A young Australian woman with no previous business experience is now making $25,000 per month after developing her swimwear and tracksuit business online.
Emily Lucin, 26, launched Napoleon Swimwear in June 2018 after struggling to find bathing suits that suited her ‘sporty’ and ‘bright’ fashion style while overseas in Tahiti and Bora Bora.
‘During the trip I looked everywhere for bikinis but couldn’t find a particular style I liked, so on the flight home I started brainstorming business names and designs,’ Emily told FEMAIL.
‘I originally had the business idea a few years ago but kept putting it off due to a lack of time, money and fear of the unknown.’
Emily said throughout her childhood she used to participate in state and national swimming competitions, so she was ‘naturally drawn’ to swimwear as a product to sell.
Emily Lucin (pictured) launched Napoleon Swimwear in June 2018 after struggling to find bathing suits that suited her ‘sporty’ and ‘bright’ fashion style while overseas
Emily said throughout her childhood she used to participate in state and national swimming competitions, so she was ‘naturally drawn’ to swimwear as a product to sell
After returning home from her holiday, Emily started researching ideas and business modules the following week.
Due to a lack of business, finance and marketing experience, Emily said starting the brand was ‘daunting’ as she had to teach herself the necessary skills needed to launch a business and stay afloat.
‘Everything I’ve learnt has been self-taught from Google and by watching YouTube videos,’ she said.
‘A lot of people told me “you need to be good at finance to run your own business”, which didn’t help my confidence because I’m bad at maths.’
Due to a lack of business, finance and marketing experience, Emily said starting the brand was ‘daunting’ as she had to teach herself the necessary skills
Emily said she was determined to succeed and considers herself to be a ‘workaholic’ who ‘loves working’
Despite the array of challenging factors, Emily said she was determined to succeed and considers herself to be a ‘workaholic’.
Emily said the brand development took six months to complete prior to launching.
While developing the brand she worked as a concierge for a hotel and is still working full-time today in a marketing position for a watch company.
While developing the brand, Emily worked as a concierge for a hotel and is still working full-time today in a marketing position for a watch company
Each bikini varies in style and colour, with some offering a sporty crop-top look while others offer support and a tied string back
The Napoleon Swimwear range offers a fantastic collection of bright, colourful swimwear to suit all body types.
The tops and bottoms are priced at $45 each and are made from Italian lycra.
Each bikini varies in style and colour, with some offering a sporty crop-top look and others offer support with a tied string back.
When the COVID-19 lockdown took place in Australia in April, Emily thought this would badly impact her sales on the bikini products.
‘I was so worried no-one would want to buy bikinis because we were heading into winter and no-one can currently travel,’ she said.
To solve the issue, she started selling a a jumper dress along with tie-dye tracksuits as comfortable winter staples.
After promoting the product on TikTok and Instagram, the new tracksuits quickly became so popular the stock sold out within 13 minutes on the website.
Earlier this year she started selling a a jumper dress (pictured) along with tie-dye tracksuits as comfortable winter staples
After promoting the product on TikTok and Instagram, the new tracksuit quickly became so popular the stock sold out within 13 minutes on the website
Emily said the response from customers has been ‘amazing and overwhelming’, as she has not only received orders from around Australia but from several overseas countries too.
‘Around 50 per cent of my overseas customers are from Ireland and others are from Canada, the USA, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Italy and Croatia,’ she said.
There are currently more than 300 people on the waiting list for the second release of the tie-dye tracksuits.
In the first year of business, Emily said the brand was making $3,000 per month and spending more than half the incoming revenue on social media advertising, but now the brand has made $25,000 in the last month with little marketing.
Emily said TikTok has definitely played a vital part in the brand’s growth since the start of the year, as the account has attracted a following of more than 84,000 people.
Emily said the response from customers has been ‘amazing and overwhelming’, as she has not only received orders from around Australia but from several overseas countries
Emily said in future there is the possibility of a re-brand but for now she aims to continue growing the business further.
When asked what advice she has to others who are considering starting the own business, Emily said to ‘just do it’.
‘If it’s something you can’t stop thinking about and you keep avoiding in fear of failure, just do it,’ she said.
‘It’s okay to fail because it’s better than looking back and thinking “what if?”‘
Customers can purchase the bikinis and tracksuit sets from the Napoleon Swimwear website.