Jacinta ‘Cindy’ Cutter, Delorus ‘Dee’ Holledge, Marlene Cutter and Sarah Garner
Jordan Hewitt is an Ipswich fashion label that has burst onto the fashion scene,
with high school students everywhere clamouring to get into their gowns.
Jordan Hewitt was born in the backroom of the blue Atlantic Real Estate office. The office looks out across the racecourse in Bundamba and has done so for 35 years.
The unassuming facade doesn’t do justice to the success story which is making Ipswich proud. Josephine Garner is the owner and Marlene Cutter has been working at Atlantic as an agent specialising in acreage properties.
Both have teenagers in the family who are the inspiration behind starting a fashion house.
“Cindy and Sarah are getting into the teens so our biggest market at the moment is high school formal. Although we are proving popular to the mother of the bride as well,” Mrs Cutter said.
Jordan Hewitt launched in November and is already stocked in 15 stores.
“My background was in getting American labels into Australian stores, so I had built a distribution network throughout Australia before. So I get to do it again but with our own Australian made clothes,” Mrs Cutter said.
“We really wanted to be Australian made, it’s important to us.
“We knew this was going to be a challenge because you need to be able to balance out the price point but we don’t want to compromise on quality. We only use great fabrics and we are finding that customers are happy to pay a little bit more for quality.”
The real estate offices have been repurposed and the back half are now filled with sewing machines and reams of materials.
The whole extended family is involved in every aspect of the business. Delorus ‘Dee’ Holledge is the great-grandmother.
“I help where I can, mostly I keep them all in order,” she said.
Mrs Cutter’s daughter is Cindy, 14, who does most of the modelling along with Mrs Garner’s granddaughter Sarah, 14 and they both contribute to design.
Jordan is Mrs Garner’s grandson and he has lent his name to the label.
“We want to be around for many years to come. We want this label to continue generation after generation,” Mrs Cutter said.
“We’ve got to put Ipswich on the map. We’ve had famous sports stars from Ipswich, now we can produce fashion designers too.”
Jordan Hewitt will also be part of the Next Generation Group Show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival Brisbane on 29 August.
Jordan Hewitt is stocked in Beautiful Moments Formal and Bridal at 4/16 Lowry Street, North Ipswich.
Hair and make-up: Cherry She
Location: Nerima Gardens