Alexandra Thompson and Brian Macinnes are currently acting as Operations Director and Creative Director (respectively) at Wardrobe Apparel in London, England; however, their success story started at Dalhousie where they both graduated from the Bachelor of Commerce program before taking their talents abroad. The idea to start a clothing company occurred to both of them while in London. Alexandra writes:

“A life changing conversation took place on the rooftop at Harvey Nichols in London on my way back to Canada. We clicked creatively and Brian soon joined me as a founding partner and our Creative Director.”

“I currently run the business full time, so having a partner like Brian helps us continue to focus on big picture items while being able to run the day to day. I have to be a jack-of-all-trades, but Brian can focus on items that can’t happen on the day-to-day schedule.”

As Wardrobe Apparel prepares to launch in Vancouver, Alexandra credits their early success to experiences they both had during their undergrad at Dalhousie:

“We both credit Dalhousie Commerce for putting us together in the first place. The skills we gained working with our classmates have made us better partners. Coming from the same Commerce program we have a similar skill set in terms of how we work together and we understand concepts that came from our shared professors, not a text book.”

In regards to becoming successful in whatever you’re career interests are, Alexandra has some valuable advice:

“Networking, you must learn this skill and hone it. Go to every event you can; charity, black tie, industry specific. Meet people, be genuine and it will amaze you who you meet and how they will be a part of your journey. Also, have confidence in yourself. Believing in your story and having confidence makes people want to be a part of your journey. No one wants to work with anyone that lacks confidence or conviction.”

For more information on Wardrobe Apparel, visit their website.