Powerful message

Ask YEVU founder Anna Robertson what the key message people can take from the enormous success of her fashion label is and her answer is simple – and powerful.
“You can do business, and do good at the same time,” she says.
It’s this mantra that drove the Sydney-born 30-year-old to launch her Ghanaian-based female-led social enterprise five years ago and ensure it has continued to thrive ever since. 
But the irony of Robertson’s story is that for all her success, the Audi Style Scholarship nominee and fashion game-changer never really had aspirations of working in the Australian fashion industry. In fact, she accidentally fell into it. But both she, her 25 mostly female employees and the 170 Ghanaian family and community who indirectly benefit from her business are so glad she did. 

Taking an Australian Youth Ambassadorship in Ghana in 2012 was the beginning of the YEVU story. Wanting to change the preconceived landscape of business and charity, Robertson saw an opportunity to generate revenue by producing Ghanaian clothing for the Australian market and in doing so, create full time jobs, generate a sustainable income and build community morale for a team of women and men in Ghana. 

Inspired by her background in international development and political economy, her experience cutting her teeth at an Australian-based NGO soon morphed into a fully-fledged business with a strong online presence and temporary pop-up stores in Sydney, Melbourne and East London. 

Robertson was blown away by the instant appeal of Yevu’s first collection, selling out 300 pieces in three days from the front of her friend’s house in Surry Hills in October 2013. 

From these humble beginnings, her small team in Accra now produce over 1000 pieces of clothing per month and in turn each employee receives a wage 15 times that of the country’s minimum salary, economically empowering her staff and their families in a direct way. 

“I have seen that people don't want hand outs, they want jobs and income and to feel empowered so they can provide for their family,” she says. “It’s exciting to be a part of a movement where these two worlds of commercial income and social impact can co-exist, and although it's a tiny drop in the ocean, the impact on peoples lives is tangible.” 

All Yevu’s pieces are trans-seasonal and unisex, with all prints Ghanaian designed and made, often featuring iconography of items Westerners take for granted like prawns, popcorn, stationary and electrical items.

There’s no secret behind the way Robertson sources her fabrics either. She describes the process as like ‘digging for gold’, navigating her way through the back alleys and windy paths of the Ghanaian market place to spot new and archival prints that she can see working in an Australian context. 

“There's no formalised process around this,” she adds, “it’s really just like a crazy chaotic mission every time, and when I'm not in Ghana there is a lot of WhatsApping and image sharing with our team during print buying periods, as it has to be a carefully considered part of our ranges”.

Robertson says launching her business and moving part-time to Ghana (she’s spent a third of her time there in the last four years) has had a big influence on her approach to style. 

She oozes cool and describes her style as ‘colourful tomboy’.

“I've always been a bit of a tomboy, I used to wear my brothers hand me downs growing up like the Mambo dog fart t-shirt!,” she laughs. “So I guess that's stuck with me, but as I've gained experience, and travelled and run the business, I have picked up influences from all over. I tend to go for independent labels and vintage pieces that last the test of time, as opposed to buying a whole lot of cheap bad fitting crap!”
Robertson says she now doesn’t buy much clothing and puts more value on quality and ethics than what she used to. But the Ghanian people’s influence on her goes deeper than her clothes alone.
“I've also learnt to embrace my body more, which I've learnt from the women in my life in Ghana, where shape and curve and (god forbid) fat are desirable and celebrated.” 

‘Style’ also now means so much more than simply being able to pull off a bold and colourful Yevu print in the streets of Sydney.
“I think that true style resonates from the inside,” she adds. “For me, the most stylish person in the room truly believes that all humans are born equal and treats people accordingly. They have integrity, they know themselves and exude confidence, regardless of having a bad hair day. If you can live your life in this way, then you’ll be stylish until the day you die!” 

The Audi and InStyle Women of Style Awards recognise outstanding women and their achievements across a range of fields each year. As part of the awards, the InStyle and Audi Style Scholarship is presented to an outstanding individual, Then there is also the InStyle and Audi Style Scholarship, which each year recognises the efforts of one individual and their pursuit of excellence, giving them a $10,000 bursary to help the recipient further their efforts in their chosen field.