Isabella Charman, resilient entrepreneur and fashion lover
I LOVE my job. I get to work with clothes all the time and I help people find dresses that make them look their very best. That makes me happy.
I started Thread Rentals in 2017 with an Insta account and I’ve grown it into New Zealand’s third largest dress rental business. But it wasn’t what I initially set out to do. I was enrolled in Law School. It was THE thing I wanted to do for as long as I can remember. My dream turned into a nightmare though, when I got seriously cyber bullied by someone I knew. It was relentless and took a huge toll on my mental health. I got to the lowest of lows. I didn’t want to go back to uni because I knew the person bullying me was also studying there. I lost the will to live. It was a long road to recovery and the real turning point was seeing my gorgeous, strong dad, who never cries, break down in tears. I started wanting to recover.
Thread has been a huge part of my recovery. I threw myself into my business. One of the things I love is doing the research to find out what people are into, what they’re wanting to wear. In fact the only time one of my garments bombed was when I bought it without getting feedback on it first. A good lesson.
Another thing I love about running my own business is that I can totally be myself. Like, when girls are trying on dresses and ask for my feedback I’ll say “do you want me to bring out brutal Izzy?!” We have a bit of a laugh and it’s because I care less about renting them a dress and more about them looking amazing.
An unexpected thing that’s happened from running Thread Rentals is that I’ve made some great friendships. I’ve had other girls, starting their business, contact me for advice on certain things. Through that, we’ve hung out and become friends which is really cool.
I may still go back to law school. One thing I know for sure, is that if I do become a lawyer, I’ll be running my own law firm. I’m also pretty fierce about sharing the full story of my mental health decline and recovery. It’s on our website. One thing my Nana said to me when I was really low, in hospital was “if you go through anything hard in life in the future, you’ve already been through the worst.” I’ve learned resilience.
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