Replic: the blog

Kylie Brule started Kylie and the Machine from a small corner of her lounge room, motivated by a love of sewing and the need for flexible work as a stay-at-home mother. Over the years, her business has grown far beyond what she initially imagined, allowing her to create a supportive workspace for other parents while maintaining her creative passion. She shares insights into her entrepreneurial journey and discusses the challenges of running a global business.

What prompted you to start a business?

I was a stay-at-home mum looking for additional income for our family. I was already sewing and thought, “Maybe I could do something with this, because this is what I like to do”.

I just started doing the labels. I wanted something small because I lived in a small house. I couldn’t afford to be bulky. I didn’t have a warehouse or anywhere to store products; I just had a bit of space in the corner of the lounge room. 

I thought I would build a hobby business where I’m supplementing the income for the family. But then, of course, it became bigger and bigger, way bigger than I ever thought. Which is a good problem to have. Then it got chaotic, and then it was COVID.

I also don’t think that my lifestyle would have fit with having actual employment. I needed the flexibility that comes with running your own business. As a stay-at-home parent, you don’t get big chunks of time. You can only do little chunks when you get time. Whatever employment you have has to be very niche to fit into that framework.

That’s why I employ mothers. We have people in the warehouse who come in for four hours a day, during school hours. Some come in earlier, and some come in late. We are flexible. As a result, everyone who works for me is a woman. That’s not by design. But our flexible hours are very attractive to that group. I tell all my employees that I realize this is not their number one job. Your first job is your family if you are a parent, or maybe it’s being a university student. This job is not their career. It can be a place where they come and work, and they don’t have to sacrifice parts of their life for their job.

When I started, I didn’t think this kind of employment existed. When the business grew, I decided to create it for others.

Where’s the name coming from?

It’s funny, I just had this conversation yesterday! I was pregnant when Instagram became a thing, and initially, my handle was Mama Kylie. Eventually, I decided to change my name to something sewing-related. I like Florence and the Machine, and I thought, “Oh, that’s a lady and a machine, and I’m a lady with a machine.” Had I realized I was going to make a business in the future, I probably wouldn’t have named it that, though. I have trademarked the name now, which was surprisingly hard because of Kylie Minogue. She owns a lot of trademarks with just ‘Kylie’.

What are your favourite and least favourite parts of running your own business?

My least favourite parts are finance-related. That’s why I have someone very good in that role. I have no business background. Everything was happening quickly, and I was learning as I went. So I made every possible financial mistake, but now I know how not to make them.

My favourite part is the customers. Their joy, their feedback, watching them take the products and do fun things with them. That’s the best part! We actually have the most amazing customers. We have two human people who are answering customers’ emails. That’s something we’ll never change. Sewing is isolating; you do it alone at home, sometimes at night. We don’t want customers talking to a chatbot. Real connections are important.

I also love designing packaging. I do all the packaging and most of the product design. I don’t get to sew very often because I am busy with work. That’s why we started the podcast, to do a bit more sewing. It helps! I have a dress here, almost done. After I finish it, I have all these other things cut out. I reward myself with things I want to sew after the things I have to sew. It would almost be better to have a business in another industry. Then your hobby can just continue to be your hobby.

Favourite sewing patterns or designers?

I like Helen’s Closet. The patterns are always drafted well, and the instructions are really good. I also like Pattern Fantastique, but sadly, she’s closing down and going back to commercial work. 

I’m on a top-making train right now because I’ve made so many dresses. The last dress I made was supposed to be an evening gown, but I casualized it since I don’t really go out at night. I have too many evening gowns. I need more everyday stuff. I recently separated from my husband, so now I have heaps of wardrobe space for my new projects. I just need more hangers.

Any other stores you admire?

I really like the Fabric Store. We have many stockists with beautiful shops. I’d love to tour them one day. Liberty would be amazing to visit for the experience. I’m not a huge Liberty fabrics fan for my own sewing, but I love looking at the fabric and the feeling of it.

Any advice for people considering starting their own business?

Everything is so different now with the tools available. If I were to start again, I would work out what things I can do better than AI and do those. For a lot of other tasks, I’d utilize AI. 

Having an audience already helped my business start. I was sharing things I was making, just like everyone else. Then I switched to offering products. It felt very organic. Advertising seems scary at first, but combining advertising and organic reach is probably the best way to grow. We didn’t run any ads for years because it’s such a learning curve. But these days, it’s especially important. Particularly if you don’t own an audience. As you get bigger, figure out which platforms to focus on. I would like to be on all the platforms, but I just don’t have the time. We are not on TikTok yet; that’s our next step.

And commercial barcodes! No one thinks of commercializing their products in the beginning, but it saves a lot of time if you don’t have to repackage for wholesale or when a stockist requires barcodes for their inventory. 

What are you most looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to a year that doesn’t have any crazy curveballs. Everything just keeps happening—COVID, cost of living crisis, tariffs. We had a period where we couldn’t sell to the US. But we managed to bridge that gap. America is such a big market for us. We had just finished setting up our US warehouse when Australia Post announced it wouldn’t ship to the US anymore. In the end, it worked out for us, but it impacted a lot of businesses around us. Particularly, companies whose products are cut to order. We are lucky our products are stand-alone and have commercial barcodes. 

We have all these plans for doing the next thing, but they keep getting pushed back because of unforeseen turbulent changes. If the world could just chill, we could bring people all these amazing products that we have. Every time something happens in the world, it pushes our goals further back. That’s annoying, but that’s life.