This fashion founder wants you to get “addicted to failing”

0:04Priya McPherson:Shameless Media. We're back with another installment of our mini-series Face to Face, proudly brought to you by Dan Murphys. In this three-episode series, we're inviting you to sit down with three tastemakers making a mark in their industry. They're the kind of people we'd love to sit down for a drink or two with. Within each episode, we'll deep dive into their business and career journeys, lessons they've learned along the way and what's next for them. It's all in the name of great drinks and even better conversations. This series is made possible by Dan Murphy's, the ultimate tastemaker bringing us the next generation of delicious low-alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks.

0:43Head in-store or to the app to be inspired and find your new favourite. And remember to choose to drink wise.

0:56Hello, I'm Madison Sullivan-Thoughts, Stylish's Wednesday and Friday co-host. Welcome back to Face to Face. Today I am joined by Priya McPherson. Priya, welcome. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. We're so excited to have you. You are our lucky last Face to Face. Leaving the best till last, dare I say. Exactly. Look, we don't have favourites. We're not allowed. Yeah, I know. Priya, you have a very impressive bio. I was saying to our previous guest Gladys that every bio I read feels more and more impressive. This is a phenomenal one. I'm going to read it as if you're not in the room with us, but I don't want to get any of this wrong.

1:32Priya, you are the founder and director of Melbourne-based fashion labels Sage Avenue. After studying business, economics and law, you realised you wanted to explore your lifelong love of fashion by creating your own handbag label, which we love. You had one as you walked in. Born from a love of vintage handbags and clothing, you launched Sage Avenue in 2023. You've now expanded into clothing, collaborated with brands like A Brand Jeans and accrued a very loyal following and pretty much every one of your jobs sells out. It's insane. I can't believe it. Thank you for that, by the way. That's a great way to start my morning.

2:05Yeah, I know. It's like, you're like, great. My work here is done now. I'm like, I've got my bio. Literally. But yeah, an incredible journey. good synopsis. We're so excited. We feel like you'll have so many insights for us and we know that our audience really love tangible advice and obviously you would be someone they look up to. So this is so exciting. We love a recommendation at Stylish and for anyone who listens to our Wednesday episodes, there will be no stranger to our segment called The Swap. I think that I've probably been influenced the most by Jo and Annika's swaps, but we wanted to kick off today by asking you what your swap was?

2:38I love the swaps, just FYI. They're my favourite things at the start of an episode. I'm always clocking them and writing them down. So if this helps anybody, I will be so happy. Great. It's an outfit ritual. Okay, perfect. It is. And I really have thought about it a lot recently because I've just come back from holiday and really getting back into the start of the year, getting into my flow. So basically, I think you'll agree with me in this. I truly, from the bottom of my heart, believe in the power of a good outfit. There is something about putting on an outfit and it like naturally your shoulders move back you're walking out of your house and you're like oh this is my world you're all living in it yeah so what can I do in my day the day before to make sure that I have a powerful outfit the next day so what I do is I pick one piece from my wardrobe the night before only one let's say it's like a patterned midi skirt and then I wake up in the morning and it allows me still to have freedom in terms of how I'm feeling my mood do I want to wear a lucid top do I want to wear a tighter top how do I want to style it.

3:31But at least that first decision is made because sometimes I think in the power of a good outfit, when you're frazzled and getting ready, that just like ruins your mood completely. Totally. So I try and pick one, remove the first decision making process of it all. And then I still have freedom to choose. So if you can pick one piece before your next day and see how you feel the next morning and plan around. Such a great tip. It's almost like the anchor piece of the outfit. Exactly. Do you go off vibes or is it like, I know it's going to be warm. Are you checking the weather or it's just like vibes?

4:02Oh, I am a check the weather three times a day. I am like, even though the weather app, FYI, Apple is never really correct. Never. Never. But I like to check the weather and just how I'm feeling. If anything, you can also change the next day. If you don't want to wear the skirt, don't wear the skirt. It's really not a big deal. It's just an idea. And it just helps make the one less decision in the morning. Absolutely. I think that's like a Melburnian thing as well to check the weather that often. Sorry to our interstate listeners, but I think that's like we have four seasons in one. Priya, you have Sage Avenue.

