‘So many people told me not to do this – and I just think: “Thank god I didn’t listen”’ – influencer Rosie Connolly on turning her clothing brand 4th Arq into a global business

The company – which has 15 staff – has had sales in over 100 countries and ambitions to hit revenue of around €23m this year with investment secured from eShopWorld founder Tommy Kelly’s Castlegate Investments.

At just 34, she appears to have effortlessly transitioned from social-media influencer to fully fledged entrepreneur. But it hasn’t always been plain sailing.

Her clothing brand, 4th Arq, which was started with husband Paul Quinn during the Covid-19 pandemic, suffered a significant business setback early on.

In 2021, Connolly launched 4th Arq’s second clothing range not long after the first sold out within hours. Demand was high, which is usually a good complaint for a fledgling fashion business. However, it turned out to be too high.

As the online orders came in thick and fast, Connolly and Quinn noticed something was seriously off. Somehow, around 10,000 pieces were ordered above what 4th Arq had in stock – all within an hour of the launch.

It meant 6,000 orders had to be cancelled and all the money refunded – a mammoth task for a startup.

They had a business where the product was right, but the logistics were hopelessly inadequate.

Connolly grimaces and puts her head in her hands as she retells the moment she realised the magnitude of the error. It was terrifying for someone who had put so much at stake for this business to succeed – including her and her husband’s mortgage savings. She feared 4th Arq would never recover in the eyes of its customers.

But the flurry of demand soon attracted attention – and not just from Connolly’s fashion fans.

Castlegate’s John Kelly became interested in 4th Arq after watching the firm’s progress. He sent Connolly an email outlining how his investment and experience in logistics – Kelly’s bread and butter for decades – could help 4th Arq hit the heights.

Connolly was impressed. Soon after this, Castlegate invested €200,000. But Connolly says it was not just about the money, as the business expertise the Kellys could offer was invaluable.

“When I say we were in the weeds, we couldn’t see past next weekend,” says Connolly of the hectic period at 4th Arq before securing the backing of Castlegate.

“We started the conversation – and before we’d even signed the contracts, he was working on the business. He was excited, and we were excited.

“It gave us back some enthusiasm,” she adds. “We were drowning in it – it got too big for us.

“But it worked. Our personalities gelled, and the business side came. It skyrocketed after that – he saw the rocket ship’s fuse, and he just lit it.”

Meanwhile Connolly’s business skills were being honed.

“Having that mess with the fulfilment centre [the office which ships the products that customers have bought] was the hardest lesson we ever learned – but it was the pivotal moment for us to back the business even more than we had.

‘We know from the reaction to an Instagram reel how a launch is going to go’

"As horrible as the lesson was – and I really hope there are no more lessons like that along the line – without that, we would have only ever bet small and safe.

“It was awful, but it was only afterwards we realised: ‘If we had had all that stock, it would have been a solid day.’

"It all happened in the first hour. We realised that if that was what we could have sold in an hour – had we had the stock – then our problem was the stock.

“It continued to be our problem probably for the first two years – not having enough stock and balancing how much was enough. It was constantly chasing this growth – it was faster than what we could keep up with.”

​Connolly and the team at 4th Arq haven’t looked back since those days. With the help of John Kelly, son of Tommy, 4th Arq has a far better handle on its stock demands, well in advance.

And with its latest clothing launch being well received, Connolly is confident about what the years ahead hold for 4th Arq.

“We have our plans, and they are quite aggressive,” she says.

Last week, 4th Arq also launched a collection in aid of Breast Cancer Ireland.

The fashion brand’s latest launches have seen it branch out beyond its traditional half-zip fleece into other categories within fashion, such as blazers and trench coats. The company has other new categories in mind, and is also planning to launch a swimwear collection.

“During lockdown, our customers were wearing loungewear. We are trying to evolve along with our customers.”

4th Arq’s roots in social media mean it is aware of what its customers want, constantly getting engagement and feedback. Connolly says this is a massive benefit for the brand.

“We know from the reaction to an Instagram reel how a launch is going to go,” she says. “They – the customers – guide us.”

So far, 4th Arq’s focus has been on e-commerce, which has had its challenges in recent years. Connolly says the brand has gone “against the grain” in terms of its outlook on e-commerce.

“You might think that it’s just hype, that it’s a new brand and that it would drop off,” she says. “But it hasn’t.”

​The Clontarf-born Connolly says she didn’t grow up with an entrepreneurial streak – though her late father’s side of the family owns The Sheds pub on Clontarf Road.

‘I accidentally created a career. I thought: "Oh, this is nice. I don’t have to go back to work”’

Her focus was on fashion and beauty, and she took a job in makeup. But she had big dreams, so by night she studied fashion buying.

Then along came social media.

Connolly used to spend hours watching YouTube videos of people sharing pictures of clothes they had bought, and she thought she could contribute to this emerging online space.

Posting on social media started as a hobby, but it soon became a career – and a lucrative one. She began sharing posts when she was pregnant, and then the chance emerged to get paid for content. It snowballed from there.

“I accidentally took a hobby, and created a career. I thought: ‘Oh, this is nice. I don’t have to go back to work. I can be a mum at home.’ What comes with that, though, are the eyeballs and the public side of it. That’s not the bit I enjoy.”

