Founder's Story - She Built a Luxury Brand With No Money, No Investors, and Instagram | Ep. 332 with Geeorgie Crossley Founder of GeeGee Collection

Episode Date: March 30, 2026

Daniel Robbins sits down with Georgie Crossley to unpack what it really takes to build a fashion brand in an oversaturated world. Georgie shares how GeeGee Collection started in 2020 with zero budget, how Instagram became her storefront, and how her mission evolved from “beautiful fabric” to “confidence and identity.” They also discuss why she prefers in store retail for premium products, how she expanded into the US, and why she believes the future belongs to timeless pieces that feel personal, not disposable trends. Key Discussion Points Georgie explains that COVID gave her the time to build, using friends as models, posting consistently, and running Instagram promotions that got her noticed by independent department stores. She shares her brand’s USP: hand designed or hand woven fabrics that create individuality, moving away from overconsumption and bringing back traditional craftsmanship. Georgie says she prefers physical retail because customers can see the quality, feel the product, and experience the story behind the pieces in a more personal way than online. She argues that the market is always oversaturated, so the real differentiator is obsession, clarity of mission, and consistency until your people find you. On growth, Georgie explains she has taken no outside investment, choosing a slower burn so she can keep control of creative direction and preserve the brand’s standards. Takeaways If you have no money, you can still start by testing demand with content, friends, and real world proof, because Instagram can be your first storefront. Fast fashion creates noise, but it also creates an opening for brands that offer identity, confidence, and craftsmanship that cannot be copied at scale. Influencers can increase exposure and credibility, but Georgie found paid ads and behind the scenes “studio life” content drove stronger momentum than influencer posts alone. For premium products, in person trunk shows and pop ups can outperform live social selling because customers want trust, fit, and a human experience. If you ever raise money, wait until you have proof and systems, because early funding forces you to give away too much control before the value is established. Closing Thoughts This episode is a blueprint for founders building in crowded markets: mission, craft, and consistency beat hype. Georgie Crossley shows that you can bootstrap a premium brand from a small town background, scale globally through the internet, and still choose slow growth if it protects the quality and joy of what you are building. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

So, Georgia, you started your company Gigi collection back in 2020. And it's incredible what you've been able to do using Instagram. And it's amazing how people can leverage social media for success. What do you think from 2020 to now really kick started the company? Like when you really saw some traction and was that leveraging Instagram? So, yeah, it was. I started my brand when COVID hit in March 2020. And I really had time, you know, I had so much free time on my hands to just sit down and build my brand.

So making pieces. I would just, at the time, I had no money when I first started it. So I would ask friends to model for me. I'd take pictures of them. And then I put the pictures on Instagram. And then I did some promotions. And through doing like Instagram promotions, this was during COVID. I then got noticed by some department stores, kind of independent, not huge ones,

kind of ones that stock independent brands and independent fashion. And so from there, one thing led to another. And my brand ended up being put in a few stores and, you know, making sales just online. But it really came through Instagram in the beginning. So what do you think? because there's a lot of people I imagine that start fashion brands. What do you think that made your standout? Your brand stand out.

What did you do on Instagram specifically that made it where these companies wanted to carry the line? So the USP behind my brand is just moving away from the culture of overconsumption and coming back to traditional craftsmanship. So all the fabrics that I use, they're all hand designed or that all whole whole. hand woven, you know, to bring back, I'll keep in mind traditional artisanship and quality. So I really wanted the brand to feel unique, like the fabrics, the hand designed, so you're not going to see them anywhere else. And that adds to a level of individuality that I think's missing from fashion right now. So it's about kind of elevating your everyday essentials into something special.

And ultimately, it kind of comes down to how it makes you feel. So I want to want women to feel confident, comfortable, and like they're wearing something that truly represents them, not just like following a trend, but kind of owning their style in a more timeless way. I've heard that creating a fashion brand can be a very, very difficult business because of just how not only competitive it is in the smaller brand space, but like you were saying before about there's fast fashion. I mean, there's companies like, you know, Tintmoo and such that are just pumping out volumes of new, like thousands of new things every day. I imagine it's hard to compete with that.

