Hey, I’m Rhi! I started Duke The Label when I was 20, but it’s wild to think how this all came to be. I grew up on the Gold Coast, living the ultimate beach baby life, but my world was all about sport and school. Raised by my dad, creativity wasn’t exactly part of my day-to-day. It was basketball, fitness, and just getting through school.
Things shifted when I left home after school. Living on my own gave me the chance to figure out who I really was. At almost 6ft tall, I’d always struggled to find clothes that fit properly, so I started making my own — dresses, skirts, pants, you name it. That was the first spark of creativity in my life, and it felt so different but so me.
After stepping away from basketball because of back and ankle issues, I found a new passion for the gym. The gym became my happy place — not just for working out but for the people. I built friendships there that I never had growing up, and i'd bond with other women through activewear. I started becoming obsessed with leggings, but I could never find ones that I loved. So, I thought, why not make my own?
What started as me sewing spotlight fabric together to make leggings for myself, turned into sharing them with my gym friends. That’s when the magic happened. I became obsessed with making garments that others were wanting. The activewear connected me to other women, and it essentially was how I made friends.
Fast forward to today, and I’m still a gym girl, still living on the beautiful Gold Coast, and still so in love with this journey. I have an incredible team of women by my side, a growing community of amazing women. Which honestly is all I ever wanted, was to be apart of a community of women. Now I have that and the opportunity to design activewear that’s not just functional but empowering.
I’m endlessly grateful for everything DTL has become. I started with a simple goal of creating activewear to build friendships, and it’s grown into something I never could’ve imagined. Here’s to the next five years of building, creating, and giving back to the community that’s made it all possible. Thank you for being here. ❤️