250 – Why Starting with In Person is Best with Mary Bemis of Reprise Active Wear

Mary Bemis of Reprise Active WearMary is the founder of Reprise, a line of plant-based activewear aiming to free your closet from plastic.

She founded the company to educate us about the ingredients in our clothing, so we have more control over our health and wellness.

Reprise products never contain oil-based synthetics or recycled plastics because of their impact on the planet. Mary believes your skin deserves only the best, so they only work with plant-based fabrics to give you the cleanest wear.

Mary envisions a future where people not only look to see what’s in their clothes, but they expect better materials.

She’s passionate about environmentalism and is an active member of the NYC sustainability community.

BUSINESS BUILDING INSIGHTS

  • Invest in education about a topic that interests you and see if there’s an opportunity to create a business out of it.
  • You can identify and gain access to needed resources by being in person with people who share the same passion as you do. They may hold the missing piece of information that will motivate you to get started.
  • Don’t let the fact that there are other products out there similar to yours deter you from starting your business. There’s a way to make it unique. There’s a way to make it yours.
  • Keep it simple when testing your products. Limit your products and variations as you start out. You can add to them later.
  • Welcome feedback from potential customers to understand the receptivity and interest in your product.
  • Cultivate relationships to get the word out for your product. This is best done in person particularly in the beginning.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Poshmark

Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)

Factory 45

TexWorld

Quad Pay

CONTACT LINKS

Website

Facebook

Instagram

Join Our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community

Become a Member of Gift Biz Breeze

If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe so you automatically get the next episode downloaded for your convenience. Also, if you’d like to do me a huge favor, please leave a review. That helps other creators like you find the show and build their businesses too.

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Thank so much! Sue

Transcript
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Gift biz unwrapped episode.

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Are you ready for this 250 the fabric is kind of

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magical. It can be anything,

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and I was like,

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what is this thing that could be made into so many

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different types of clothing?

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Attention gifters,

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bakers, crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.

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Whether you have an established business or looking to start one,

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now you are in the right place.

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This is gift to biz unwrapped,

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helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

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Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,

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resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.

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Here is your host gift biz gal,

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Sue moon Heights.

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Hi there,

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it's Sue.

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Welcome to the 250th episode of the gift biz unwrapped podcast.

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That seems crazy to me.

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We've been airing now for almost five years and I'm not

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doing anything special for the 250th because I feel like that's

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just celebrating me and I want to celebrate you guys and

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the best way I can do that is to continue to

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give you good information that you can use and apply to

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growing your businesses.

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So here we go.

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Today is January 20th,

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2020 Oh my gosh,

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that's a cool number two.

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I didn't even realize it until I said it,

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but I like this day even more now because two is

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my favorite number.

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I'm not going to go into that now in terms of

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why, maybe that would be for another day,

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but I bring up the date because if you are anywhere

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near the Philadelphia area,

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next weekend I'm going to be at the Philly candy show,

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which is going to be held in cherry Hill.

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We're exhibiting there as the ribbon print company and I'm also

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doing a talk on how to distinguish yourself and stand out

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in your market.

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So if you're in the area and particularly if you're a

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Baker or a suite maker,

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come check out the show and of course come to my

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class also and I've been doing more and more of this

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lately. I'm planning on having a meetup one night of the

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show, so whether you're at the show or not,

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whether you're in the candy or baking industry or not,

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but you're in the area.

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I'd love for you to come and join us in the

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meetup details of that can be found in our gift biz

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breeze Facebook group in terms of what night it is,

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where we're going to meet up the time,

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all of that and I'm really hoping to see you there.

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I started doing these meetups in 2019 and I've really found

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it valuable,

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the face to face being able to to meet you in

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person, connect with you.

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We can chat about business or we can just hang out

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and have fun.

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It just all depends on how the conversation goes and how

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many people show up.

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It's great with two or three and it's also great with

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20 or 30 so we'll just see happens there and if

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you're not in the area,

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hopefully I'll be doing a meetup somewhere around you this year.

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Just stay tuned to the podcast and the Facebook group for

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more information on that.

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I have a really exciting past guest spotlight for you today

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too. It's from Michelle Dowen of cookie NYP,

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so she was featured in episode 193 just a little bit

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over a year ago and you can go back and listen

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to that episode if you want to hear her full story.

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I'm just going to read to you directly from the update

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that she sent me.

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She shares some insight into two ways.

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She's grown her business this year that you could use and

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tweak to address your own scenarios.

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These are really great.

