Argylica Conditsis and her brother William have made a remarkable achievement by being among Australia's most wealthy under 40, according to the Young Rich issue, out on Friday.
The Australian Financial Review Magazine met with Argylica Conditsis, the founder and CEO of Babyboo, who is now 30-year-old.
“Back in the day we’d shoot once a month, but now we’re shooting once or twice a week to keep up with brand growth – and next week we’re moving offices,” she explains with an exhausted sigh. “Currently we’re at 45 staff, but we just keep outgrowing our space.”
Sydney’s Baulkham Hills has been the brand’s base for the past five years and the impending move to St Peters is a stopgap while Babyboo’s two-storey waterfront office in Glebe is finished.
“When I started this 13 years ago, I never imagined we’d achieve what we have,” she says.
“I had no experience in e-commerce or fashion, I had zero funding, no capital, no connections, and I was very naive. I never planned for it to be this big. It just took off internationally. So, we rolled with it.”
“We” includes William, her co-director and 28-year-old brother, who only managed one year of a degree in creative intelligence and innovation at UTS before his sister implored him to help with the burgeoning direct-to-consumer business where he is now the general manager and head of brand.
Babyboo originated when Conditsis was 17 and desperate to find a pair of bedazzled statement heels she could wear out at night.
“I wanted some covered in diamantes and rhinestones but couldn’t find any, so I’d make them,” she explains. “Men would stop me in the street and tell me they were the nicest things they’d ever seen. I thought, you know what? I can make a business out of this.”
With $1000 saved from waitressing shifts at Pizza Hut where she earned less than $10 an hour, she had pairs made, popped them on Facebook, and they all sold out.
Buoyed by the positive response, she pivoted into clothing with five “bright, sparkly” party dress designs that epitomised her “out-there” aesthetic.
“Argylica at 17 really wanted to be that centrepiece,” she laughs. “I thought nothing of leaving the house wearing feather jackets.”
Naming the brand after her boyfriend’s (now husband) nickname for her, Conditsis built the business over the next few years around a direct-selling model that leaned heavily on its social media followings (1.5 million on Instagram; 497,000 on TikTok; 180,000 on Facebook) to drive traffic and sales to their online storefront.
Although Conditsis’ design team churns out 50 to 60 new looks every month (“we drop one – sometimes two – collections every four weeks”), she argues this isn’t fast fashion.
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