How Trash to Treasured’s Tina Abeysekara turned her side hustle into a full-time career

Tina Abeysekara is not alone in her love of Kmart buys and bargain fashion but she’s taken it one step further by quitting her job.

Sydney fashion blogger Tina Abeysekara can sell out an outfit in just hours with a few simple clicks, which goes to show the power of her Instagram page.

A former engineer and government worker, the now 35-year-old began her Instagram page, Trash to Treasured in May 2013 strictly as a side project. Her office was located next to a Westfield shopping centre and she spent many lunch breaks looking for bargain fashion buys.

“I had no idea what I was doing but I was bored,” she tells news.com.au. “My boyfriend encouraged me to get a hobby and I thought honestly, I’m just really good at shopping.”

“I didn’t have a plan, or a goal, I just wanted to fill my spare time.”

The past six years of sharing her affordable and chic outfits have earned Ms Abeysekara over 109,000 followers. Picture: Instagram @trashtotreasured.

A friend later encouraged her to start a blog and Instagram, which in 2013 was primarily dominated with fashion bloggers promoting the latest designer pieces. Instead Ms Abeysekara showcased her affordable and often heavily-reduced finds, shopping at places from Supre to Valley Girl, Kmart and Target.

“It was surprising to have some people come up and say; ‘I usually wouldn’t say this but I know you’d appreciate it, I bought this for $20 at Kmart or Target’,” she said.

“It was taking away from the stigma or buying from affordable places. I don’t want people to think they’re thought lesser of when they do that. It’s just being smart with what your buying.”

While her posts were steadily gaining traction, Ms Abeysekara remembers a specific outfit from February 2016 that even surprised herself with its popularity.

The ensemble was a simple. She shared an $89 outfit featuring a pair of $59 jeans, a $29 blazer and $10 heels, all sourced from Target.

The post received more than 700 likes, a huge jump in the average 300 to 500 similar posts were receiving at the time.

“It wasn’t anything over the top, just a jeans, blouse and blazer but I realised that’s the appeal. It’s an ‘everyday’ look which would have suited many body shapes and lifestyles at an affordable price point,” she said.

“Since then these are the types of outfits that ‘blow up’ or get recreated by my audience.”

It’s still, however, her Kmart finds that cause the most frenzy. Fans of the bargain department store will probably remember a rust and white polka dot wrap dress from March 2019 that had people racing out to get one. Her outfit, teamed with a pair of $8 white sneakers, earned her features from just about every Australian media outlet, plus more than 3000 likes and countless comments.

Longtime Kmart fans will no doubt remember the frenzy this dress caused. Picture: Instagram @trashtotreasured.

“Back in the day it was for the shock factor,” she says.

“It’s also accessible and of course affordable. Most people have a Kmart in their local shopping centre. It’s not something you have to struggle to go and find.”

Her most popular post (pictured) is also from a $44 Kmart set Ms Abeysekara combined from different seasons. The outfit from October 2019 got more than 4800 likes. Picture: Instagram @trashtotreasured.

TURNING HER SIDE HUSTLE FULL-TIME

After successfully running Trash to Treasured as a side hustle for about five years, Ms Abeysekara began struggling with balancing it with her full time work commitments.

“I never thought of Trash to Treasured as a business but I started to get more brand collaborations and began working with shopping centres and style workshops,” she says.

“I was also getting more DMs from people saying ‘I bought that thing you suggested but I don’t know how to style it’. it was then I realised there was a gap and I could do a lot more with the platform.”

However juggling that with her primary job meant working on Trash to Treasured until 2am and undertaking training to become a stylist. She and her partner were set to get married in January 2019 and she didn’t want to take the financial risk.

“I wouldn’t recommend it. It wasn’t sustainable but it was what it was. I had to do that to get to a place where I could leave my job,” she states.

Finally in July 2019, she decided to take a year-long career break with no pay to test her new business model. She evolved Trash to Treasured to offer in-person and virtual style consultation and shopping sessions, which she now charges from $199 to $499. And while she had her heart set on quitting a few months into her sabbatical, COVID-19 placed her “back on the fence”.

Showcasing one of her Kmart steals from May 2014, Ms Abeysekara captioned this post as “Today my shoes cost less than my lunch. Wearing $5 Kmart heels”. Picture: Instagram @trashtotreasured.

THE COVID FACTOR

With 95 per cent of her income through brand collaborations drying up, Ms Abeysekara was faced with a massive decision.

“My parents didn’t understand what I was doing and kept on saying it was a risky move and I struggled with giving my job up after studying for so long,” she remembers.

In the end, however, it was the uncertainty from the pandemic that propelled her decision to quit, for good.

“I thought that if I could struggle through a pandemic then I wanted to give it a good go. Nobody could have predicted the pandemic, so I thought if not now, then when?”

It was a move which ultimately paid off. She began doing virtual styling sessions from March to July and marketing budgets have also reopened.

Reflecting on a tumultuous year, Ms Abeysekara says deciding to quit after her year off ultimately made her better at her “side hustle”.

“I had absolutely no safety net which meant I had to go, go, go and stop second guessing myself,” she says. “I didn’t even know what was holding me back until after I quit but when I did, the world became my oyster.”