A few weekends ago, I was invited to a designer warehouse sale. Most times I would have ummed and ahhed about whether or not to go. Especially since I was trying to save money.

But I love unique shopping experiences! And this event caught my eye – the proceeds were going to a charity organisation, The Breast Cancer Foundation of WA.

The event was massive! The place was completely packed. There were so many people, and the queues stretched from one end of the hall to the other. The selection of clothes from WA designers were all really, really impressive too. I couldn’t believe how much stuff there was.

The woman behind the event was Alison Cotton. A West Australian fashion designer, creator of the gorgeous fashion label, Joveeba.

On the day of the event, I was quite surprised to discover that the “staff” working in the hall were actually Alison’s friends and family members. They handled hundreds of garments, sorted, tagged, boxed, transported, sorted, hung them all, stood behind the counter, worked the sales floor. It was a huge job. All done by unpaid volunteers.

And she organised it all by herself!

Here was someone who was courageous enough to do something a little different, driven enough to inspire the people around her to contribute to a cause, and motivated enough to do something significant.

I was truly inspired by her.