A brand built from a spare room

I started NICO on my own, with a small budget but a very clear idea of who I was making it for. Over ten years, it grew into a thriving ecommerce site while also being stocked by Nordstrom, Lisa Says Gah and The Iconic amongst others. The brand was named Best Sustainable Underwear Brand by Vogue Australia. I sold the business in 2024.

Understanding the market

Before there was a product, there was a lot of listening. I looked at what the established intimates brands were saying, and who they were leaving out. I also talked to the women I wanted to make for and took serious note of my own gut feelings. All together, they pointed to a gap in the market for an intimates brand that presented a different kind of sexy - where comfort combined with style-driven cuts and premium fabrication created a feeling of confidence in your own skin. It was important to maintain a connection to fashion culture to lend the brand the credibility the price points demanded. I also identified sustainability as an important principle that appealed to our core customer while also differentiating us in the market.

Strategy

I wrote the content strategy myself, identifying the key themes we needed to touch on - sustainability and natural fibres, aspirational real women and a connection to fashion culture - to tell the brand story. The themes were mapped to our channel distribution and customer journey to ensure customers could engage with the right themes at the right time. Visually, I developed an aesthetic to carry these themes - casting unique faces, utilising natural, warm light and embracing posing that felt confident and authentic.

NICO at Home

An ongoing content series of aspirational people who aligned with the brand values. Casting was our biggest flex here: curating the right combination of people to express our brand story. We kept the aesthetic on brand - natural light, candid feeling, often photographed on film.

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Campaign Production

I photographed the campaigns and ecommerce work myself, focusing again on curated casting to carry the brand story. Each shoot was planned to ensure we captured appropriate content for the entire customer journey - from fashion-forward imagery that caught the eye, BTS content to invite customers into our world and product imagery that got conversions across the line.

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