A big push on social media helped Vildavi succeed

Art. no. 117764402 24 Apr 2025

Vildavi is the webshop that has grown considerably in recent years, largely thanks to good partnerships and accurate social media efforts. Here's how it happened.

Vildavi's founder, Madelaine Hoffman, is a trained photographer and worked for a long time at the Police's technical unit. During her second maternity leave, she took a course in programming and had a dream of starting a business alongside her day job. She quickly fell in love with social media and that's how it all started.

"I thought social media was great fun, it was a perfect match. With my education in programming, I understood the algorithms of social media and was able to reach out. Initially, I was just creating organic content and building my brand," says Madelaine.

Collaboration with football wives

After 13 years in the police, she finally resigned and now makes a living from her e-commerce business. That it became clothes was a bit of a coincidence.

"I needed something to sell and clothes were the obvious choice.

Quite early on, she started collaborating with, among others, soccer wives, artists and celebrities who both posed for photo shoots and showed off the garments in their channels.

"Sofie Granqvist was one of my first models, as well as the artist Nilla Nielsen. Magdalena Graaf was another one I started collaborating with. She and her friends blogged about when they wore my clothes during a night out and then it took off.

A big part of the work is Madelaine's interest in photography. She travels a lot for work - at least outside of pandemic times - and holds various photo shoots with her models.

"I love traveling and making connections. On the one hand, I get to travel and meet suppliers, and on the other hand, I travel a lot to take photos, which is extra fun of course.

Affordable fashion and big investment in social media

Madelaine describes Vildavi as "a happy bunch of girls with a lot of community who sell clothes online". In short, they sell popular clothes in a good price range.

It is an affordable fashion. I think I have found clothes and suppliers that are right on time and in high demand. For example, I sell from a brand called Stajl, which I found at the same time as they started to establish themselves in the fashion industry. They have grown considerably and have now managed to create an incredible desire among customers. Their summer dresses that we release every spring sell out immediately and then we retailers can't get hold of those garments anymore.

Madelaine also believes that the key to success lies in her investment in social media.

"As I said, I built up my social media organically over many years, without spending any money on it. When I then started advertising, it really took off.

Through her social media success, Madelaine was even selected by Facebook to participate in a community for entrepreneurs in Sweden. She has sat in on several interviews with the social media giant, asking questions about everything from what it's like to be an entrepreneur on Facebook to what she thinks they could do better.

"They said I stood out, that their algorithms found me. I'm incredibly honored to be part of this, that Facebook calls me feels very nice of course, she says.

"Flexible and good at finding solutions"

Madelaine runs her e-commerce via Abicart's platform and is pleased with how it works.

"I'm really happy. I don't have to worry about the technical stuff working, they have what suits me. When I have had specific requests, they have always helped. They are flexible and good at finding solutions.

Madelaine's top three tips to succeed in e-commerce

Don't give up!
Find what you enjoy and focus on it.
Don't expect to make a living from your e-commerce from the start, it takes some time.

We thank Madelaine for the tips and wish her good luck in the future.
If you want to visit Vildavi's webshop, you can find it here.