by Matthew Foley
A LETTERKENNY entrepreneur is taking the sustainable fashion world by storm.
The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic was an uncertain time for everyone in Ireland, but for Sadhbha Medlar it was the beginning of a special and unique journey.
Having just finished studying Mechatronic Engineering in Dublin City University when the pandemic shut down the world, Sab wanted a change of pace.
As a youngster, Sab was always passionate about business and entrepreneurship. During her teenage years Sab ran her own tie-dye clothing business.
From setting up stalls at music festivals and pop-up stores in coffee shops to producing merchandise for musicians, Sab was gaining valuable experience which she would be using in just a matter of years.
Sab also known in sporting circles, formerly representing St Eunan’s and the Donegal Minor Ladies side who won the Ulster Championship in 2013.
Back in Donegal during the shutdown of the world, Sab was cleaning out her room when she came across some of her old tie-dye stock.
The idea arose to begin selling the leftover stock along with other clothing items on online platforms such as Depop, eBay and Facebook Marketplace and so “SourcedBySab” was born.
Depop, an e-commerce platform used by over 30 million to sell and resell mainly clothing items was SourcedBySab’s primary app for making sales.
Sab’s unique items were selling at amazing rates and after just three months, SourcedBySab was amongst the best 0.001% of sellers on the Depop site.
Sab, motivated as ever, began to grow her business further by selling vintage clothing pieces along with tie-dye items.
Further pop-up stores continued as she was determined to continue the growth of her business.
As sales continued and follower counts grew, Sab decided to grow her team, with her sister Maeve, who was at DCU for Business Studies joining the journey.
As life began to slowly return to normality post pandemic, Sab was eager to make her next move.
In September 2021, an old Covid testing centre in the middle of Letterkenny became available and within two months, SourcedBySab had opened their first physical store.
Since opening nearly two and half years ago, Sab and her team have gone from strength to strength, with a huge emphasis on building a community and selling sustainably friendly fashion pieces.
Opening a physical store can be incredibly challenging at the best of times, but Sab made sure to make community a priority when it came to her business story – often holding social events such as breathing and meditation workshops to coffee days in store.
Speaking about making sure that SourcedBySab is a place that those who enter come out of feeling better for it, Sab said: “We don’t want to just be a brand, we want to be a feeling. We want to create meaningful connections and be a catalyst for change. For SourcedBySab to be centred around authenticity and sustainability is where my mind wanders when I think of the future.”
Although Sab is happy to take things step-by-step, she hopes that herself and her extraordinary team can be one of the leading figures of sustainable clothing in Ireland and beyond.
“We want to become the go to store for premium vintage and sustainable streetwear in Ireland, Europe and the United Kingdom. But beyond sales and growth and marketing I would hope that SourcedBySab doesn’t feel like just a store.”
In a time when it seems more and more difficult for young people to start their own business ventures, SourcedBySab can be an inspiration to many aspiring entrepreneurs who want to make a difference in their community.
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