Christina Stephens
Video Entry
Business Information
Female Founder:
Jessie Sadler
Links:
How has the business been funded to date?
Bootstrapped, Other
Tell us about your business:
Christina Stephens is Australia’s most recognised adaptive fashion label. Founded by Jessie Sadler, who witnessed her mother struggle to dress after an accident. 20% of Australians are living with a disability, yet the fashion market has largely ignored them.
We add sparkle & sophistication to the wardrobes of prosthesis wearers, quadriplegics, paraplegics, and people in a seated position, letting them wear what they want, not just what they’re given.
Carol Taylor became Partner and Lead Designer in 2022. As the world’s first quadriplegic fashion designer, we became the only Australian fashion label with lived experience at the design and leadership table.
How would $5k or $10k enable you to create more profit and impact in your business?
We want to grow our impact so that everyone who has a disability feels like they have more choice when it comes to their wardrobe. For many years, designers didn’t even consider a fifth of their market, and people with disability were left with ill-fitting hospital gown attire that eroded confidence, and was frankly, downright insulting. Our mission is to diversify our sales channels and grow our BD resources, to reach more of our customers, at scale.
Please outline what you would spend the grant on:
If we were granted $5k, we would continue our push to get our products into the hands of our customers by upgrading our merchandising design (floor displays, mannequins, etc), as well as investing in our inventory manufacturing support and processes.
If we were granted $10k, we would hire additional resources in our marketing team. And we would finally take the exciting step of getting our Gamut accreditation, allowing us to enter the USA market. Our dream is to truly “go global” and this grant would be so helpful in realising it, giving people with disability more choice.