4:31As we mentioned, we all commented on your handbag when you walked in, but prior to starting it, you'd never owned a business. What surprised you most about being a brand founder and having your own business? I think what surprised me the most was a lot of the mental internal thoughts that one has. I think when you come from a place of not having the experience or the background or the knowledge, you initially come back on the back foot a little bit if that makes sense so you feel a little bit more scared you're a little bit more fearful and I didn't even know how to design a tech pack when I first started let alone like know what fabric was right and not so I was really starting off fresh and I think for a lot of people when they're starting a business and especially for me at a young age and not having the experience it was more just having to show myself that I can do it and believe in myself you get the thoughts of is this going to fail is this actually going to work.

5:21This is not going to work. My face is the brand of it. And if it doesn't work, people know that I'm the one that failed. But at the end of the day, I always have said to myself, and from now I can look back and say, you just have to do it and you have to go for it. But I think the one thing that surprised me the most was the internal thoughts, like not having the self-belief in yourself. Because at the end of the day, you have to be your own best friend. You are the one doing this business. You are the one behind it. And you have to really show up for yourself. And it can be really hard to show up for yourself when you don't believe in yourself.

5:53And that's really challenging. And that's something I really felt in the first year, especially being young, especially not coming from any sort of marketing experience or anybody who I've had as a close mentor. I mean, I have had my mum, my mum and my parents both are entrepreneurs to give you a bit of background. I think a lot of people don't realise how overwhelming the internal thoughts can be, especially in the first year. It's just the first year. We had Nick Shelton on as our first guest for this face-to-face series and he spoke about the first two years when you're young you get a grace period he's like naivety is kind of an affectionate thing and he was like after that it's kind of like you've got to know your stuff you started in 2023 we're now in year three like do you feel that that resonates with you that kind of sentiment and statement do you mean in terms of does it resonate not believing in myself or in the sense of like you know externally not knowing and asking all the questions and kind of asking people to back you and bet on you is more affectionate at that time.

6:50But by year three, you're like, okay, I've kind of got to know my stuff now. I've got to back this and me. Totally. I couldn't agree more. The thing that I say in terms of this is I have learned to get addicted to failure. So in the first year, I was like so fearful of a drop not doing well, obviously, when you make it sell a drop, which FYI, we sell our handbags and our power pieces in a drop style model. So if a drop didn't do well, that is like, you need the money to keep the business going. You want it to do really well. You're in the first year, like, please like show me that this is actually going to work.

7:20Now I'm sitting here in year three being like, show me why it doesn't work. Let me get addicted to the fact that it doesn't work and why not? And what can I take from that to take somewhere else? And so I back myself more. I think that's a really strong indicator of me just being a bit more confident and backing myself and being like, okay, if it didn't work that one time, that's okay, I'll keep it moving. It will always work out and it will always be okay. But in the first year, I lacked that mindset. And so now in year three, I can actually sit and be like, oh, it's actually going to be okay.

7:48I mean, obviously, I've got this. I mean, you do get really challenging times, but you do have a lot more inner confidence and you don't reach out as much as I did in the first year for that. You know, is this actually going to work? Is like asking someone, do you like this design? would you wear this? What about this? And now I really know and I have a bit more confidence. And so I think that's just a really reflection of me getting addicted to failure. I love that. And that evolution of you as an extension of the brand as well. So obviously you've got Sage. You also, I feel so weird saying Sage because Annika has Sage agency.

8:22I'm like, oh my goodness. I'm like, Sage Avenue. Yes. But you're also a content creator as well. Talk us through what a traditional day might look like in both of those lives? Yes. Well, every day is different. Every day is different. Also, I am about to finish my law degree as well in terms of that. So every day typically includes a little bit of first starting off with my emails, doing SAGE. Then I do my bit of my law assignments or a little bit of law study in between there. If I'm driving somewhere, I listen to my law lectures as a podcast. It's like, that's my little way of getting around it.

8:52That's my little recommendation. Put your lectures on as a podcast in the car, really helps save time. and then I tap into my content creation. But I do think that my content creation is really a reflection of who I am and what I'm going through in a day-to-day situation. So that comes quite naturally and intertwines quite well into what I do. If I'm having a hard day doing Sage, I'll share it. If I'm having a really exciting day and I'm really proud of something, I'll share it. And so it is a natural reflection of my day-to-day. So I think that the content creation really flows in between. But if I were to give you a whole day, it's a mixture of three different jobs.

