CreativeMornings Wellington (CMWLG) is a monthly breakfast lecture series for creative types in Wellington, New Zealand. This month CMWLG are thrilled to share that Clare Bowden from Mandatory will be coming along to their next event to chat about co-founding her own business. 20 years on, Clare knows a thing or two about what it takes to survive in a tough industry.

Tickets to CMWLG’s chat with Clare will go live this Friday 23rd June at 10am.
Pop that reminder in your diary! 

The CMWLG team hope to see you there on Friday 30th June from 7.45am at the BizDojo

“First I was afraid, I was petrified…. Or so goes the famous Gloria Gaynor song about survival. It is a sentiment that will feel familiar to anyone started in business whose planned vocation was and still is “design”. Designer Clare Bowden was youthfully unafraid and naïve to the toil and commitment of retailing her own wares when she co-founded the menswear store and label Mandatory in 1997.

Celebrating 20 years in business this month, Clare knows a thing or two about what it takes to survive in a tough industry. Clare is co-founder and designer of Mandatory and the Director of the whole operation. She started out managing the manufacturing of the duo’s designs and moved to the shop floor out of necessity during the GFC, often coordinating manufacturing at night to keep the ship upright. Good things came of the change.

These days she buys cloth, co-designs the range, and coordinates the manufacturing schedule while working alongside the managers of both sites. She is responsible for some of the longest selling designs in the store. She handles the trickiest of suiting, casual fittings, and draft patterns. Clare also consults on wardrobes for busy men. She keeps regular weekly shifts on the shop floor and works hard to be the great boss she is constantly praised as being.”

For more information visit:
https://creativemornings.com/cities/wlg
https://www.instagram.com/cm_wlg/