[Voiceover]: Welcome to the checkout. We catch up with previous add to cart guests and ask them five quick questions to get to know them better and leave you with a little extra inspiration to get you through your Friday.
Nathan Bush: Today's checkout features Katrina Van Der Vent and Catherine Olivia, co founders of Lookbook. You may be surprised to learn that the plus size market in Australia accounts for about two thirds of all women and it is worth a cool $6 billion. That market is still considered a tricky one to go after by most mainstream brands. Doesn't quite add up, does it? Luckily, my guests today are taking steps to change that. Katrina and Catherine are just five weeks into the launch of Lookbook, a one stop plus size fashion shop. With 90% of size 14 plus customers feeling underserved by existing shopping options, Katrina and Catherine know they can make a serious difference in this space. They currently have 10 brands on board and are set to double this number in the next few months. Katrina and Catherine, thank you so much for joining us on the checkout. We've heard all about Lookbook, but now we're going to learn a little bit more about you both. Five quick questions for you.
Katrina Van De Ven: Okay, let's do it.
Nathan Bush: Number one, what's the weirdest thing that you've ever bought online? And you might have to identify yourself before you launch into your answer, depending on how bad your answers are.
Katrina Van De Ven: That's okay. That's okay. My name is Katrina. I'm an overly invested dog mum. So the weirdest thing I bought online was you can get little life vests for your dogs. So I bought each of mine one so I can take them stand up paddle boarding with me.
Catherine Olivier: Good. Yeah.
Nathan Bush: Actually somewhat embarrassing.
Catherine Olivier: I can't compete with that answer. Maybe not in this forum. So
Katrina Van De Ven: not safe for work.
Nathan Bush: That's great.
Catherine Olivier: Not PG rated.
Nathan Bush: You just take it to the next level. All right, number two, we might get an interesting answer here. Again, who is your favorite retailer?
Catherine Olivier: My favorite retailer is Cos so they're owned by H and M. I really like them because they do nice classic cuts. But that is with the caveat of saying it would be absolutely incredible if they could extend their size range because they generally only go to about 16.
Katrina Van De Ven: I'm going to caveat my answer with obviously excluding Lookbook's current brands because that would be a bit too much shameless self promotion. So my favorite brand at the moment is probably Commonry. So they're a new play from the parent company of Seed and French Connection. They've got an interesting model because they're doing a 10 to 22 size run. So it's not marketed as straight size or plus size. It's just marketed as really good quality, classic basics for your wardrobe. And I think they're doing a really good job actually cutting pieces that fit across that size range.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, great examples. Thank you. Number three, which E commerce practice do you wish was history?
Katrina Van De Ven: This blows my mind, Nathan, but some very, very large online stores and marketplaces use BMI to do fit. And you know, you don't have to be a medical expert to know that a rugby player and a curve model might have the same bmi. And that is not going to tell you how anything's going to fit them.
Nathan Bush: Why have we hung on to bmi? So, like, obviously I get it from a medical perspective maybe, but why is BMI still held up there?
Katrina Van De Ven: I think it's something that it assumes a level of homogeneity in body size and body shape for us. We know that's not the case across the board, but more so it's, it's not the case for the plus community. So it works even worse for the people we're serving than it might do for someone who is straight size, which is why I really take issue with it.
Nathan Bush: Oh, that's a good one. Catherine, anything from you?
Catherine Olivier: What have you got in there?
Nathan Bush: What do you mean? These aren't pre prepared questions.
Catherine Olivier: No, but it's something that Katrina alluded to before and that is that a lot of brands that do maybe offer plus size ranges only offer them online. So that just isn't serving our market at all.
Nathan Bush: All right, can you recommend a book or a podcast that our listeners should immediately get into?
Catherine Olivier: Yes, I'm a massive fan of Lady Brains. They feature a lot of startup entrepreneurs or female founded. So I've been listening to that for many, many years now and I've learned a lot of lessons coming out of that.
Nathan Bush: So across all industries.
Catherine Olivier: Yes, across all industries, which is great.
Katrina Van De Ven: I'm currently loving the Financial Feminist. So it is a US based podcast by Tori Dunlap who is a millennial Gen Z finance guru. So it's really, really interesting and opened my eyes to, I guess, some of the ways in which traditional financial institutions have disadvantaged women. So if you're a passionate feminist and interested in finance, that's definitely one to check out.
Nathan Bush: Great stuff, great recommendations. Thank you. All right, last one I have for you, finish this sentence. The future of retail is definitely having
Catherine Olivier: a presence in some way, shape or form in the metaverse. So we've seen this come to life just in the past week or two for the first fashion show that has been featured in the Metaverse and also coupled with using Bitcoin or blockchain technology. So whether it's to understand the transparency of a supply chain or understanding the authenticity of a garment, and we actually have an idea of how this can come to play in Lookbook in the near future, we have a designer who is also a really well reputable artist in their own right and so they will be making one off pieces that will be available on the site. So really think of it as wearable art and that way we can incorporate blockchain technology to make sure that it is in fact the garment that you think that you're buying or reselling. So yeah.
Nathan Bush: Wow. Five weeks in and already going to the Metaverse.
Katrina Van De Ven: Katrina and Catherine, I might end on a very optimistic note here, Nathan and I think the future of fashion hopefully is one in which Lookbook doesn't need to exist. And by this I mean where the line between straight size and plus size and even gendered clothing, male and female clothing. Denny Tutorovic, they're a great fashion influencer based in Melbourne, has talked a lot about degendering fashion. So I think moving towards a future where fashion isn't about separating people and putting them in boxes, but really just another vehicle for self expression is the world I would like to live in.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, there's a whole episode in that. I was going to ask a question but I'm like that's going to open up a can of worms and we don't have time for on the checkout so we're going to leave it there. Katrina and Catherine, thank you so much for joining us on the checkout.
Katrina Van De Ven: Thank you Nathan.
Nathan Bush: To hear more from Katrina and Katherine, jump back into episode 179 where Katrina and Catherine share their thoughts on the lucrative plus size market that many brands are leaving behind. We also discuss the importance of fit and some other choice f words and Lookbook's plans for global expansion. Thanks for listening and until next time, keep adding to cartoon.