9:25Sage, lore, content creation. Yeah, wearing lots of different hats. Yeah. When you first, obviously you're studying at the time, you're creating content, but when you first thought of Sage, like Sage Avenue, what was the inspiration behind it? What made you want to start the brand? Do you want the long version or the short? Always the long version. Girl, I'm like, there was a TikTok recently that I reposted. I'm obsessed with it. And I was like, I'm going to make a long story short, girl. I don't want the short version. I'm like, I'm always going to give you the long and I always want the long in return.

9:55Oh, I love that. Okay, here we go. So I was working at a social media agency and TikTok was really becoming a big thing then. And I started to have all of these ideas. And as people know, in agency, it's approvals on approvals on approvals. You have to wait. You have to wait for the other business to approve it. Then it comes back. Then you do it and you've missed the trend. And so I had all of these huge ideas. At the same time, I was doing my law degree and I remember being like, I want to do more in this agency, but I didn't have the days and the hours. So I was always wanting to reach for more.

10:24And both my parents are entrepreneurs to give you a little bit of background. Well, we did all the background. I know. I'm like, we've got background docs on everyone. I love it. Everyone's like, in case you didn't know, I'm like, we read all the things, anything, any video we can watch, any piece of info we can read. 100%. Well, it was a really big, a really big element into why I started it, both my parents being entrepreneurs. So essentially I decided to leave the agency and I was like, okay, I want to start a business. What is that business? I have no bloody clue. Like I have no clue. I'm a girl that likes to chat.

10:54I like to wear cute outfits. Like I'm studying a law degree and I don't even know if I want to do it. I had no idea what I wanted to do. And so I started to write down, okay, who makes me what I am? What's my human capital? What are my strengths? What are my weaknesses? What is the essence of pre-McPherson? I'm personable. I like coffee, like just the most random of things. And I wrote it all down on a piece of paper. and as I was doing this and I was as I was going through my head about being like okay what's the business that I want to start one of my really close friends at the time called me and she was like oh I had such a hard night last night and I was like what happened and she was like oh you know my boyfriend he asked me to come out and it was like 9 p.m I had to quickly get dressed and rush and I left the house and because I didn't like my outfit so much went wrong that night and it was just all in my head and and I just made it such a bigger deal than I needed to be and it made me realize in that moment the power of a good outfit and something that has always been so close to my heart.

11:49In the morning, I really try to make a conscious effort to put on an outfit that makes me feel powerful and reflects my mood for the day, right? Something that I can put on and I'm like, I'm walking out this door and this is my world, you're living in it. Shoulders back, it's this inner spark and inner confidence that only I can bring for myself. Then I asked myself, what about my outfits brought that inner spark out of me, brought that inner confidence, pushed my shoulders back a little bit, you know what I mean? And so I realized I'm a very classic everyday jeans, everyday white t-shirt. And I would walk a few steps down the hall to my mom's vintage handbag collection.

12:22My mom is a vintage handbag lover and I would grab a red, really pop of color, unique handbag. I'd pop it on my everyday outfit and I'd walk out of the door, shoulders back, ready to go for my day. And it was this aura, this energy and this inner spark that only I I could bring for myself. That was really important to me. And that's why I started doing handbags. It's because that was what made me feel good every morning. Yeah, it was like the one little thing that kickstarted it. Yeah, exactly right. So you've got your mum's love of handbags and vintage to think. Yes, literally, 100%. Thanks mum for not donating them or selling them back in the day.

12:56I thank my lucky stars for that, except the saddest thing about it, not the saddest, but we have different shoe sizes. That is. That really breaks my heart because my mum has some incredible shoes and I wish I could wear them. Do you feel that you were inspired by your mum's love of fashion growing up? Like you talk about, you know, this, I guess, an outfit being an armour for you and being something that, you know, you use to kind of transcend you throughout the day. Has your mum always loved fashion as well? She has. She's always loved fashion. I think I always was the one growing up before anyone left the house, they'd be like, Priya, what do you think of my outfit?

13:29What should I change? Do you like it? Do you not like it? And I was always the one being like, no, I don't like that. Let's change that. Let's do this. Oh, I love this. This looks amazing. I'm actually going to borrow that one day. And so my mom, whilst she collected so many beautiful pieces, I was still so a part of that process for her and being her vice in that moment to be like, oh, I like that. Or I don't like that. Or what about this and changing it up? Going through that experience with my mom really grew my love for fashion and how it made her feel. So then how it made me feel and then so on and so forth.

