Rawhide Rural founder Jasmine Crothers shares secret to success
Based in South West Queensland, Rawhide Rural is taking the western fashion world by storm. Find out how the brand has gone international in just over a year.
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From humble beginnings in a South West Queensland country town, a rural entrepreneur’s efforts to bring western apparel into the 21st century has culminated in a brand that has reached thousands of customers across the globe.
Rawhide Rural’s founder and owner, Jasmine Crothers, is on a mission to bring the western apparel industry into the present.
While the brand is still in its infancy at just a year old, Ms Crothers offers a range of apparel products which unite traditional western style, with the demands and tastes of the modern consumer.
Having grown up on remote pastoral stations in western Queensland, the 22-year-old said she felt intimately connected to the region and always knew she wanted to work in or with the agricultural sector.
She did not, however, imagine herself as the owner of an apparel label.
She said when she moved from Brisbane back west at 19, she wasn’t sure what it was she wanted to do.
However, she realised being the owner of an apparel label “ticked all the boxes”.
And so, she started drawing and designing, creating everything herself before she started sampling with manufacturers.
“There was a lot of trial and error,” she said.
Within two years, Rawhide Rural was launching products.
“Western fashion is stuck in the past,” Ms Crothers said.
She said it was her aim to design western apparel for the modern taste.
Further to that, she said her brand prioritises size inclusivity, and she does all she can to ensure her manufacturing is ethical.
She said in a product’s first release, she might only stock women’s size 8 to 16, but once the product is established, she offers a range from size 6 to 24.
Ms Crothers’ approach seems to be working.
On June 25, the brand launched a quarter-zip jumper. Three days later, Ms Crothers said the stock was 90 per cent sold.
She said her success to date would not have been possible without the help of social media.
With a following of more than 72,000 across platforms, Ms Crothers said her customers are based in New Zealand, the UK, the US, France, Italy, Canada and Germany.
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