Mr Winston was founded in 2017 by Mum and Daughter duo, Karen & Ella Davidson. Named after the beloved family Golden Retriever, Winston, the brands purpose at inception was and remains, a solution to dressing that’s comfortable yet refined. Ella’s background in sourcing & marketing vintage garments guided her to easily identify what the market for the demographic she’s a part of, was missing. To date, we believe the factor most integral to the businesses continued success is the contrast & generational difference between us – the combination of old & new experience, understanding of the market, concepts and idea’s.
Karen has a long diverse background, and experience in project managing design, and manufacturing. These combined skillsets steered them from the conversation, to the eventual first Drop, of Mr Winston. In 2017, the business was built off and run from the Kitchen bench, at home in Richmond – Melbourne, Australia. Both designed the first run of Linen & Satin samples, and brought these to life by sourcing & cultivating relationships with manufacturers. Friends made fit models, and Melbourne was the location to road test.
The first drop led quickly into the second & third in as many months, and distribution relied on the joint effort of friends and family who worked into the night to see these reach customers. We couldn’t ever have anticipated the response and hand packing very quickly became incredibly big, and overwhelming for even the most determined of us.
Despite careful maintenance of a very ‘walk before you run’ approach, Winston grew exponentially from this point. This was bolstered by an emphasis on curating minimal & digestible, yet statement making content; and customers who we are so grateful chose to a support local, family owned, small business.
We begun and continue to operate with a very close knit team, and the majority of key roles have remained within our small office. Choosing not to outsource where possible, allows the foundations on which we built Winston with to remain: an emphasis on quality & originality in design, strong relationships with our suppliers & manufacturers, and our ability to engage personally with customers.
Winston was propelled – somewhat unintentionally – into the leisurewear market by our MW Sport Collection. Comprised of morning coffee, errand-appropriate fleece garments, this heavily influenced by our city of origin living through the longest recorded covid-lockdown in the world.
Our trademark Puff Hood fleece material is made, manufactured, dyed & printed in Melbourne, Australia. We consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to support Melbourne made manufacturing for many of our fleece garments.
We wouldn’t be where we are without our unintended foray into Leisurewear. We love that this has become such a huge part of the business, alongside our ready to wear garments. Together these have opened an entire new direction for us to explore, improved our knowledge in tailoring & design, and provided us with pivotal exposure to our base of customers.
We are incredibly excited to also have re-launched our Re-Work arm in 2021. This line of custom, one-of-one, recycled vintage garments aims to give new life to discarded textiles. This was originated by Ella, offering a unique & dynamic line of garments alongside the original MW pieces. We are so grateful to have now found a new & very talented person to overtake this and make it their own.
Looking forward, we’ve reimagined our signature garments, expanded our ready to wear collection & are currently developing an experience for the Winston community to engage with.
What started as a hobby project has grown legs far longer & faster than we ever anticipated. We are forever grateful for the loyal & passionate customers who choose to support us. We want to do the best by and for you – and there’s so much more to come.