Loose Threadz Howick

I'm Debbie Satherley and I sell designer clothing - anything from a Dolce & Gabbana silk dress to a funky WORLD vest, but it all started from little car boot sales in South Auckland.

I've always loved fashion. My previous partner and I separated when the kids were quite small, and I thought 'How am I going to supplement my income, I've got four young children?' And then I thought, 'I love clothes, I love op-shopping - I love anything to do with clothing', so I started doing little car boot sales in a local church carpark. I would drag all the kids along one Sunday a month and started selling my clothes and some of the kid's clothes, and it became quite a profitable little enterprise. I was offered a permanent stall at a market in Otahuhu and stayed there for eight years - I even got asked then "It would be amazing if you had a shop".

A girlfriend of mine, who owned this shop that I'm in now, said: 'Well Deb, I'm getting out of it, would you be interested in taking on mine?' It was a consignment store where you sell designer clothing on behalf of vendors and pay them when it sells. I wasn't too sure, but it was a great opportunity to get into a shop and see how it evolved. Now here I am, three years later.

I thought about opening and letting one person in at a time during the Covid interruptions, but I wasn't too sure about how much foot traffic there would be, so I have mainly been selling online using TradeMe, Instagram and Facebook. I have some wonderful friends who have really engaged with me. It is just a matter of reinventing yourself in this situation and finding other avenues to promote your business.