How Aussie uniform brand Cargo Crew got Paris Hilton to wear one of its pink boiler suits
Cargo Crew founder Felicity Rodgers shares the story behind Paris Hilton appearing on social media in one of the brand’s iconic pink boiler suits.
Picture this. Your brand achieving money-can’t-buy (or at least, not without a hefty budget) exposure by one of the world’s most recognisable celebrities, and all the social proof, organic reach and influential endorsement that comes along with it. For free.
It might sound like a pipe dream, but it’s something we’ve achieved at Cargo Crew. Earlier this month Paris Hilton appeared on social media in one of our iconic pink boiler suits, reaching hundreds of thousands of people, without us having to pay influencer or spon-con fees. While it might have seemed like an overnight success, this was an opportunity a long time in the making.
Let’s rewind and unpack how it happened.
Global aspirations
While we’re proud to be an Aussie-owned and designed brand, we ship our products worldwide and use our marketing platforms to speak to a global audience. And celebrity endorsement is a solid part of our marketing strategy, as evidenced by our long-standing relationship with celebrity chef Curtis Stone.
While ‘uniform provider’ doesn’t scream ‘fashionista’ at first, once people see the quality of our uniform clothing items, colour palettes and personalisation options, the appeal becomes more obvious. Our designs are high-quality, stylish and functional, and with our global expansion we’ve started leaning into even more fashion-led and innovative design so that we can appeal to a wider span of communities beyond the obvious — the creators, the makers, the workers, and everybody in between.
Telling a new story
As a legacy family business with more than two decades in the industry, being known so well can be a blessing and a curse.
Our loyal Australian customer base has grown to know us for one thing, but our innovative approach to intentional design means we’re now evolving to serve more diverse audiences, and breaking the existing brand mould.
But one thing that hasn’t changed in our 22-year history is our commitment to transforming how businesses present themselves and creating work uniforms that staff actually want to wear.
Our boiler suit is a case in point. It’s comfortable and functional enough to be worn all day by people doing physical work — hairdressers, florists, mechanics, event teams, bakers — but stylish enough to be ideal for playtime too.
Playing the long game
We see our social presence as a curated extension of our brand, and invest time in researching our ideal collaborators and like-minded creators, to build partnerships that feel like a natural fit (just like our uniforms).
Instead of offering free products to anyone with a following, we invest time in connecting with people who have aligned brands and values with ours. Chef Bae (aka Brooke Baevsky) is a case in point. A celebrity chef with a following of over 675,000 ‘Food Baes’, she is reinventing allergy-friendly foods with delicious, health-forward and internet-viral recipes. She also has a love of pastel colours and comfortable, stylish jumpsuits and boiler suits.
A member of our wonderful client service team was the first to point out that Chef Bae would be a great partner for us, so we gifted her one of our pink boiler suits in November 2023, complete with personalised embroidery, sending it straight to her home base in LA. This shows the impact the broader team play in highlighting opportunities for the Cargo Crew brand, by sharing loved content creators they personally follow and connect with.
Almost immediately Chef Bae started wearing our boiler suit in her content, which we gave lots of support across our own channels, building some great rapport over Instagram.
Our approach was to be generous, with ‘no strings attached’. We didn’t outright ask her to wear the outfit but were thrilled when our confidence that she’d love it paid off.
Friends with benefits
Within a few weeks, Chef Bae messaged us directly to ask if she could order another boiler suit — for Paris Hilton. We jumped at the opportunity (and might have also happy-danced around the office), and quickly embroidered a Paris Hilton boiler suit and sent it for her to wear for a segment they were planning on filming for a Raw Vee GluFee DaFee Pumpkin Pie (translation for mere mortals: raw, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free).
While we knew Chef Bae was really well connected on the LA celebrity scene, we didn’t expect her endorsement of us to pay off so quickly, and in Paris, we found the perfect match — she’s synonymous with the colour pink, and only wears the very best. We’re taking it as a testament to our high quality.
The Paris effect
Of course, we’ve made the most of a global megastar wearing our brand with plenty of social love on our own channels, and the impact has already been felt — our US site has enjoyed a 90% uplift in website traffic since Paris appeared in our iconic pink boiler suit.
For us, Paris’s confidence in her own signature style and strong personal brand is the embodiment of how we want people to feel while wearing our garments: true to themselves, while allowing their personal style to shine through at work and play.
From here, we’ll continue to engage with Chef Bae and Paris online, and are now actively looking at other potential partners who might appreciate a gifted, one-of-a-kind personalised outfit from Cargo Crew. But we’re also managing our own expectations — not everyone is going to be the right person for our garments, just like not everyone is going to be the right first with our values.
As a business using ethical manufacturing, with a sustainability focus and with a commitment to inclusive sizing, we take our brand seriously. For us, the formula for celebrity-endorsement success is a dash of luck and timing, plus a generous product offer, and a lot of willingness to go the extra mile for that personal, celebrity service.
Felicity Rodgers is the founder and chief creative officer of Cargo Crew.
