Do you know why you jump out of bed every morning? Do you know why you do what you do

#ourculturecode

Last week we launched our new Corporate Purpose, or Mission Statement, to our 400 Support Office Team Members in Sydney. We kept the event a secret and built the suspense and excitement through enticing (but ambiguous) emails and teaser posters throughout the building – after weeks of speculations we had some very interesting theories about what we were doing!

The night was a huge success and a milestone in SFG history as it was the first time we had everyone together in one forum.

Beautiful product in the Ivy ballroom

From 4pm our Team Members started to fill up the Ivy Ballroom and at 5pm the doors shut when Gary Perlstein, our CEO, took to the stage. Gary started SFG back in 1993 and is a key figure in our business. Gary gave us an update on the business performance in FY15 and delivered our key focus for the new year ahead. He outlined our group KPI’s and goals to emphasise that whilst we are a multi-brand group, where each brand has its own targets and goals, we are one #sfgfamily, and it is important we all know what our common goals are.

Then our Leadership Team took to the stage to introduce their individual brands/departments along with key focuses for FY16 – we even learnt their star signs, both Western & Chinese which included everything from a Rat to a Tiger! We had a Q&A with Gary, with questions from Team Members, asking what they really wanted to know about him. They ranged from personal to the professional; one of the stories he told resulted in him rolling around on stage to re-enact a key store moment for him, early on in SFG history!! (there’s no photo of that unfortunately!)

Gary Perlstein, CEO

After this, Gary got to the core of the event – WHY were we all there? He introduced us to Simon Sinek’s, Leadership expert and Author, principle: The Golden Circle. Most of us know WHAT we do and HOW we do it – but how many of us know WHY we do it? If you can identify your WHY you will be inspired and inspire others. Successful, authentic and respected companies (and people) are connected to their WHY, they live it and breathe it.

As SFG has changed and grown over the years it was important for us to re-evaluate our WHY and make sure we knew not only what we did and how, but more importantly WHY we did it. To see more of what we are talking about visit Simon’s website: Start with Why

So, what is our WHY? What inspires us?

Our new corporate PURPOSE …….

We know our reason for being is a little aspirational, but we dream BIG because we believe we CAN!

You might be asking, WHY such an ambitious statement? You’d be right in stating it is ambitious – but we aren’t afraid of that. Let’s ask a different question?

•         WHY is fashion just for the young or the skinny?
•         WHY doesn’t everyone deserve to look and feel great in what the wear?
•         WHY should anyone feel marginalised because of their age or size?

Our brands don’t exclude anyone and cater for the mature and curvy because our customers deserve the right to look great and feel confident. To quote Gary on the night “We want to build confidence and self-esteem to help change people’s lives – to be life changing!”

Our lovely City Chic Team - looking bold, sexy & glam! 

Some of the stories we hear from customers in our stores would shock and upset you; women who have been abused because of their size, by both strangers and supposed loved ones; made to feel insignificant, not worthy and disgusting. People should not determine their success or failure based on their clothing size. Whether you lose or gain weight your self-worth should not fluctuate. There needs to be a shift in society towards promoting a body positive image and fashion retailers have a key part to play. 

This is WHY we are on a mission, we are living with PURPOSE.

In the second part of our blog next week we will talk about our inspirational guest speaker and provide more insight into what some of our fabulous brands have been doing to change the perception of fashion!