Bundle Up Your Profits: Inside the Creative Branding & Customer-Centric Approach of Sunshine Thrift
- Bethany Sharp
- Apr 28
- 6 min read
Updated: Apr 29
At Snazz the Edit, we're always on the lookout for brands that are not only offering unique products but also making a positive impact. Recently, we had the pleasure of connecting with Erin, the founder and owner of Sunshine Thrift, an online second-hand shop that's bringing a fresh and vibrant approach to pre-loved women's clothing and unique home décor.
Sunshine Thrift's ethos immediately resonated with us: to create an easy-to-shop, trustworthy, and accessible second-hand experience without the usual online marketplace mayhem or charity shop rummage. Erin's motivation for launching Sunshine Thrift stemmed from her own frustrations with second-hand shopping – a desire for a smoother, more reliable experience that mirrored the ease of buying new.
Intrigued by their sunny disposition and innovative approach, we sat down with Erin to delve into the story behind Sunshine Thrift. We explored everything from the inspiration behind their cheerful mascot and colourful branding to the clever strategy behind their popular bundles and the advice they have for fellow entrepreneurs. Join us as we uncover the bright ideas and thoughtful decisions that have helped Sunshine Thrift carve its own vibrant space in the online second-hand market, offering valuable insights for other small businesses in the fashion industry.
Let's meet the founder Erin:
My name is Erin and I’m the founder and owner of Sunshine Thrift, an online
second hand shop that specialises in second hand women’s clothing and unique
home décor. Sunshine Thrift is all about easy to shop, trustworthy, accessible,
honest second hand shopping without the faff that seems to come with online
marketplaces, charity shops and car boot sales.
Sunshine Thrift was actually born out my own frustration with second hand shopping.
I could see more and more of my peers choosing second hand for a lot of their
clothes, and increasingly more of their homeware, yet every time I attempted to shop
second hand, I found it difficult. I had trouble finding an experience that was as
smooth as you would expect when shopping for something brand new. Whether it
was faulty items, misleading pricing, no returns policy or generally just a difficult
experience, I could feel it deterring me from future second hand purchases.
This frustrated me so much because I really wanted to shop second hand and reap
the benefits of doing so, but the experience itself was so off-putting. It was at this
point that I realised that second hand shopping shouldn’t be difficult, in fact it should
be the opposite because surely we want more and more people to do it? I could see
this huge gap in the second hand market and I wanted to fill it. I knew from then on in
I was going to create an online second hand shopping experience which was so
easy and so smooth you wouldn’t even realise they were shopping second hand.
This approach remains at the forefront of every decision for Sunshine Thrift.
1 - When creating Sunshine Thrift what was your inspiration for creating your own mascot? Do you find that your brand now has its own personality by creating your sunshine character?
In the early iterations of the Sunshine Thrift logo I hadn’t envisioned a having a
mascot or a character of some form, but I always knew I wanted Sunshine Thrift to
be a fun brand and after realising that there is only so much fun you can have with
text I started to explore other options. My inspiration for the character was actually a
cartoon doughnut that had a face and I just thought it was really fun and cute. I
started messing around with that and there were some very ugly (and scary)
versions of the Sunshine Thrift sun character at the start, I just couldn’t get the eyes
right!
Having the Sunshine character only elevates the fun and approachable personality
that I want Sunshine Thrift to exude. I try to carry this vibe throughout everything I do
from website design, emails and social media so that it is consistent across all
contact points with existing and potential customers.
2 - What was the process of creating your own character, and did you have any challenges that needed to be overcome?
I wouldn’t consider myself a naturally creative person so when I it comes to sitting
down and ‘being creative’ I really struggle. However, once I was inspired by the
doughnut with a face it wasn’t very long until I had the final version ready, I just
needed that little nudge in the right direction. The main challenge I had was my lack
of skills on digital tools such as Adobe Illustrator and InDesign. I had to rely on
Canva which thankfully got me to the final version of the logo, but I do wonder had I
had the skills to use Adobe would the logo have turned out much differently?
3 - Why do you use colourful branding? What emotions are you trying to get your customers to feel when they see your brand?
Although minimalist branding with monochrome colour schemes appears clean, I find
them too bland and not distinguishable enough. I wanted my branding to be clear
that it was mine and that when people see my logo or come to my website they know
its Sunshine Thrift that they’re shopping with.
I want them to feel comfortable, warm and know that they’re in connection with a
friendly, fun brand that has personality running through every aspect and not another
faceless corp.
4 - You seem to be the queen of bundles, how did you create these bundles so that they are both beneficial for you and your customers? Did you find it hard to set up bundles on your website and what did this process look like for you?
Our Big Bundle Sale is designed to encourage our customers to build second hand
outfits as opposed to finding just one item and this ties back in with my mission to
make second hand shopping more accessible and easier.
When shopping brand new, you would usually to align your shopping habits with the
retailers and brands who year after year stock styles you can build outfits with. With
second hand, this is a little bit more difficult because often we’re selling styles from
multiple seasons from multiple brands.
The key to making the bundles work for us and the customer was to only include
pieces that can be styled or work well together, otherwise people will struggle to find
their perfect second hand outfit and we’re back to square one of second hand
shopping being difficult compared to shopping brand new.
Our Big Bundle Sale is ever growing, I am constantly adding new pieces that work
well together and would build a fabulous second hand outfit. Thankfully the process
that I follow to amend or add to the Big Bundle Sale isn’t too complex which means I
have the freedom and flexibility make changes to the bundles throughout the year
that I know our customers will love.
5 - Any tips and advice you would give to someone else in the process of starting up their own brand?
Always remain focused on your brand, what you are looking to achieve and what
message you want to output. In times of uncertainty and self-doubt, you will seek
comfort in advice that is irrelevant to you and your brand. There are a lot of people
out there offering advice on every aspect of running a business and a lot of it is
garbage, you just need to decipher which source of advice is suitable for your brand
and will actually help you grow.
Ultimately, you will and should be your hardest critic. I say ‘should be’ because the
critic in you is the drive you need, especially in the early days, to take on all of the
challenges that lie ahead. Always stay focused on the goal, the message and what
you want to achieve and you will be on the right path.
Sunshine Thrift intentionally built a strong brand personality through its mascot and colourful branding. How are you actively cultivating a distinct personality for your fashion brand that resonates authentically with your target audience and sets you apart in a crowded market?
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