7 January, 2025 | Izzie Kalaja, FRANKIE4’s director of operations and sustainability
Supporting the US expansion for cult women’s shoe brand FRANKIE4 has been a comfortable fit for QUT Business School graduate Izzie Kalaja.
Her passion for operational excellence and responsible business practices was at the forefront of her move to Seattle in September, almost a year after FRANKIE4 opened its first US flagship store.
In Kalaja’s current role as FRANKIE4’s director of operations and sustainability, she’s helping drive the company’s expansion in the US market, supporting relationships with major retailers such as department store group Nordstrom and women’s apparel chain J.Jill.
“After three years with the business, it’s a privilege to be in the US and see so many new customers experience the FRANKIE4 difference,” says Kalaja.
“FRANKIE4 was founded by QUT graduates Caroline and Alan McCulloch and it’s really a labour of love. It’s such a cool brand and I am so grateful that I have landed here in Seattle to help the business to keep growing.”
“It's an award-winning Australian footwear brand with over 120,000 5-star reviews, and I’m excited to see our product impact the lives of women globally.”
Founded in Brisbane in 2010, FRANKIE4 has established a strong online presence in addition to nine stores in Australia and a US flagship store in Seattle’s Bellevue Collection.
FRANKIE4’s popularity has grown in a niche market that Caroline McCulloch, a podiatrist, has described as “contemporary comfort footwear”, with brand awareness aided by a raft of celebrity clients such as Kelly Clarkson, Nina Dobrev, Jennifer Garner, Aubrey Plaza and Naomi Watts.
Behind Kalaja’s move to the US is her own growth story that marks an impressive rise through the ranks at FRANKIE4 after graduating with a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) from QUT in 2017.
After spending almost three years with Deloitte, joining as an analyst in 2018 to later become a senior consultant, Kalaja drew on her passion for marketing and sustainability when accepting a new challenge at FRANKIE4 in 2021.
Initially enlisted as a campaign and content strategist, she was promoted to sustainable practices manager and then associate director of planning and sustainability ahead of her current role.
Kalaja credits much of her career success to the QUT Bachelor of Business program, as well as a post-graduate Master of Philosophy degree which she completed with QUT in 2023.
The focus of the masters was how different types of fashion brands communicate about sustainability efforts alongside existing commercial priorities, and how these communications may contribute to sustainability progress in the broader fashion industry.
“I’ve always loved fashion, but I became more and more interested in sustainability through my work in consulting. Combining these in my research set me on the path to FRANKIE4,” says Kalaja.
“The sustainability thread through my master’s degree has been hugely important to my current role,” she says, noting that during the master’s program she worked with QUT professors with extensive experience in corporate social responsibility and business ethics.
“A year into starting the degree I made the jump to FRANKIE4. Not long after that the company embarked on the journey to become a B-Corp Certified brand.
“There was a real parallel between the research I was doing and the conversations we were having day-to-day in the office.
“That’s when I moved out of a content-focused role and into sustainability – or what we prefer to call ‘responsibility’ at FRANKIE4.”
Kalaja confesses a deep passion for learning, which is reflected in her journey at QUT which started in high school when she participated in the START QUT program. That gave her a taste of the study options available to her.
The passion only grew while studying her bachelors as she participated in the QUT Business School International Case Competition team, which took her and teammates to New Zealand, Canada, Thailand and Portugal.
A six-month exchange with Copenhagen Business School also provided insight into conducting business in Europe, while participation in QUT’s Corporate Partners in Excellence program as part of her undergraduate studies gave her practical corporate experience with the likes of Coca-Cola Amatil and Bank of Queensland.
“Learning the ability to problem-solve at speed with others has been especially beneficial to my career,” says Kalaja.
“The way QUT teaches this has been key to my career, and given me the ability to jump into new roles.”
Kalaja is among a team of 12 on the ground in Seattle – part of a global workforce of about 200 employees at FRANKIE4.
“I get the best of both worlds. The business in the US has more of a startup energy day-to-day, but we have the backing of a very mature Australian business.”
Kalaja still leads a team in Australia from her Seattle base, which focuses on planning, buying and sustainability, in addition to US operations.
“I actually have another QUT alum on my team,” she says.
“But in the US, my focus is to scale operations sustainably – getting the right product into the region at the right time, so we can service new customers and wholesale partners the team has brought on board.”
Kalaja describes FRANKIE4’s growth in recent years as a “rollercoaster” of success and a challenge she has comfortably embraced.
“My team has always operated across both Australia and the US, but being able to be here on the ground now is game changing,” she says.
“It’s exciting to think about how our footwear can help millions of women in the US.”
This article is republished from Business News Australia. Read the original article here.