In 2019, designers Edwina Forrest and Adrian Norris entered the second decade of their fashion brand Aje, known for its raw beauty, tough femininity and effortless cool. In that time they have grown to 15 boutiques in Australia and a thriving e-commerce business serving customers in over 200 countries worldwide.
Their goal was to create elegant, simple pieces in beautiful natural fabrics with embellishments that could bridge the urban/coastal divide. But as their following grew, they realised that they were tapping into something deeper.
“Aje is grounded in balance – on one hand, the balance between the untamed volumes and structured forms of our silhouettes, and on the other, the balance between Edwina and me”, explains Norris.
Forest echoes, “That duality began to really resonate with women. Women can be at once assertive and vulnerable, polished and effortless, considered and untamed, and Aje had become a platform for them to celebrate their own contrasts and complexities.”
With a reputation for quality and beautifully crafted designs, they have achieved a slew of high-profile celebrity followers. Loved by the likes of Madonna, Kate Moss, Jessica Hart and Phoebe Tonkin, with an already devoted fan-base at home in Australia and a growing international profile, it is evident Aje is expanding at a rapid pace.
“As we grow our goal is to continue to service our customer seamlessly, wherever she is, and we are constantly re-examining our funding strategy in order to keep up,” said Norris.
“We use extremely high-quality fabrics and materials to produce our collections, it’s part of what people love about our brand, but it also makes production costly, especially when supplying the quantities we require,” explains Forest.
Norris continues, “We juggle seasonality with the growth in demand from our own 15 stores and e-commerce clients, to our 45 dedicated concept areas in David Jones department store, where we are the number one selling Australian designer. Timelio has helped us with a trade finance facility to bridge the cash flow gap between payments to suppliers and receipts from customers.”
“The heart of Aje is made up of our collections and our customers. Everything else needs to be perfect so that we can keep creating the most beautiful products for the Aje woman,” Forest confirms.
MORE REVIEWS FROM TRUST PILOT CLICK HERE