The 4th Arq business has allowed Connolly to focus more on what she loves.

“I like to keep myself to myself and yet I have around 377,000 followers on Instagam – it is bizarre.

“I shared everything because I was making money from it – the money was too good not to. But was it a natural thing for me? Definitely not.

“Doing this in the background has been the dream for me,” she adds. “I can do all the things I love without being in the public eye – I’m not in any photoshoots, because I choose not to be.”

‘I’m proud that I took influencing and created this brand from it’

The idea for 4th Arq had long been on Connolly’s mind. The pandemic brought about a bit of a push. In 2020, when much work stopped overnight with the pandemic, her husband Paul lost his job as a refrigeration engineer.

But the rise of lockdown online commerce meant Connolly got busier, with brands pumping money into social media and influencer advertising.

One night Rosie and Paul started talking about starting a fashion brand together. Taking the money the pair had saved for a mortgage – as well as the money Paul made from selling his tools – they started 4th Arq in late 2020.

“The only way to do it was jump into the deep end and figure out how to swim,” says Connolly. “We bet the house on it.

“I think a bit of naivety helps in business when you are starting out, because you’ve no idea what is ahead. You are naive about all the things that could go wrong.

“I think that maybe helped us. We didn’t think about any of the bad things that could happen – we were just thinking of little steps, and off we went.”

​From its launch in December 2020, 4th Arq flourished.

The chaos of the second launch provided the business lessons Connolly and Quinn needed to make their company a real success.

This included bringing stock control in-house for a time, although the couple has now returned to the fulfilment model.

But with their success came challenges. Last year, the business discovered garments, including hoodies, sweatpants and jumpers bearing the 4th Arq logo at two outlets in Ireland. Connolly and Quinn took the issue to court, seeking orders halting the outlets from selling, marketing, advertising, or dealing in any way with goods bearing their trademark.

Connolly says the case has since been resolved.

The global market is now on Connolly’s mind for 4th Arq. The brand has seen sales spikes in the UK, the US and Australia.

Without much promotion, the UK was accounting for 20pc of sales. So they are planning to seriously go after that market.

“For our growth to be where we expect it to be in the next two or three years, we really need to lean into the UK,” she says.

Part of the international strategy could involve pop-up stores. Connolly says pop-ups for 4th Arq, which it has had in the likes of Arnotts, are all about experiential shopping.

She says there’s a need for a physical presence to help break new markets. She would love to see 4th Arq pop-ups in Manchester, London and Belfast.

Ensuring longevity for the company is critical. Connolly says they will keep listening to customers, to ensure they never grow lazy over their range of products.

But longevity is a tough call in her business. With many social media influencers making the leap into business, with various products from alcohol and fake tan to clothing and makeup, is the market for these types of companies close to saturation?

“You have to find the gap,” says Connolly. “If you’re going to just churn out what somebody else is doing, then it is pointless. You’ll always be behind.”

‘So many people told me not to do this – thank god I didn’t listen’

She says competition in the fashion industry is fierce. When it comes to winning customers’ hearts and minds, 4th Arq is up against some of the world’s biggest companies, and there are always new brands coming along with exciting new propositions.

With perhaps that in mind, collaborations are an area Connolly is eager to push 4th Arq into. It just has to be the right fit.

“There is huge value in collaboration,” she says. “Have we found the right fit yet? I don’t think so. But I would love to come across someone or something and say: ‘Yeah, that is a lovely alignment.’”

Connolly – who was nominated for an EY Entrepreneur of the Year award last year – is looking to the future of 4th Arq with a huge sense of optimism. She feels the business is starting to break out from being viewed as just an influencer brand.

“I think we’re getting there,” she says. “Sometimes people feel bad about saying ‘influencer brand’, as if it is a kind of shameful thing.

“But I’m proud of what we have created, and I’m proud that I took influencing – which most people laughed at in the beginning – and created this brand from it. That’s an even bigger story.

“It is nice to be seen as a businesswoman as well as an influencer. I’m not ashamed to be an influencer, but it is nice to be known as a businesswoman as well, and be respected for that.”

Many lessons have been learned along Connolly’s entrepreneurial journey. But trusting her instinct has been, and will remain crucial as she chases global success.

“If it feels right, do it. And if it’s a mistake, then learn from it,” she says. “So many people told me not to do this – thank god I didn’t listen.”

Curriculum Vitae

​Name: Rosie Connolly

​Age: 34

Position: Co-founder of 4th Arq

From: Clontarf, Dublin

Family: Husband Paul Quinn and children Reuben (11), Harry (9) and Remi (5)​

​Education: Institute of Education

Favourite hobby: Pilates

​Favourite book: What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey

​​​Favourite movie: The Devil Wears Prada

Business lessons

What advice would you give people on social media who hope to start their own businesses?

“Stay passionate. You need to eat, sleep and breathe that. Business can drag you down into numbers and spreadsheets – but don’t lose the passion and creativity. If you’re a creative person, don’t let the day-to-day business stuff squash that.

"Some days I have to step away and not come into the office, so I can get creative again.”