But you created a unique selling opportunity and sounds like you had a mission. Do you think that this was created because of your previous experience or did this kind of come along as you realized who likes the brand? So my, so because I went through a time in my working life before I had the brand, where I was working in a factory that mass produced for big brands. That's where I got the idea to kind of go back to sustainable artisanship and craftsmanship and move away from just the waste that fast fashion has on the environment. And I do think, yeah, the market for anything is oversaturated, whether it's a fashion brand,

a restaurant, unless you're kind of creating the new TikTok, anything you create is going to be into an oversaturated market. it. So it's just kind of like you have to be obsessed with what you're doing. You have to be obsessed with your brand and work really hard, make sure you're getting it out there, promoting it. And I think then people will find it, you know, if it resonates with them. So not everyone kind of wants to wear the same as everyone else, you know, buying stuff from Sheen or, you know, any of these kind of fashion websites. Some people, they want kind of quality clothes. that are going to last them a lifetime.

And I think it's just kind of been like navigating to find those people. But I think every time you create something, if you think it's going to work and you're obsessed with it and you put, oh, you know, tons of time and effort into it, people will, you'll find your market, I think. And what was the difference that you had to change, whether it's within yourself, the team, or even your operations, when you go from selling online, e-commerce, which I think is the main focus of most people to selling in

stores, which is something I used to do. And I always found myself, like there's big differences in the two things. Was there any changes that you had to make as you transition from e-commerce back into physical retail and also e-commerce at the same time? So I actually prefer physical retail to e-commerce because you can see, I think the pieces that I make speak for themselves. You know, all the fabrics I use have been handmade and hand designed. And you can kind of go into the store and really see the quality. And I like that kind of personalized experience. And whereas online, it's just, you don't know who you're dealing with. It's just kind of things being shipped out. So I preferred their whole retail aspect of fashion. And I do

think things have shifted and people are going back more in. into buying in stores than they were. I think there was kind of during COVID, you know, when everything went online, people were moving away from it. But I do think kind of in city centers now, people like to, you know, go out for the day shopping or, you know, buy something that makes them feel good. Is that amazing?

We were just talking to a C-suite of a large department company and they were saying how their sales are increasing and they're doing a lot of renovations. but then you also have some going bankrupt and having to restructure. It's such a fascinating, this whole department store and malls, where they have to go in the future. But for you, was there a moment where you just said, forget about this? Like, this is too challenging.

This is too hard. I'm exhausted. I think a big thing in the beginning I had to be kind of okay with was growing slower because of the way I'm running my business. and I want it to be more of a personalized experience to buying something. And I think, you know, kind of when you're going into a store, you are getting that personalized experience because you're trying it on, you're speaking to someone that knows about the brand and can tell you about it,

whereas if you're buying it online, you're buying it from a picture, so you don't know kind of the story behind what you've created, what's been created. What's the secret success to a fashion brand? You've worked with some of the largest, most amazing, iconic brands to also more the fast fashion type brands. And now you have your own very unique company. What would you say is the secret behind the success that you've learned along the way. For me and my brand, I just think in a space where so many brands are constantly like chasing trends, Gigi collection is more about like timelessness pieces that you can wear over and over again, style in your own way and keep for years. It's not about having more.

It's about having better quality pieces. And I also want to, people to feel, I want to bring women confidence. Like it always comes back to giving them confidence. I want women to put something on from my brand and just feel like the best version of themselves, like effortless put together, but still, you know, themselves, just giving them that bit of confidence. And there's also like an element of individuality. So you're wearing something a bit different, something you won't see everywhere. So yeah, I'd say it's a mix of confidence and uniqueness and just kind of feeling more connected to what you're wearing. And I think that's kind of this success. That's kind of why my brand is successful because I'm giving that to women. Do you think consumers, men or women are looking

for things that are more custom nowadays since we have access to so many things. Like, I just bought something on TikTok. It was pretty crappy. It broke like five minutes after I got it. But it seems like we're being barbed with so many people selling just. And stuff. Like you said, I don't know if we need all this stuff or if most of this stuff even is good stuff. It's, you know, quality is probably quite low. Do you think it's driving people to go to a more custom? Like I was just at a store that does custom perfume sense. And I thought it was really fascinating being able to try everything versus like the standard two or three. It sounds like your line too. Like you really look at more custom handmade pieces. Is this like the direction

You think consumers are swinging? I think so. And I think it kind of comes down to social media a lot as well because people are wanting to post in things that not everyone come by or crazy outfits for attention or, you know, people want to get stopped in the street and be told, oh, I love your outfit. Where's it from? Or you look so stylish or be photographed. And I think with generic fashion, you're not getting that. but if kind of fashion houses and fashion designers, they're kind of thinking how to design trends, not following trends.

