What do Hailey Bieber, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and Lori Harvey have in common? When these celebs need someone to help fill their latest fashion craving, they go to Gab Waller.

Waller has built a name for herself in the fashion community for her unique ability to find any fashion item, no matter how difficult it is to track down – whether they’re straight off the runway, archival pieces, or coveted sold-out styles. In the process, Waller has established a global business for fashion-crazed high profile clients and celebs alike.

It’s a unique career path for the Australian, who says she never thought she would end up in the fashion industry growing up. It was only while working at a full-time job that she discovered how personal shopping and fashion sourcing were untapped markets in Australia. She officially launched her business in 2018, and started small to put her theory to the test.

“I started with about 10 clients who were strangers to me, so I knew that I really had to prove myself when I said to them, ‘Hey, this is what I’m doing. I’m able to source you pieces that you may not be able to find.’ Within the first one to two months I realized this has legs, there is a market for this.” said Waller. “Soon, recommendations started coming in; a client would recommend me to her friend, and it kind of just kept going. I knew that it had potential, so it was only about three months after launching the business that I resigned from my full-time position and decided to take this on one hundred percent.”

But Waller never could have predicted what happened next. Six months into her business, the designer got a public stamp of approval from none other than Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. The supermodel posted – via Instagram Story – a plea to her millions of followers to help track down a particularly rare Phoebe Philo-era Celine coat. Waller proved she was the girl for the job.

“At that point in time, I was working in Australia,” she recalled. “It was just me and my assistant in Paris. We were just sourcing for clients from Australia, and we had maybe three international clients. When Rosie posted that she was looking for the coat, I remember seeing that and thinking I had no connection to Rosie. It was about a week later, a mutual friend in the States that had been following me for some time, knew what I was up to because I was posting on my personal Instagram what I was doing. She said ‘Hi, I’m speaking with Rosie, do you think you can get this coat?’ It really was meant to be in every way because I was just speaking with a boutique in Denmark that had the coat a week prior. So I said yes. It was really quick.”

The actress was so ecstatic, she took to Instagram to personally thank Waller for her services. The rest is history.

“That day changed the entire direction of my life,” Waller said.

Press, clients, and a flood of Instagram followers came next. Waller now commands a successful global personal shopping business. She has offices in Australia and Los Angeles, along with sourcing assistants based around the globe, including Paris, London, Dubai, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Singapore.

Waller relies entirely on word-of-mouth referrals and Instagram DM for sourcing requests and new clients, doing no paid marketing. An estimated 80 percent of requests come through DM from recurring and new clients. This allows Waller to keep a personal touch to the business despite tremendous growth, and a more approachable take on luxury shopping. Clients are charged a flat fee per purchase, and there is no commitment to purchase once the item has been found.

“Some people questioned how we did that, thinking it’s quite a risky business model,” said Waller. “But for us, due to the quantity, because of how much we’re sourcing, it’s outweighed by the amount of yeses that we are receiving and are confirmed.”

Her reputation skyrocketed. “Immediately after the Rosie moment, she said to me ‘I want to connect you with a friend of mine that is also looking for the exact same coat.’”

That “friend” happened to be super-stylist Maeve Reilly, who dresses everyone from Hailey Bieber to Lori Harvey. Waller has been the secret behind locating the key items that have helped create Bieber’s signature style, from bold Bottega Veneta bags to the Celine ‘Edge’ sunglasses. “To secure someone like Rosie as a client so early on in the business, I think it just created an immediate trust with our celebrities that were recommended to me,” said Waller.

Despite her fortunes, expanding her business has not always proven easy. Scarcity and an influx of orders can prove difficult to fulfill. “After the Celine coat blew up, I feel that my reputation slightly went into the mold of being this old Celine girl. Especially in those early months, I was sourcing a lot of old Celine, which is hard because there aren’t a lot of people that want to sell theirs,” said Waller.

“The most challenging requests are when we’ve received like 30-plus requests for a particular piece. I’ll think, ‘I think I can find this handbag, but 30 of them is really pushing it.’”

Waller has come to expect – and even predict – the rising demand. Currently, she is bracing herself for an influx of requests for a pair of crystal-embellished knee-high boots by Saint Laurent (popularized by Mrs. Bieber, of course), and several of the vintage-inspired pieces from the latest Chanel collection. Despite the craze, Waller still finds joy in the process of sourcing for her clients.

“Seeing positive feedback, that’s really what drives me every day, because I want every client to have a positive experience,” said Waller. “When someone writes into the company to say how grateful they are and thank us. I mean, that’s certainly a driving factor for me, but also one of the most rewarding parts of it all.”

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