What I Learned After 3 Months in Retail as a Small Business Owner
Three months ago, I took a leap of faith and placed my embroidered jumpers (and a few tees) in two local shops, hoping someone– anyone– would buy one.
Today, Wear the Quiet is still very much a side hustle, but I can happily say this: I've made sales.
Since March 2026, Wear the Quiet has been stocked at:
• Evelyn's Place: 5 Wray Cres, Mount Evelyn Vic 3796
• 3793 Collective: 110-112 Main Rd, Monbulk Vic 3793
The progress has been slow. Some months barely cover the rent for the shelf space. But the jumpers are still there. I'm still restocking, still testing new designs, and still learning what people connect with.
The shop owners haven't passed on any negative feedback from customers (yes, I asked them!), and a handful of people have chosen to take home a Wear the Quiet jumper. For a little brand that started in a corner of my dining room, I'm honestly so pumped. It's a small win, but an incredibly encouraging start.
Here are a few things I've learned after three months in retail:
1. Not ready? Start anyway.
One of the biggest lessons has been that you don't need everything figured out before you begin.
I spent a long time aiming for perfection and, without realising it, wasn't making much progress because of it.
Eventually, I booked stalls at two retail shops and gave myself a deadline. Suddenly, I had no choice but to take action.
Looking back, it took longer than I had planned. But now I can confidently say that I own a small business. For the longest time, I described myself as an "aspiring" business owner. At some point, you have to stop aspiring and start doing.
2. Stick with the basics.
Before my first retail drop-off, my stress levels were through the roof. I was determined to complete every item on my checklist.
Then the night before arrived.
I realised I needed to simplify and focus only on the things that truly mattered.
My revised checklist became:
- Embroidered jumpers and tees (30 pieces instead of the original 50)
- Simple hang tags with pricing and barcodes
- Hangers for the apparel
That's it.
The logo could wait. Fancy branding could wait. Perfect displays could wait.
By focusing on the essentials, I finished preparation earlier, slept better, and still achieved the outcome I wanted.
Sometimes "good enough" is exactly what's needed.
3. Learn from the first retail drop-off.
My first retail experience was with Evelyn's Place.
By the time I prepared for 3793 Collective, I already knew what worked, what I had forgotten, and what I wanted to improve.
I brought more products, improved my hang tags, organised my inventory better, and felt significantly more prepared.
Most importantly, I had a much better understanding of the production timeline, including:
- Preparing jumpers for embroidery
- Stitching time for each design
- Removing stabiliser and finishing the embroidery
- Ironing and folding each piece
The second drop-off felt easier not because it required less work, but because I knew what to expect.
4. The best seller is... not always the one you expect.
One of the most interesting parts of stocking retail shops is seeing what customers actually choose.
As makers, we naturally have favourites. There are designs we feel especially proud of and designs we assume will perform well.
Sometimes we're right. Sometimes customers surprise us.
In my case, my bestseller turned out to be one of my personal favourites, which was a pleasant surprise. But there are also designs I thought would receive more attention and haven't quite found their audience yet.
Over the past three months, a clear bestseller emerged, and while I'm happy it performed well, the bigger lesson was learning to pay attention to customer behaviour rather than my own assumptions.
The customer always gets the final vote.
5. Sales are validation, not just revenue.
The sales haven't been life-changing. In fact, they barely cover the stall rent.
But every sale tells me something important.
It tells me that someone saw a design, connected with it, and decided it was worth spending their money on.
For a business that started in a corner of my dining room, that's a powerful form of validation. This is my proof of concept. Yay!
Every sale tells me I'm moving in the right direction.
Three months in, Wear the Quiet is still a very small business. I'm still learning, still experimenting, and still figuring things out as I go.
But the jumpers are selling, the feedback has been positive, and new ideas keep finding their way onto the embroidery machine.
For now, that's enough reason to keep going.
Here's to the next three months. I'm hoping to introduce more original design- my own drawn graphics paired with thoughtful, slightly sarcastic text. Because why not?
And hopefully one of them becomes the next bestseller. (Prayers appreciated.)