Love Me Again Market: Building a community around pre-loved fashion

"Circular fashion is about being more conscious with what you purchase." - Isobel Dear

After their favourite pre-loved fashion market in Brisbane disappeared, Sarah Hall and Isobel Dear couldn’t quite recapture the same vintage magic anywhere else.

But a thought soon occurred: they were pros at giving clothes a second chance at life – why not try their skills on the vintage market concept itself?

After reaching out to Love Me Again Market’s original owner, Isobel and Sarah relaunched the vintage market and haven’t looked back.

“Love Me Again Market is a great opportunity for people who would've otherwise thrown out their clothes to make an extra buck,” Sarah says.

As sustainability diehards, stalls packed with pre-loved streetwear, vintage and designer clothing now put the pair’s passion on display.

“When you're finished with an item, you find a new home for it instead of directing it to landfill,” Isobel says.

“It gives a longer life to that garment and brings joy to the next owner,” explains Sarah.

Relaunching a business: Do you believe in life after love?

After launching the Paddington Love Me Again Market in 2020, huge demand led to the pair opening a second monthly market in Morningside in 2021.

This rapid growth was no fluke – Isobel and Sarah drew on extensive experience to provide the Love Me Again Markets the attention they deserved.

“Izzy and I both work in marketing, so that really helped us kick off this business,” Sarah says. “We've also worked in events for the last four years.”

As well as laying the groundwork for their business, the pair’s skills also provided invaluable self-assurance.

“Sarah and I were confident enough that we could then source venues, rebrand, relaunch, and get it off the ground again,” Isobel says.

“It was kind of like riding a bike," agrees Sarah.

But most importantly, all the care and attention invested helped their side hustle become more than just a financial venture.

"It's not just a shopping experience, it is a community event." - Isobel Dear

"Visually with the way MYOB is laid out, it really helps you understand the different elements that make up your business financially." - Isobel Dear

Dressing for the occasion with MYOB

Although their expertise revived Love Me Again Market, growth of the business highlighted gaps in Sarah and Isobel’s knowledge.

“When we started the business, we were such rookies when it came to finances that we didn't really have an accounting platform,” Sarah says.

“We were doing everything manually, so our accountant was not very happy with us.”

But the pair soon discovered something that pleased their accountant to no end: accounting software.

“We chose MYOB as our accounting software because it looked so user friendly.”

Isobel agrees that ease of use is a big plus.

Better branding through invoicing

Backgrounds in marketing meant Isobel and Sarah already knew the value of good design, so MYOB’s invoicing options were a big hit.

“Branding is really important to us,” Isobel says.

“MYOB’s invoicing is really great because we can add in our logo and customise the colours,” Sarah says.

And sending out invoices has been just as easy as creating them.

“MYOB's invoicing has really saved us so much time.” says Isobel. “It automates everything.”

“We have a coffee van at every single one of our markets, and we have it set up to invoice them every month,” Sarah says.

"MYOB allowing us to put our personal brand into our invoices makes it really pop for customers." - Isobel Dear

Salvaging time with bank feeds

As they continued to work full time while managing the Love Me Again Markets, Isobel and Sarah relied on bank feeds to free up as much of their evenings as possible.

“Even though you think you're doing it after hours, it still takes quite a lot of time,” Isobel says.

“Bank feeds has changed the game for us in terms of time-saving,” Sarah says. “It saves us hours a month.”

They’re even surprised it didn’t even require a big upfront investment.

“Setting up the feeds was really easy,” Sarah says. “It’s automatically connected to our bank account, which saves us having to manually enter every transaction we make.”

“MYOB has made managing our transactions and our cashflow much easier,” Isobel says.

"Now we can really focus on looking towards the future again for the Love Me Again Markets." - Isobel Dear

Tips for getting your own side hustle off the ground

Having grown a small passion project into a bustling multi-location market, Isobel and Sarah have a few handy pieces of advice up their sleeve.

“Do something you're passionate about,” Isobel says. “Because that's what you'll keep coming back to as the reason you started the business.”

And if it’s something you love, try not to focus too much on profits.

“It's something that we kind of picked up as a bit of a passion project, not necessarily worrying about how much money we would make,” Sarah says.

“It doesn't feel like it takes too much time out of our lives because it's something that we really enjoy.”