Eadie Lifestyle

Eadie is an elegant, sophisticated, multi-layered & stylish woman. Eadie is the inspiration behind the beautiful collection.

With the sale coming up soon, we thought it would be a good chance to catch up with the CEO and Founder of Eadie, Trudie, to hear about how Eadie came to life.

Born and bred in Newcastle, local gal Trudie is the brains behind the ever-so-popular brand; Eadie Lifestyle, known for its beautiful, stylish, and timeless range of soft furnishings and clothing. A passionate creative at heart, Trudie has had careers in corporate marketing and hospitality before finally launching Eadie Lifestyle in February of 2014.

“I’d been a passionate creative in my own home even before kids came along. I’ve always loved design and I’ve always appreciated beautiful lines and nice objects. But I certainly haven’t had any formal training. I did start a part-time course when I lived on the Central Coast. I was studying Interior Architecture three nights a week in Sydney; but I only did that for a year part-time before I fell pregnant with my first child.”

“What I was originally passionate about was actually to develop and flip properties. The reason I did Interior Architecture is that I wanted to be able to get more into the construction side of things and not just the surface side of things. So, I could relate to tradies and understand what they were talking about. That was the grand plan then, which now, I’m just so far away from. But that’s kind of where my interests originally lay.”

After working in Sydney in her early twenties and with a background in corporate media, Trudie had what she calls a ‘middle-life crisis’ where she wanted a change and had a burning desire to create something. Following a short stint working as an Australian curator for a homewares brand based in Stockholm, Trudie remembers hitting a wall before Eadie, the character was born.

“Eadie actually arrived to me fully present one day. She didn’t develop over time; she was just there. I had a very small team of two and I just said we’re just going to do it; we’re going to do it ourselves. Through trade fairs, I am constantly approached by manufacturers from India, China, Pakistan, and Vietnam. They all got really excited because they would see this huge range, and I would have to say look I don’t manufacture I’m just a distributor.

“There was one Indian guy that came up to me and I just fell in love with him, he was absolutely delightful. It was just this instant connection. Before I knew it, I was flying to India, where we basically sat and drew designs on paper, and listed colourways. I had absolutely no idea what was involved, but the manufacturers took it on.”

Once that connection was made, the first Eadie range went full-steam ahead, however, they still faced some drawbacks.

“About three months into it, I hadn’t received any stock and it turned out that the linen weaver had gone into liquidation. So, I had all of these pending orders and I couldn’t supply anything. It was one of the scariest times of my life.

“We eventually got around that, and I’ve learned that there is a way to get around everything. Since then, we’ve really expanded the range and have had constant organic growth each year. We’ve launched into clothing, into bedding and we have plans for me additional categories such as stationary in the pipeline.”

What Eadie Lifestyle is and what the brand represents today, couldn’t be where they are if it weren’t for all of that hard work right at the very start. Just recently Eadie has launched into the American market and currently has over 1000 of stockists worldwide. That’s a lot of growth in the space of five years!

Trudie’s designs for the collection are never built on trends or competitors’ style, but completely from her unique connection with the character Eadie and her experiences.

“In the early days, I was still quite insecure about my ability to do this. I would be constantly looking at our competitors and what they were doing, but I learned very quickly to block out of any type of influence. I really don’t want to know, and I don’t want to be in that space.”

“I get my inspiration from the Eadie experiences in my head, and I don’t want to follow trends. We want to design pieces that are timeless and classic and sort of don’t fit any pigeonhole. You could have an Eadie piece in ten years’ time and it would still be beautiful. It’s like a well-cut suit; that’s how I think about our collection.”

Trudie talks a lot about Eadie not just being a brand, but a character, a person she has created whose name is Eadie; so, what is she like?

“To me, she’s small and petite, she’s very elegant and Boho. She’s quite out there and she doesn’t have children. She is an international citizen and she doesn’t just have one place where she lives. She’s incredibly well cultured and well-travelled. She has a friendship group that ranges from poor starving artists right through to royalty; but she’s not a snob. She’s really good fun and a little bit naughty. She only has fresh white lilies in her home, and I know the wine she drinks and the art that she appreciates. I know her quite intimately and for every collection, she is my creative compass.

“It usually starts with me thinking about an Eadie experience. We did one Summer collection where it was based on Eadie’s Summer outdoor lunch in the South of France. I pictured that and then the colour palette came to me and it evolves from there.”

The collection boasts classic sophistication, timeless elegance, simplicity and clean lines that don’t create a fuss. Made from natural fibres that are comforting to the touch. Whether it be a pair of linen pants, a cushion on your lounge or the curtains in your bedroom; each piece will help you to create an inviting and simple life.