Hawkeye Vintage: how a Melbourne pop-up shop became a global fashion mainstay

The pop-up shop with its name in Melbourne fashion folklore

It was 2011, and Danielle Goodwin had just returned to Melbourne after assembling an otherworldly vintage goods collection in Japan. The collection, containing one-off pieces from the likes of Gucci, Hermès and Louis Vitton, was originally kept in storage, its wondrous designs hidden from the adoring fashion world.

Goodwin knew that she couldn’t allow such desirable pieces to be kept in storage, and so hosted her first Hawkeye Vintage pop-up shop on Melbourne’s famed Greville Street. 

The response was overwhelmingly positive, with the appointment-only store selling out of pieces in just two months. Replenished and always revitalised, Hawkeye Vintage has made the COVID-era digital switch, and has seen incredible results in the process. 

A global vision from a fashion capital

Goodwin originally set out with a global vision, but decided to grow her business out of Melbourne.

“I decided to scale it down and grow in Melbourne, and then across Australia and New Zealand. A lot of things happen by surprise, and as we’re going, I am always adding things for our business to grow bigger as well as taking baby steps to grow with caution.” 

Hawkeye Vintage has always had a leg-up, with Goodwin’s dedication to the creation of lasting customer and supplier relationships a cornerstone of the company’s success. 

“We love travelling to meet our buyers and suppliers so that we can create face-to-face relationships. We continue to maintain relationships with them and have managed to collaborate even with the current distance.”

Goodwin's global relationships have created a wealth of quality, vintage pieces for her customers. A competitive advantage that is tough for any others to replicate.

“We are really lucky to have a high supply volume and with that we can offer something to most customers who make a request - this has been great especially in recent times.”

However, with a supply chain largely reliant on a select group of international licensed dealers, it was important for Hawkeye Vintage to be able to make fast, simple and on-time international payments. That’s when Goodwin discovered Airwallex could both make this simple and save significantly on the cost.

“Before Airwallex we were struggling with ways to pay certain suppliers. We were just using our regular bank, PayPal or AMEX - we found it just wasn’t tidy enough and had extra fees on top. Today, Airwallex has saved us over $10,000 each month when we pay our international suppliers.”

Goodwin says that Airwallex, with its streamlined system and global account management service, has helped make international transfers much easier than in the past.  

“It’s easy to send money to buyers and suppliers in any currency. You receive a notification once it’s dispatched and it has eliminated the worry factor of where our money is at. This is important for us to keep building a strong relationship with our suppliers.”

Vintage in the time of corona

Hawkeye Vintage, like most businesses, has experienced dramatic challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The fast-growing brand had to cancel a string of pop-up shops in Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

But like any savvy business owner, Goodwin found a way to adapt her business into one that was viable, and indeed profitable, throughout this period.

“We had to move our business online quickly and find different ways to engage our customers. We hosted our first live sale on Instagram live and it was a huge hit with our customers. With these live events, we’re actually reaching many more customers on a global scale than our pop-up stores would have.”

What’s in-store for Hawkeye Vintage?

Goodwin continues to apply her signature hawkeye to the world’s rarest vintage pieces, and you can expect to see plenty more of the company’s lavish collection in the online arena.

“In the next six months, we have a schedule of Instagram live sales with 1000+ items at each event. My team and I will be hosting these live Instagram events to auction our best pieces. We’ve even got a few collaborations planned with other businesses to run these live virtual events.”

Hawkeye Vintage chooses Airwallex for their international payments. You too can make payments to your international suppliers fast, easy and cost-effective. Use Airwallex for your international payments and save up to 90% on your foreign currency conversion fees as compared to the Big Four banks.

Ready to scale your business with Airwallex? Get more from your spending with our free multi-currency virtual cards. Open a foreign currency account with us and say goodbye to high foreign exchange rates and bank transaction fees. You can make international money transfers in multiple currencies, in one business day or less.