L’Oreal Fashion Festival signs WantItNow as logistics partner

Sydney-based start-up WantItNow is hoping to raise the profile of its express-delivery online shopping portal after announcing a partnership with the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival.

WantItNow, founded by sisters Fiona Pearse and Emma Cronin, offers three-hour and same-day delivery across more than 90 fashion and lifestyle retailers including The Iconic and StyleTread.

The sisters, who inherited transport company Mail Call from their parents, came up with the idea for WantItNow after becoming frustrated at the restricted delivery options when shopping online.

WantItNow has been operating since 2011 but only officially launched in October.

Keen to raise the profile of its service, WantItNow has become the official national express delivery and logistics partner of the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival.

The LMFF, a month-long festival celebrating Australian fashion, will be held in March. The festival’s core program of runway, beauty and business events will take place from March 18-24.

WantItNow will manage the transport of all garments and accessories for more than 200 of the festival’s designers and retailers across Sydney and Melbourne throughout the event.

“We are thrilled to be appointed to manage what will now be super-fast delivery and logistics for the world-class L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival,” Pearse says.

“We look forward to supporting established and emerging Australian designers and retailers… at one of the most critical times on Australia’s fashion calendar.”

LMFF chief executive Graeme Lewsey says the LMFF is “delighted” to partner with WantItNow in 2013.

“Not only will WantItNow provide a major support role to the festival, it will enable consumers to receive their favourite runway fashion today,” Lewsey said in a statement.

While the partnership is a major coup for WantItNow, it comes after a tumultuous time for the company.

In October, Pearse and Cronin withstood a death threat and having their car tyres slashed in the lead-up to the launch of their site.

Pearse and Cronin told SmartCompany they experienced the ugly side of the industry – an issue their father warned them about.

“Dad realised being women working in a transport company was going to be fairly confronting,” Pearse said.

“We’ve seen a lot of bias over the last couple of years in regard to our age – we are a lot younger than the typical transport logistics manager and we are certainly not male.”

Pearse was forced to hire a bodyguard after receiving a death threat and having the tyres on her car slashed. However, she said the threats have not deterred her.

“We have used that bias and I think we have really garnered the energy from it to make sure we shake it up and do something a little different,” she said.