Meet Amber Penney, the 27-year-old Cape Town entrepreneur who is working with the rest of the FARO team to turn the global overstock crisis into South Africa’s coolest outlet chain.

Picture this: Billions of rands worth of perfectly good clothes just sitting in warehouses, waiting to become landfill fodder. Meanwhile, South Africans are eyeing those gorgeous Zara and G-Star pieces but wincing at the price tags. Enter Amber and her FARO Africa crew.

Amber’s no stranger to pressure. She played for South Africa in high-level water polo, including multiple representations at the Aquatic World Championships, World Cups and Olympic qualifiers, where she learned how to stay composed under fire and adapt on the fly. “Panic regularly, adapt constantly, and make sure to move fast,” she jokes, comparing sport to entrepreneurship. That same grit would later help her & her co-founders launch a business in one of the toughest industries on earth: Fashion retail.

Each year, roughly $425 billion worth of fashion products go unsold. That’s not a typo. Perfectly wearable clothes, straight from global brands, are either incinerated or dumped in landfills because they’re “last season” or have microscopic defects. It’s a huge problem, one that’s only growing as fast fashion and ecommerce take over the globe. But where others saw waste, Amber and her team saw an opportunity.

So in 2023, they launched FARO, Fashion Asset Reclamation Outlet, a fashion recommerce brand that rescues overstock and slightly imperfect items, refurbishes them if needed, and resells them in beautifully curated spaces that feel like high-end boutiques (just without the terrifying price tags). You’ll find popular brand names like Zara, Steve Madden, Pull & Bear, Levi’s and G-Star on the racks, but it’s not an “outlet” in the traditional sense. FARO stores are premium, aspirational spaces where everyone can feel stylish and valued, no matter their budget. “Expensive taste shouldn’t be expensive,” says Penney.

Behind the scenes, tech plays a big role too. FARO’s AI uses historical sales data and predictive analytics to get the right products in front of the right customers in the right store locations.

But even as they embrace innovation, FARO hasn’t forgotten the human touch. Personal styling, helpful staff, and a deep focus on customer experience are at the heart of the brand.

To power all this innovation and customer-centricity, FARO partners with Yoco, South Africa’s go-to for smarter payment solutions. Their reliable support has been essential to the retail rollout, enabling Amber’s team to stay laser-focused on building an empire of stylish sustainability. And build it they have.

From loading stock into their car boots and hanging up rails themselves, Amber and her co-founders are now leading a team scaling rapidly across South Africa. FARO already operates in multiple major malls, from Fourways Mall to N1 City and plans to open 16 stores by the end of this year, with 1,000 stores on the roadmap by 2030.

It’s not just about growth. FARO aims to create 4,000 jobs by 2028, backed by their FARO Academy, a digital learning platform that helps employees upskill and rise through the ranks.

But ask Amber what she’s most proud of, and she won’t rattle off numbers. It’s about impact, turning waste into opportunity, and giving South Africans access to luxury at accessible prices.

In the spirit of Youth Month, her advice to young South Africans dreaming of making change?

“Start messy, start scared, just start.”

Forget waiting for perfect plans or polished ideas. Amber’s path was anything but linear—sports, startups, boardrooms, and beauty brands all shaped the young entrepreneur she is today. “Every role taught me something I now use at FARO,” she says. “It’s a series of pivots, missteps, conversations and moments that eventually land you in the right place.”

FARO isn’t just a retail chain; it’s a masterclass in how doing good and doing well can go together. Stylishly, of course.

South Africa’s next-gen leaders aren’t waiting to be handed a better future. They’re designing it from scratch and Amber’s just getting started.