13:59Look out, Laurel Roach. It sounds like you were doing it from a very early age. I feel like that audio was like Maddie knew who she was from an early age. Yes, literally. You've spoken before as well about your multicultural background being Thai and Indian and the way that that's influenced your life. I'd love to know how your multicultural background has influenced your sense of style, if at all. 100%. So I am Australian, as I'm also a Thai citizen, and I've got Indian blood. That is something I am insanely proud of and so grateful of. It has been immersed in my life ever since I was young. We travelled to Thailand three times a year.

14:36We have, I've got a citizenship so I can go and I've got a passport, I can speak a little bit of Thai. An amazing story I want to share about travelling and being a part of so many different cultures and how lucky it is is when I started Sage, my grandma and I walked the leather lanes in Thailand and my grandma was my translator. My grandma was the one who was bargaining for me, who was asking for this, doing this, and we would go into people's factories and see how they were doing it all. And I literally walked the local leather lane markets in Thailand with my grandma to find our handbag manufacturers.

15:06It is something that I hold so close to my heart. And I say that the world is its own classroom. I love to travel. I love to see how people live, how they love, how they talk, how they dress, how they represent themselves. Culture has been such a key foundation to who I am. It shapes me. It has helped me build my business and equally it has allowed me to see so many different aspects of the world and have different perspectives which is just yeah something I'm so and I know it's a very grateful thing to have I'm very very appreciative to have that second home. My goodness how fortunate and also what a beautiful story that your whole family has essentially been involved in either inspiring or creating Sage Avenue.

15:47Oh 100 % it takes a village I grew up with a family that is so large and is a village. And when we started Sage, everyone was involved, right? From my sister to my grandma, to my aunties, to everybody. And kind of on that point, it feels like you have a very like matriarchal family, you know, sounds like very strong, influential females in your life. How has that shaped the person you are? You know, grandma's, it sounds like she's got a lot more to offer rather, but I mean, she's great bargaining tool as well. Yeah. No, she definitely as my grandma was incredible, my nani. I did grow up in a matriarchal family and both my parents worked.

16:23And as I said, they both worked really hard as entrepreneurs. My mom is the biggest role model in my whole entire life. She owns six businesses. She speaks five languages. She is incredible. My dad would drive me to school, take me to soccer, like take me out for lunches. And so my mom get up at 6am, come back at 9pm. I'd go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, 3am she was up working at her laptop. She lives and breathes working. She loves it. But I also saw how much independence and power it gave her. In turn then, it showed me how important it was to have something of my own and to have something that gave me a sense of purpose and an identity.

17:06So to my mom and to everybody in my family, I will be forever grateful for because especially my mum. She's the one that really showed me how powerful it is to do something of your own. And of those six businesses, were any of them in fashion or are you the first foray into fashion for the family, you know, taking a passion and making it a business? Yeah, so interesting. Actually, I think I did grow up my whole life, mum being like, what business do you want to take over? Which one do you want? I was like, I don't want any. I love you, but I don't want any. I want to do my own. And my mum did have a semi-fashion forward focused business because we are part Thai.

17:42We own a factory in Thailand where we manufacture our sportswear. So you think sportswear for like Bob Stewart, Dobson's. My mum also does scrubs. So workwear kind of stuff. So one would say manufacturing. Yes, we're in that area. However, in this fashion centric world that I am in, it's slightly different. But yeah, there's similarities there for sure. Yeah, I think these are a little more chic than Although I must say, I do go to my local coffee shop and there is one nurse that I constantly see who has the chicest scrubs I've ever seen. So I'm not even going to say that scrubs aren't as chic as handbags because I've seen it done.

18:17Yes, no, 100%. If you could go back when you think of the infancy of Sage Avenue and you think about, you know, building the brand and how you felt at that time and what advice you leaned on, whether it was from, you know, your family or, you know, looking inward now. what advice would you give someone who's maybe at the start of their own journey and looking to kind of do the same thing? My one piece of advice that I would give somebody if they were where I was three years ago starting a business I would say sometimes going for it and not waiting for the perfect moment outweighs waiting for the perfect moment.

