While most trained dentists are working long hours in surgeries and clinics, the Sabre brothers are managing their multi-million dollar start-up venture of personalised, monogrammed leather goods.
Zane, originally from New Zealand, was in his third year of studying dentistry in Australia when the pair’s father was diagnosed with cancer. Immediately he and Omar knew that they would be responsible for their own finances, including Zane’s $60K per year university tuition fees. After a year of research, product development and building an audience on Instagram, the pair launched their first product. It was an iconic leather phone case. MAISON de SABRÉ snowballed from there.
Within the same financial year, the brothers made their first $1 million. Zane was 23 at the time and a full time uni student while Omar, 26, was still in New Zealand, working full time. Zane moved into a 3-bedroom townhouse on his own so that he could use the extra rooms to run the business.
“I remember waking up at 4am every morning to start dispatching orders before I had to go to the clinic to see my patients at 8am,” says Zane. “I would come back home at 3pm then work until 1-2am each day.”
The pair used their creativity and family resources to keep up with a business that was spiralling into extreme success.
“We convinced our Mum to temporarily move from New Zealand and live in the townhouse while I was on my final university placement, seeing patients from 8am-5pm every day,” explains Zane. “She was working to dispatch orders and monitoring the office girls, as well as making epic lunches for everyone. The office room was the dispatch area, the spare bedroom was the office and had two customer care and social staff working out of there. The dining room table was where we would have our strategy meetings.”
MAISON de SABRÉ has grown to become an internationally recognised brand that refines the art of personalised leather goods with their signature premium collection of cases, wallets, clutches and pocket accessories. Using one of the highest leather grades, it’s the continued push for quality that characterises MAISON de SABRÉ. Selling to more than 100 countries, with 85% of the brands sales from overseas buyers, MAISON de SABRÉ is now approaching $10 million in sales to date. It’s about adding your personal touch, not ours. A unique monogram design created perfectly to reflect you. The question is, how will you #MakeYourMark?
Fast forward to now and MAISON de SABRÉ is operating from a brand new warehouse/office space on the Gold Coast, employs 16 staff and ships over 400 orders worldwide every day. The brothers have paid off all Zane’s university fees, financially support both their parents and quit their dental careers to work full time in their multimillion dollar venture.
The pair say they utilised social media from the very beginning and believe it greatly helped them to gain such quick success. MAISON de SABRÉ is moving at record speed and has a knack for being authentically relevant to their buyers by utilising social media, knocking out big company competitors with ease. The brothers have their eyes locked on being the biggest supplier of monogrammed leather goods in the world.
When asked about their advice for entrepreneurs, the pair say “believe in yourself and never be afraid to make mistakes”.