Established in 2009, Black Milk Clothing has pioneered the printed body-con garment niche and its reach has extended around the world from their HQ in Brisbane. They now have an LA office and have produced thousands of designs including licensed collaborations with Disney, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Adventure Time, Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit. Black Milk Clothing also produces a range of high-end, innovative designer garments, and has released a range of shoes in collaboration with USA-based shoe experts Solestruck.com.

The brand now has 200 employees, but started from founder James Lillis’ kitchen only a few years ago. But how did they do it? Read on to find out.

How was the business started? What was the inspiration? What were you doing before?Black Milk Clothing began in James' kitchen in 2009, when he decided he wanted to make something with his hands. Before picking up sewing, James had been a jack-of-all-trades, taking every kind of job from restocking vending machines to packing work in warehouses. He had absolutely no fashion or sewing experience, and taught himself along the way.

What does Blackmilk sell?We specialise in Aussie-made stretchwear and leggings, we create clothing for people who like to stand out from the crowd.

What is unique about it / why does it appeal to people?All of our gear is made in-house, and goes through extensive product testing to ensure it fits properly and will last. Because we don't pay attention to trends and just create whatever we like, we're able to reach out to a huge variety of people with our designs, from fitness buffs looking for something different, to geeky girls who want to wear their fandom on their sleeve.

Who is the typical customer?There is no typical Black Milk customer. Women, and a few guys, of all ages and from all walks of life have found something to love about our gear.

How do you manage your capacity/inventory levels?We have an super switched-on logistics team who monitor what people are buying, what upcoming pieces people are most interested in, and that sort of thing, to make sure our manufacturing crew know what garments they need to prioritise. Doing everything in-house means we can react very swiftly to changes in stock requirements.

Doing everything in-house means we can react very swiftly to changes in stock requirements.

How do you generate interest in the brands/products?By designing clothes we're genuinely excited about, it's very easy to get our social media community excited about them as well. Authenticity goes a long way toward generating interest.

How do you attract traffic to the website? What channels work best?Organically, via social media and word of mouth.

How do you turn interest into sales?Being an online-only business we need to actively provide any and all information about our garments. Because people are not able to try on our gear before buying it, we need to show them how the fabric moves, tell them what it feels like. Turning "that's cool" into "I'm going to buy that" all comes down to storytelling and romancing the product.

Authenticity goes a long way toward generating interest.

Do you have any examples of things that have helped increase your web sales?Making sure we have customer images on the product page is extremely helpful to us, as it shows the versatility of our gear and directly encourages sales.

What tools/software are you using for your website?We use Google Analytics extensively to identify successful processes, and Shopify to host our website.

How do you test your website to find improvements?By breaking down our analytics reports and which pathways lead to conversions.

Make sure you have a team who genuinely care about your product.

What do you wish you knew about online retail when you started out?It would have been helpful to have been more aware of certain challenges, such as those presented by multi-national retailing from an Australia headquarters. But by learning along the way and figuring out our own way of doing things, we've been able to build a business that works according to our own needs and philosophies.

What's the biggest lesson you've learned along the way / one thing that you want to pass on to other aspiring retailers?Make sure you have a team who genuinely care about your product. A hard-working, passionate group of people will be able to achieve things that people will tell you are impossible - like growing a small, Australian business into an international brand with a headquarters in LA.

What would you do differently if you were to start again?We had a period early on where we simply could not keep up with demand. If we could do the last few years over, we'd probably implement an analytics system earlier on, to track busy periods and respond accordingly. Processes and analytics are a fairly recent thing for us.