Once Lily and I decided to give it a go, we split up responsibilities and got to work. Initially, our roles were much more defined, but as we have grown, personally, professionally and as a team, our roles have gotten more blurred. Initially though, Lily handled the pattern making and sewing and I handled everything else.
I knew all of our dresses were going to be vintage inspired. Our classic girls dresses had vintage silhouettes with really feminine details, but were usually made in equally as girly fabrics. Unlike those actual vintage pieces though, ours would be made in fabrics that you wouldn't ever find in kids clothing, especially in girls dresses. The pieces we were creating were fresh and modern takes on those vintage silhouettes. We launched with 5 woven fabrics and 3 colors of an insanely soft tri-blend jersey for our loungewear. With Lily making every piece to order, we were able to save a significant amount of money starting out.
As mentioned previously, we knew we didn't have much money to spend. We only spent money on materials and anything we absolutely couldn't teach ourselves. The one thing we both wholeheartedly agreed we had to outsource was the photography. Luckily, we knew an extremely talented photographer that we still use today, Jenny. In our mind, photography was the most important since it not only showed our clothes in the best light possible, but it helped create our visual brand identity. In addition to Jenny, our insanely talented friend Matt was looking to broaden his portfolio for his videography business, Black Oak Visuals. He offered to make us an impressive brand video that still makes me well up whenever I watch it. To be honest, I had no idea how talented my friends were.
Once we got visuals taken care of, I set about building our site. We decided to go with Shopify as our e-commerce platform. They have 24/7 free customer support, which I used to tell Lily that I swear they were going to end up charging us for since I contacted them so frequently.
Once we had a live site, I went about marketing us. We began with our family and friends and applied to many craft shows from New York to DC. We were both fortunate enough to have really supportive spouses while we were launching. Once we had some local presence, I began reaching out to bloggers. I had been following one specific blogger for years - Oh Joy! - after much persistence and various tactics, I was able to get in touch with her and send some pieces for her girls which she posted on Instagram. I remember waking up the next morning to a text from a friend of mine, "OMG! Oh Joy just posted her daughter in your dress!". Little did I know, Joy would continue to do many amazing things for us over the next few months.
About 2 months later, I got an email from a stylist requesting a lookbook from me. Joy was going to be on the cover of Parents Magazine and wanted to dress her younger daughter in one of our pieces. I spent the next day working with a friend and our amazing photographer to create a lookbook to send over. We ended up landing one of our pieces on the cover and the feature story of the December issue of Parents Magazine! About a year later, Joy graciously agreed to meet with me for an informational interview when I was in LA. She was even so kind to reschedule it 3x, when my trip kept getting postponed due to a family emergency.
Around the same time, I reached out to blogger, Eva Martino of Happily Eva After. Do you ever have those people that you feel like you know even if you have never met them? That's Eva for me! She has been such an amazing supporter of Worthy Threads and posts her kids in our clothes constantly. Lily jokes that Eva is my best friend.
Starting a business like this has definitely put me out of my comfort zone, but in the best possible way. I have been in contact with people I could have never imagined. I can't wait to see where Worthy Threads leads me in 2019. I have no idea where, but I know it will be awesome.
Allow us to introduce you to a vibrant creative force in the world of interior design, Robin Heller. While she might have made her mark in the marketing and public relations space, Robin’s true passion lies in the world of colors and aesthetics, and her unique perspective on spaces is nothing short of inspiring.
