Get ready for the most exciting news you’ll hear all day—the label leading the charge of monogrammed accessories, The Daily Edited, is set to launch its first permanent retail space within David Jones Sydney (Elizabeth Street store) on January 29.
The aesthetic of tde. has always been perfectly curated down to the last detail, and in keeping with its brand ethos, the label has enlisted interior designer, Darren Palmer to design the dreamy retail space (custom rose wall and all). Customers will be able to have pieces monogrammed on the spot (how perfect for a last-minute present that looks like you really tried), and design their own fully bespoke tote—the first product tde. have made available for made-to-order.
Since its launch in 2011 by friends and corporate lawyers Alyce Tran and Tania Liu, tde. has experienced rapid growth. And we know this because the entire Who What Wear Australia office walks around in uniform with these monogrammed phone cases and pouches, and we know we’re not the only ones.
To celebrate the labels’ launch into David Jones, we sat down with co-founders Alyce Tran and Tania Liu to find out the secrets behind their success. Keep scrolling to read our exclusive interview.
Who What Wear Australia: How did your partnership with David Jones come about? Why David Jones?
Alyce Tran and Tania Liu: We pitched our product to the head accessories buyers at David Jones and we were so pleased when we found that they had heard of our brand before (what!?) and that a lot of people in the buying office had actually purchased from us before. We then started discussing how we would like to work with David Jones, and a concession store came about. The concession gives us the flexibility to present our range, brand and service offering to how we would like to.
WWW: What is your vision for the brand in 2016?
AT and TL: We would love to continue growing our brand, producing new styles and extending our current product offerings. We would love to become a go-to accessories brand within Australia.
WWW: Where did you get the idea for TDE.?
AT and TL: The product is genuinely product that we love, when we created our first range we thought to ourselves if it doesn’t sell then it doesn’t matter as we love it and our friends and family will just be treated to lovely personalised clutches.
WWW: How did you go from idea to seeing the brand come to life?
AT and TL: We’re both doers. We literally had the idea, designed a few products, found a supplier and went for it! It just built organically from that point.
WWW: You’ve enjoyed enormous success so far—what do you put this down to?
AT and TL: Hard work and the willingness to constantly take risks on new products, people and strategies.
WWW: How did you grow your huge social following? (80,000 Instagram followers, and counting!)
AT and TL: We have been growing our social following organically, we just try to post only quality images that we love. Trust me, we take plenty of pictures that don’t make the cut!
WWW: Do you think your prior roles as lawyers helped get your brand to where it is?
AT and TL: Being a lawyer, you have to think logically, analyse issues in detail and be able to negotiate. These are core skills that I think are essential in running a business. Our business fundamentals are solid in terms of the boring things like structure, cash flows, stock management—and with our creativity we are starting to build a recognisable brand, known for quality, style and service.
WWW: Do you have a large international customer base or are your customers mostly from Australia?
AT and TL: We are starting to significantly grow our international business—it has been growing as our pricing is really competitive due to the falling Australian Dollar.
WWW: Will you look into introducing other fabrications or monogramming colour options?
AT and TL: Yes! We are so excited to launch new leather grains and new monogramming colours in the coming quarter. We have already introduced a couple of new fonts customers are able to choose from for us to monogram their initials and names with!
WWW: Do you have any mentors who’ve helped along the way?
AT and TL: Not as yet but as we are moving into scaling our business to the next level we are definitely all ears on the advice front!
WWW: What has been the best business advice you’ve ever received?
AT and TL: Be careful when making decisions that have a permanent effect on your business. Sounds ominous, doesn’t it?!
WWW: What’s the best fashion advice you’ve received?
AT: You need to define your style! Name three people who you admire style-wise and go with it—that’s from my sister, Caroline Tran.
WWW: What is your proudest moment to date?
AT: Exceeding our already ambitious sales target for December by more than 100%. It was crazy, I didn’t sleep the whole of November and December and drove my team to the brink but we absolutely exceeded all expectations.
WWW: What has been your biggest “pinch me” moment?
AT: Every day is a pinch me moment, I am doing what I love, I have built a gorgeous team to work with every day and I am surrounded by products I love.
If you're feeling inspired, head on over to The Daily Edited to shop your own monogrammed pieces.
If you were to quit your job and start your own company, what would it be? Share in the comments below.
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