Super Woman

How Toni Garrn created her preloved fashion platform Super Flea Market

Toni Garrn – your company Super Flea Market went online at the end of May. How do you feel and what were the biggest challenges?

Well, it’s definitely been an exciting and exhausting ride – and I mean that in the most positive sense: It’s an incredibly thrilling time for me and my team. About nine years ago, I started Super Flea Market in New York as a charity event, back then under the name Supermodel Flea Market. I sold clothes donated by my model friends to raise money for my then brandnew foundation, the Toni Garrn Foundation, which supports educational projects for girls and women in Ghana, Uganda and Burundi. Back then, not even in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that this charity format would one day develop into a social start-up, and that I would end up investing so much of my time and energy. So, in principle, you could say that it took almost nine years from the initial idea to the first sale. Of course, digital is a completely different experience. Now, my team and I face completely different challenges than back then in New York City. Today, it’s about creating a strong brand, finding the right setup for this company in so many areas and, above all, continuing to build our team.

What was your first sale?

One of the first items sold through Superfleamarket.org was an absolute fashion highlight: beautiful over-knee boots by Jimmy Choo x Jean Paul Gaultier. My personal favorite in our range are without a doubt the Gianvito Rossi sandals that Beyoncé wore on a shoot.

Can you explain the Super Flea Market business model?

We sell clothes and accessories that have come from the private closets of celebrities and other exciting personalities or from the archives of fashion brands and were previously worn by celebrities on the red carpet or at photo shoots, for example. Super Flea Market is a profit-for-purpose company. This means that 50-90% of the net sales price of each fashion item we sell is donated to an organization in our NGO partner network.

Super Flea Market: A platform for fashion and vintage lovers and charity enthusiasts

Who is your main target clientele?

Our customers are primarily fashion and vintage lovers and fans, as well as charity enthusiasts. What they all have in common is that they don’t want an ordinary shopping experience; they are looking for special pieces that they can’t simply find online or in a store anywhere in the world.

What are your three favorite vintage pieces in your wardrobe? Would you be willing to share the story behind them?

Right up there at the top is a pink corduroy pants suit that my grandma made about 60 years ago. For me, this is such a special piece. About 15 years ago, Karl Lagerfeld gave me a Chanel dress that is timeless and beautiful like all of Karl’s Chanel designs. I adore this dress. And then I found a vintage Versace dress in New York that is now for sale on Superfleamarket.org. It’s stunning! I have many happy memories of this dress, and it had a special moment in the spotlight when I wore it at our event in Miami. Now the time has come for it to make someone else happy.

What gave you the idea of launching your flea market concept worldwide and online? If I understand correctly, you have two partners in this enterprise?

After we held our last big Flea Market event in Berlin in 2022, Coralie, who is the managing director of the Toni Garrn Foundation, and Charlotte, whose agency had organized the event, approached me and told me about their idea of taking Super Flea Market to the next level and going online. Less than three months later in Berlin, the three of us decided to set up Superfleamarket.org and create a platform that fuses luxury second-hand, the circular economy and charity.

Fashion for Charity: Using beautiful clothes to do good

Like the original Flea Market, where the proceeds were donated to your Africa Foundation, a large proportion of what is raised through Super Flea Market will go to charity. How do you elect the organizations and which criteria do you apply?

One hundred percent of the proceeds from the Flea Market events have always been donated to the Toni Garrn Foundation projects. Last time, for example, the focus was on raising funds for equipment for the maternity clinic we opened in cooperation with our partners in Wioso, Ghana, in 2022.

At that time, the events were organized by the Toni Garrn Foundation. After the last event in 2022, however, we realized that an NGO of our size is not ultimately designed to organize and run mammoth events like these. Much as we loved doing it, it drained too many resources and took up too much of the time we want and need to spend working with our local partners.

When we started developing the Super Flea Market online model, we soon realized that in addition to the Toni Garrn Foundation we wanted other NGOs that depend on a regular inflow of donations to benefit. Our goal is to allow these NGOs to be able to plan ahead securely by partnering with them and generating regular donations. Ultimately, we want to build a strong, cohesive system committed to fighting social and environmental injustice.

To become part of our partner network, the NGOs (which alongside the Toni Garrn Foundation currently include All Hands and Hearts, and Re:wild) must fulfil formal criteria such as being a registered NGO according to the espective national law, have a track record of projects, and a management team with whom we are in contact.