So I do think there is, I do think people are moving towards being sort of individual and unique. And it's not a trend to kind of be a follower. It is to kind of be a leader, you know. I want to be a leader. I don't want to be a follower. Me too. I definitely like that. I like that.

So when you were able to expand globally, because I think there's always the, if you don't raise money, you might need to focus on a smaller market. If you raise money, then maybe you can expand to many markets. Or if you, you know,

if you're able to get into retail stores, it allows you, there's so many ways that you can go about things, right? So for you, though, what was it like when you expand it globally? Because I know you, I think from what you had said, the U.S.

is your strongest market, but I imagine you're also looking at Europe and beyond. Yeah, so my first sales actually came from the US and these were all from online sales. So it's always been a big point of focus of mine, kind of selling in America just because that's where my biggest market is. I think that now with the power of the internet and social media, you can really push your brand anywhere and you kind of don't even need to be in stores, you know, you can just promote yourself online and people can come to your site. And there's also a lot of websites that exist now that are kind of department stores, but they're just online and they're for independent brands, you know,

for people to shop them if they're wanting something unique or different. But I think if you have a brand and you promote it online, other people in other parts of the world can find it. So we were just with Gary V. I'm not sure you're familiar with him, but he was talking about live social selling is like the future and he's launching a brand and he's going all in on this brand on live social selling have you tried this and if not or if you have what do you think of the future is in the u.s market when it comes to live social selling so this is the i have seen this so this is

the kind of ticot lives where you're talking about stuff and selling on lives yeah so i heard this is very big in Asia. I don't know about how it's going to be over here, how it's going to work out. I did once work with a company that were doing this. They were live streaming clothes and trying to sell. This was a company in the UK and it didn't quite work out. So I don't know if in the West were quite there yet with live streaming and people buying stuff. I think it will probably get bigger in the future. But what I've found more than this live selling is people, or for my brand at least, if I ever host like a trunk show or a pop-up, it will get more people in than me doing a live stream and showing clothes and trying to sell them. I feel like that will work more with

cheaper items. But I think if you're trying to sell something, you know, more expensive, people want a more personalized approach to being sold something. I like that. So you're literally live in person. Yeah, in person rather than on the screen. So I have tried the live streaming. This was a few years ago with the company in London and they were doing it with a few brands, but it didn't work out.

So I don't know if it's just not quite there yet over here and it's a trend over there and maybe it's going to be big here. But, you know, no one's sure yet. I think it perhaps it will be with the younger generation. because they're more, they live their lives more on screen. But there is sort of a push as well now to get away from life on the internet and get out into nature and speak to people in person. Speak to real humans outside in the world.

Because we don't know online what's even a real human anymore. You might be talking to AI. I know. I might even be AI or you might be AI right now. Who knows, right? When you look at the ability to use content creators, So with some of the companies that I have, we use influencer marketing. I don't know what they call it, you know, content creator marketing now,

but we've used it for men, you know, 15 years probably. And it was been one of the most incredible things that helped our business. When you were doing this as well, it sounds like you really started and you leveraged friends and such. Do you feel that people needed to see somebody that has clothes that is famous or well known? Or they just wanted to be someone that looked like them or who is more closer to what they could achieve? Yeah, so I definitely think it works. In the beginning, obviously, I was just using friends and things, but I did use a few influencers to promote the brand.

And then I have a PR firm as well and they've got the brand on a few celebrities and things. But I definitely think it helps with the kind of notoriety of the brand and people trust. in it more because they've seen it on certain people. We do occasionally work with influencers. I wouldn't say it necessarily results in or has resulted in more sales using influencers, but you definitely kind of are exposed to their network more. So the brand is exposed a little more. Do you think maybe it's more about the user generated content that is helpful for you to use? So for me, what's helped most is kind of like page. ads, just uploading things like a day in the life of the brand so people can see the life

in the studio of people making things and making clothes, that does really well. But definitely in the beginning it was like the paid ads that really worked. Social media fascinates me. Like the whole get ready with me. It's just interesting of like how much we want to watch and be a part of other people's lives. That's fascinating to be. Like I, I, I want to know more about the psychology around like, why do we need to watch so in getting ready? Like, what is it that makes it so appealing to do so? I don't know if it's like we want to see what other, like I want to live vicariously through another person because of how I feel about my life. Or we're just genuinely curious about other people.

