Page 23 - Retail Pharmacy Assistants September 2020

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW 21
Founder of swimwear brand IIXIIST, Rebecca Klodinsky exudes resilience and persistence and knows a thing or two about the importance of the right mindset when it comes to self-confidence (in and out of the water), business, and overcoming challenges. This month, Retail Pharmacy Assistants’ Margaret Mielczarek chats with the entrepreneur about achieving your dreams, overcoming battles, readjusting in the face of unforeseen circumstances, and seeing the silver lining in every obstacle.
To start, tell us a little about yourself. Who is Rebecca Klodinsky?
I’m a mum and [as a business owner] I’ve got my hands in every single pocket of my company, [which] I started ... when I was in my early 20s while I was studying a double degree in psychology. So, I’m a multi-tasking introvert, actually.
You have an inspiring business story, building a brand from the ground up, twice: Frankie to Frankie Swim to IIXIIST. Talk us through that and how you came to create the swimwear brand.
It started as a side [interest] that I was doing at uni. I’m a very active person – yoga, Pilates, running, gym, all of that. And I live on the Gold Coast. At the time, I really just wanted a bikini that I could go from the beach to Bikram [Yoga] in. That’s where it came from. I knew what I wanted, and that there was nothing that existed to my brief. Also, price points back in 2012 and 2013 were either hundreds of dollars or Target and Kmart. There was no happy medium. I decided what I wanted to do. I just thought, I’ll give this a crack. I jumped on Google and found ... manufacturers in Indonesia. I drew what I wanted, packed a back-up, went over to Bali and the rest is history.
I didn’t drop out of uni. I deferred just in case things didn’t work out the way they did. I’ve never looked back.
What’s the story behind the
name, IIXIIST?
Frankie is my dog. He’s my best friend and was on the journey with me when
I was registering the name in 2012/13.
I didn’t know what my business was going to be called, I just knew that I needed an ABN and, back then, I had no idea what that meant. He jumped
on my lap and I called [the business] Frankie Swimwear. I set out to change the name once I’d really thought about it. That didn’t happen because the brand just grew. A couple of years later, I was in a bit of conflict with another company, overseas, with a similar sounding name that evidently started their brand the same week that I did. So, I entertained the idea of a rebrand. I misspelled
the name Frankie with double ‘i’ and
I dropped the word swimwear and became ‘Frankii Swim’. I wanted to keep the sentiment of my Frankie but just change it to make a point of difference. But that didn’t work. The brand still grew. I have a huge international audience
or customer base and it [the name] just became a real sticking point. Over the past couple of years, we’ve been in and out of court and lawyers’ offices and I got to the point where I didn’t even want to fight for the name. The name Frankie, for whatever reason, got trendy. So, I just wanted out and thought that this was a blessing in disguise to be able to step away and do another rebrand and really flex my creative muscle again. So, I carried on the double ‘ii’ from Frankie with a bit of sentiment there, and I misspelled the word ‘exist’. Also, after all of these rebrands, I didn’t want a word that was similar to someone else in the world. I didn’t want to grow to another point and then have to entertain another [naming] argument. So, I made up a new word, IIXIIST. We’ve got a new brand and everything’s great.
Describe a pinch-me or growth moment you’ve had in business. Definitely, Rhianna coming on –
she was the first celebrity. And the Kardashian-Jenner effect that came on ... they were great. Seeing my swimwear on these [women] was just mega cool. But then also having to entertain the thought of leaving my house and taking a lease on
a warehouse and an office then employing X amount of staff was just really cool for me. Doing my office fit-out, buying office furniture, a Xerox machine – that was really fun. So, it’s probably those two points of growth that’ve been the best by far.
How would you define beauty
and fitness/health, and why is
it so important that women feel comfortable in their own skin?
How can retail pharmacy assistants inspire their customers to build body confidence?
It’s a mental thing, honestly. After being in this industry and dealing with all these swimwear models who are
different sizes and shapes, I just know that it’s a mental thing. I know that Instagram doesn’t help. Sometimes the way that some brands push, or even the way some influencers influence doesn’t help with self confidence but I think it comes back to just having the awareness that not everybody’s the same. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what you look like, it’s just that you feel good inside. You have to just feel good inside. You can’t spend your life competing. There’s no point in any of that. We’re not all the same. You’ve got to let your customers know that it’s OK to just get on with it. I’m a brand that’s making bikinis for women, all women, all sizes. I’m not just size zero. And I try to give out that information as much as I can, on posts and on stories.
You work in a very competitive
and perhaps challenging industry. How do you maintain motivation
and resilience to continue despite setbacks and challenges?
I just stay in my own lane. From day one I’ve never looked outside my
own circle. And when I say circle, it’s my Instagram page or my website. I don’t like to see what other people are doing, what influencers they’re using, how they’re talking to their consumers ... I just do what I do and focus on my customers, on my followers – what they want, need, expect and how they need to be treated. One thing that sets me apart is that I stay true to the brand and I’m not focusing on trying to keep up. I think I’ve stayed relevant by being myself.
How has Covid-19 impacted your business and how have you overcome these challenges? And how have you ensured ongoing business throughout the pandemic?
The shutdown, lockdown ... the isolation
– all this happened hand in hand within weeks of the rebrand happening. In the beginning I thought, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me, the world has stopped’. But as the days went on, I thought, ‘Hang on a second. This is a blessing in disguise’.
The pressure is off for all brands.
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