The Toni Garrn Foundation: Charity projects in African countries

What inspired you to set up the Toni Garrn Foundation?
During my childhood and later in my career as a professional model, I was fortunate enough to travel extensively. This allowed me to meet people from different regions of the world and discover many countries. Over time, this led to a growing interest in the African continent. When I traveled to sub-Saharan Africa, I met young girls and families and gained an insight into their lives, and these encounters left a lasting impression on me. Girls and women are disproportionally affected by social and financial inequality, and this has an impact on their lives for generations.

Over time, my urge to support these girls grew. After having partnered with Plan International for many years, I decided to set up my own charity: the Toni Garrn Foundation. We are currently active in Uganda, Ghana and Burundi. Together with our partners in the global south, we support the development of education and health initiatives for girls and women. Our primary goal is to create a stable environment for girls and young women where their professional and personal development can be fostered.

In 2023, almost 1,300 girls benefited from a stable education at our partner schools. A close personal relationship with our local partners is extremely important to us. We are in regular contact and utilize all channels, from email to video calls and WhatsApp. We aim to visit our partners in person once a year, this year we are going to Burundi.

In the U.S., there is a widespread culture of giving very generously to charitable organizations, often on a very large scale. In Europe, and in Germany especially, this is not so common. Would you like to use your business concept to bring about change here too? What’s your personal experience: How willing are people to donate and talk about it?

I believe that the profit-for-purpose approach will be the new way to raise funds successfully. In Germany, my experience is that people hesitate to say what they contribute to the non-profit sector as an individual or as a company, and I can’t help asking myself why this is so. If it’s part of your philosophy and not greenwashing, then talk about it! Inspire others by telling them what you’re doing! So yes, I hope Super Flea Market will help to drive the conversation about what each and every person or company can do to support people and nature.

“In my experience, products from Germany have a very good standing. Made in Germany sounds good to my ears.” - Toni Garrn

You started your career at an early age and from Germany, going on to become a very successful, internationally sought-after model: What “typically German” attributes helped you in this regard?
I’m always very punctual or at least try to give plenty of notice when I know I’m going to be late. Admittedly, since becoming a mom, that’s something I don’t always manage.

Reliability, punctuality, an instinct for good quality are things Germans are often mocked for abroad; on the other hand, they are also the characteristics that help to build a solid business. Did these traits play a role during your modeling career, and how important are they to you now as a German entrepreneur?

In my experience, products from Germany have a very good standing, and particularly so because German products are perceived as being good quality. Made in Germany sounds good to my ears.

Is this something you also experience when you work with partners from other countries? Does the label “Made in Germany” give you a boost? And what do you think we Germans can learn from other countries and mentalities?

Made in Germany definitely helps. Plus, for us in particular, there’s the benefit of being a female-founded and led company. That’s something that interests and intrigues our business partners. Germans are often very wary of engaging with or testing something new swiftly without immediately criticizing things. That’s a trait we obviously struggle with – and it’s not the same as constructive criticism (smiles). Other European countries are more open – or less skeptical. Germany isn’t known for being an early adopter.

Toni Garrn: Balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship

Your mother has always supported you in your career with her financial expertise. What other values did you pick up at home that help you now as a businesswoman and mother?

We are a very, very close-knit family. I love being part of a community. As a mom, I want to pass this feeling on to my daughter. As a businesswoman, I really value a sense of togetherness, whether it’s in the team, in the Super Flea Market community or with business partners. I enjoy engaging with others, and it is also hugely important for success at all levels. People want to be seen and feel that their needs are being recognized.

“As a mom, I want my daughter to know that she is perfect the way she is. In every facet.” - Toni Garrn

As the mother of a daughter, how important is it for you to be a role model? What values and attitudes do you value especially? How do you deal with that typical guilty conscience most working moms are familiar with, and what advice would you give to mothers who are considering starting their own business? What piece of advice helped you the most?

My biggest piece of advice is to accept help and ask for it. My family, friends and my nanny are my biggest rocks, and they are the people who give my daughter love and affection. Only with this degree of support can I balance everything in my life.

I’m still learning how to handle the feeling of not being able to devote myself 100% to everything at the same time. Some days go really well, and others are really challenging. Asking for help on these days is difficult, but so important. As a mom, I want my daughter to know that she is perfect the way she is. In every facet. And that applies to her just as much as it does to me.

What is your vision for Super Flea Market? Looking ten years down the line, what do you want to have achieved with this business?
My vision is that in the future, the most gorgeous dresses, shoes and bags from the world’s most exclusive closets and glamorous red carpets will be given a second lease of life on Superfleamarket.org. But it’s actually about so much more than preloved fashion items from celebrities: It’s about contributing to the circular economy and providing real support for social and environmental justice initiatives. That’s what my team and I want to achieve.