Katharina Lou and the new rules of retail

Katharina Mildren started her fashion label, Katharina Lou, at her kitchen table not long after finishing university. A few years on, the business is growing at 50 per cent a year, employs half a dozen full-time staff, and has built a customer base that extends well beyond Australia.This is partly a classic founder story - how to start a business, manage cash flow, deal with stock, and grow without losing control.But it is also a story about how a new generation of founders are rewriting the rules of retail: building brands through influencers, social media, scarcity, pop-ups, and direct relationships with customers rather than relying on permanent shopfronts.Alan Kohler speaks to Katharina about how the brand grew from a kitchen-table idea into a fast-moving fashion business, what it takes to scale in a crowded market, and why modern retail is as much about identity, community, and online momentum as it is about the clothes themselves.Katharina Mildren, founder and creative director of Katharina Lou joins Alan Kohler to unpack it all on That's Business with Alan Kohler.Got a burning business question?Send a short voice recording to the ABC Business Daily team at [email protected]