So social, just the psychology around social media. And then also obviously the triggers that make people buy something. It's very, very interesting. So I wrote this book here with my wife called Unlems. limited possibilities and it's about breaking through barriers that you didn't think were possible. What was an unlimited possibility moment for you in your life where you broke through or achieved something that you maybe when you were younger didn't think was possible? I think that would definitely be building my brand and launching my business because I still

own 100% of their business. I've taken no outside investment. I've just built it up myself. But obviously it's been kind of a slow, a real slow burner because I haven't. taken money from anyone else but in this way I can really decide on the direction of the brand and where I want to take it but I couldn't have imagined starting a business when I was younger it wasn't until I was working in a previous company and I was thinking you know I really want to start a business and because my expertise is only in fashion I was like what should I start a bag brand shoe brand why would I start? what would be so special about them, why would people buy it?

And then I was speaking to a colleague and we got kind of discussing and bouncing ideas off each other. And that's when I found the idea of kind of handmaking fabrics, designing fabrics, because I studied textiles as well with fashion. So it kind of all fell into place. And then making these fabrics and making kind of unique individual pieces for women out of them. to look and feel confident. So I think definitely just starting the business and making the pieces and launching it is something, you know, that I would never have thought of doing.

It's, I'm not really from an entrepreneurial family. I just grew up in a small town in England, you know. So I think that is definitely something that I've come out of this small town and kind of really made something for myself, which I wouldn't have thought when I was younger. Well, that's incredible. So they, you know, it's like entrepreneurship, I feel like it's, obviously there's ups and downs. But I think there's something inherently amazing. I think as a human when you create something. And it's your thing. And like you said, you can walk into a store and you can physically see it. You can have, you can see somebody wearing it, the impact that it has on them, which sounds like is very important. It's in the DNA of the company that you started. I'm. I'm always torn myself around funding or getting funding. I've also held off from really taking any money from anyone based on a few things and losing control of the company, giving up things. Maybe you have to do things differently.

Do you not regret, but looking back, do you think it would have been a better idea to raise money or are you thinking about in the future? Or do you find that the slow and steady is the right pace? So I would never ever take money in the beginning of starting a company no matter what it was, because I just think you have to give too much of the company away because there's no kind of data behind it or anything. So someone's really taking risk in investing with you. Whereas if you kind of grow the company yourself for a few years, it does okay or it does well, then I think if you have a plan, like a strategy, then I think you can look for investment and get a better deal with some. one, but they're not going to take as much percentage because it's less of a risk to them

because you already have kind of the sales and the logistics in place for everything. So it is something like I may consider in the future, but for now, I enjoy just, you know, having it as my company and I can make all the executive decisions and decide on the brand direction, decide how many pieces to launch and what the collection is going to be. But it's not that I wouldn't take investment in the future. I just definitely would never at the beginning at the start of launching any of business. I think you said something so critical there. I enjoy. Most people that I know that raise funds, I don't think they enjoy it anymore because they're now beholden to people and they can't necessarily enjoy all the

moments or they can't savor the moment that you're in because they're chasing the ability to sell it to exit to do certain things because now they have you know they have other people that they have responsibilities to so i like what you said around i enjoy and i think if you can enjoy it it makes it a much better experience than if you're trying to just chase something because it is a grind like you work a lot like there's always that saying i quit my 40-hour job to work 80 hours a week and you know we got to be in it 100% and that's the only way I think it can grow this has been great georgie if people want to get in touch with you they want to check out the brand how can they do so yeah um you can get in touch so we're on instagram at the gg collection we are on

ticot as gg collection and our website is www ggglection dot com that's gw gw gwflexion well georgie i'm really inspired today so i'm super happy that you've been able to, that you've came on today to share your story on bootstrapping. I think that inspires a lot of people to just get up and go. They don't have to come from an entrepreneurial background or even ever have owned a business before you can just get started today. And with the internet, social media, like, why not? But thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you so much. It was nice to chat.