Kit Willow Podgornik has been like a Phoenix rising from the ashes to launch her new fashion label – and coincidentally she's done it right around the corner from the eponymous empire which sacked her two years ago.
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On Thursday the designer will officially open the flagship store of her new collection KITX. However the Oxford Street shopfront just happens to be less than 100 metres from Willow's boutique in Paddington's fashion hub.
"One blooming flower never affects another," she said when pressed about her new neighbours. "Flowers can bloom all together in a beautiful garden."
Her zen state of mind could be thanks to the sunny reception her ethically-sourced clothing and footwear brand has received since launching earlier this year. Stockists like David Jones clamoured to secure pieces from the spring-summer 2015 range, while retailers from the US and China have just placed large orders after being introduced to her sustainable looks at Paris Fashion Week.
The Melbourne-born designer's move into "slow fashion" is not all linens, hemp and things you can wear to Falls Festival. Her "high frequency wear" range starts at $89 for organic cotton T-shirts to $1400 for pure gold woven jackets. "The materials of the future are made from the materials of the past," she said. "So whether it's plastic bottles that are turned into nylon and discarded fabrics, there's so many materials in the world we don't need to recreate the material, we can recreate from rubbish."
Podgornik took the same green inspired approach when searching for real estate and a "home for KITX". Together with Melbourne architects March Studio, she stripped back the store to its original 1850s foundations.
"I used to live on Hopewell Street and always wanted to be in that space. It's got this soaring ceiling and flooding light after we knocked out the first floor. We've just opened it up into its original form which is the philosophy of KITX, it's working with the bones and the beauty of that original design and then it being very transparent and honest."
In between growing the business which is doing "double-digit high numbers" she is also scouting for a location in her hometown.
"We've got a very strong customer base at home in Melbourne. They are very fashion-savvy down there. There are three hot spot areas which I'm looking at," she said.