18:49So when you go and you wait for the perfect moment everybody's waiting for that light bulb it's like when's it going to come? Maybe you get the idea but then you start to criticize it a little bit because you want it to be perfect And here we are, three months later, it hasn't been started. Now we're 80 and we're still criticizing the idea. What I'm trying to say is a lot of people try to perfect a specific idea, a strategy, a moment. Sometimes and often, most of the times, doing it when you're not ready to do it outweighs. You learn through the process. You fail hard. You learn quick. You also do things so unconventionally, I feel, when you don't have the experience or the previous knowledge about how to do it.

19:28I think you fail a lot, but you learn a lot. And at the end of the day, no matter what happens in this world, and I will say this to everybody, no matter what happens, you are going to be a better person and a better business person because of it. You will take something away from that experience that you can take to your next step. You can take something from that that can keep growing your business and you can leave things behind. You learn a lot through that process. And not knowing sometimes I think is just way more preferable than waiting for the perfect moment to do it. Yeah, I think that's really great advice because so often, and I think it's an inherent female thing, we are so used to trying to get everything perfect.

20:06And, you know, I had a male friend recently, we were talking about it and he was like, I think that men kind of wait for it to be 70 % and then give it a go. Women are like, oh, it's only 97 % of the way there. So I love that advice to kind of just dive in and figure it out as you're swimming. Have you heard about the 60 %? No. Okay. So I saw this on TikTok. TikTok's where I get all my pieces of information, my pockets of advice. TikTok's my Google search bar nowadays. Okay. So basically what this lady said was do everything in the 60%. If you are 60 % okay with it, go for it. Do it. Post the TikTok if it's 60 % okay.

20:44Because in the 60 % is where you are not perfecting it. You are not criticizing it, but you are still happy with the piece of product that you're bringing out. So do it in the 60%. If you're 60 % okay with the video that you've made, post it on TikTok. Obviously within reason. For legal reasons, don't hold me accountable. But within reason, of course. But yeah, try and do things in the 60%. Remove the pressure of it being 90 or 100. Do it in the 60. Absolutely. I love that. We'll need to find that creator and make sure we can credit them because that sounds like a very great video that we all need to go and watch.

21:18We'll get right back into the rest of the interview with Priya right after a word from today's sponsor. Guys, let's talk goals. I know you have them. Maybe they're work related and you have big plans for your career or business in 2026. Maybe they're to do with money, self-care, travel, or all of the above. Or maybe you want to zoom in on your wellness and become the best version of yourself. I think we can all relate to that one. A big part of this is our drinking habits. I've noticed in my friendship circles and online, there's a lot of conversation around dialing back the drinking and exploring more low and non-alcoholic options.

21:54Most of us know that Dan Murphy's is the place to go for beer, wine and spirits. But what you might not know is they have the most impressive selection of low-alcoholic drinks too. For example, you don't have to go without your midweek wine, but you can make it lighter with something like the new Chapel Hill Enlightened Pinot Grigio or Y Series Lighter Shiraz. There are tons of light and mid-strength beer options as well. Apparently, the Coopers Mild Ale and Coopers Zero are fan favorite. If you haven't found your low alcohol go-to yet, Dan Murphy's can help. Drop in store and chat to the team or browse the app to find out what's new and what's trending.

22:31Remember to choose to drink wise and a huge thank you to Dan Murphy's for making this episode of Stylish possible. Okay, so we love a rec. As I mentioned, we've obviously had the swap, but my favourite recommendations are the rapid fire ones on the fly and our audience love them too. So I'd love to ask you a couple if you don't mind. You just mentioned that you live on TikTok. It's your Google search bar now. So what social media accounts do you look to the most for fashion advice? Pinterest or TikTok. Yeah. Okay. Is there a particular creator that you gravitate to or love? I love, do you know Manana Marie?

23:05No. Oh my god, I am obsessed with her. Manana, she is amazing. I love her style. I love her energy. She's really authentic. She dances when she's showing her videos. She lives with her partner, Juan, who's also insanely stylish. FYI buys her the most incredible pieces. Okay, great. And then they also match and I'm like, goals. But really, she's incredible. I love her style. I think it is really easy to digest. It's really easy to replicate. And it's somebody I look to often. So I'm an Anna Marie. Great. I love that. I love these recs as much as our audience do, because I'm always like, good thing I get to listen back.