open sessions,
there are no bad ideas and
we have seen some pretty
incredible initiatives from it —
a few actually launching this
year. Watch this space.”
INSPIRE
MEANINGFUL
CHANGE
WITH KATIA SANTILLI
AND VERA YAN, FOUNDERS OF
NIMBLE ACTIVEWEAR
BEAUTY BIZ
“WE’RE
FOCUSED on
DOING our bit
to MAKE the
world a better
PLACE”
IGNORE TRENDS
AND KNOW
YOUR BRAND
WITH SHAMINI RAJARETHNAM,
CEO, RATIONALE SKINCARE
Antioxidant
Hydrogel, $175,
RATIONALE,
rationale.com Tights, $99, Studio To Street II NIMBLE
ACTIVEWEAR,
nimbleactivewear.com
Double Tempo Sports Bra,
$69, NIMBLE ACTIVEWEAR,
nimbleactivewear.com