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Are you ready?

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Here's what Michelle has to say.

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Cookie nip continues to grow.

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One of the things that we have had success with is

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adding more retailers in cake supply shops.

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While we do get new retailers at trade shows,

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we added about 40 new retailers by sharing it on our

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social media page.

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We asked our customers to tell us the shop where they

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like to purchase their cake and cookie supplies.

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These shops were located all over the country and it gave

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us an Avenue for reaching out to them.

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We let them know that one of their customers suggested that

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she would like to purchase cookie nip at that store.

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Then we sent them wholesale information.

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It was so easy.

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Retailers want to know about the products that their customers want

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to purchase locally.

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We also will send them a few sample cookies and a

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recipe with the first shipment because people who taste the product

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are the most likely to purchase it.

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We know it's successful because within a few days that retailer

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is ordering the product.

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Another thing that has worked well for cookie nip is the

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use of brand ambassadors.

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These are people who are industry professionals who are also influencers.

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Each brand ambassador has a discount code that they share with

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their followers and then at the end of each quarter we

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pay the brand ambassadors a dollar for each time their code

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was used in a purchase in our online store.

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It really helps when people who are well known in the

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industry recommend our product and it definitely boosts sales,

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so there you have it.

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Two ways that Michelle has found growth in her business and

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again, these are things that you can tweak and use as

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your own.

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Now Michelle also went on to make comment about the podcast.

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She says,

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I enjoy each podcast,

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whether it's a business similar to mine or not,

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there's always something to learn from people who are on a

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similar journey.

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Thanks for bringing together the community of crafters who can earn

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money doing what they love.

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I'll Michelle,

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thank you for that.

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I really appreciate those kind words up today on the show

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is someone who's in a situation that many of you beginners

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are probably in,

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although she's significantly advanced her product already.

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She's doing it while working a full time job during the

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day. Mary is an analyst in digital marketing,

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but at night,

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weekends and breaks and work.

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She's building a business of her own.

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I can't wait for you to hear all about it.

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Let's just go ahead and roll that interview.

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Today. It's my pleasure to introduce you to Mary Bemis.

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Mary is the founder of reprise align of plant based active

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wear aiming to free your closet from plastic.

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She founded the company to educate us about the ingredients in

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our clothing so we have more control over our health and

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wellness. Reprised products never contain oil-based synthetics or recycled plastics because

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of their impact on the planet.

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Mary believes your skin deserves only the best,

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so they only work with plant-based fabrics to give you the

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cleanest wear.

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Mary envisions a future where people not only look to see

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what's in their clothes,

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but they expect better materials.

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As you can tell,

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she's passionate about environmental ism and is an active member of

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the New York city sustainability community.

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Mary, welcome to the gift biz unrepped podcast.

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Thank you so much,

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Sue. I'm excited to be here.

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Me too.

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I don't know a lot about your story so we are

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going to uncover it here in the show and I cannot

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wait. I'm excited.

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Yeah. Before we do though,

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I have a traditional question for you for us to learn

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about you in a little bit of a different way.

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If you were to describe yourself as a motivational candle,

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what color and what quote would be on your candle?

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I love this question.

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So this one was actually an easy one for me.

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So I think color-wise I was looking around thinking all the

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candles I have at home are sort of that natural wax

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color, kind of that like eggshell cream.

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I don't know.

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I think more natural materials and kind of what I find

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is really calming,

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but the quote I would have is because you can,

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and that's actually have a dove rapper that I unwrapped one

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time, like a couple of years ago that had that quote

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on it and I've put it in my bathroom and I

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see it every morning.

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And so that's something that really keeps me going and reminds

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me that I can do this because I can.

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Right? Because we're lucky enough to be in a position where

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we have the opportunities to do it so we can take

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advantage of it.

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The thing is we just have to,

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right, Exactly.

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It's easier said than done sometimes,

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but it is.

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I love that you said it's sort of a privilege too,

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so it keeps me motivated.

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Wonderful. Well,

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I think about what you're talking about in terms of creating

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active wear and for me that seems like a daunting task.

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I could see the idea,

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but I would have no idea how to get to the

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thought and then to reality.

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Before you get into that though,

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share with us what you were doing up to that point

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and then we'll get into how you came about with this

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idea. Sure,

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so it definitely was a daunting task for me.

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I don't come from a background in fashion or manufacturing or

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really a creative background.

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When I first moved to New York about six years ago,

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I was working at an investment bank.

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The more on the finance side,

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I decided that that just wasn't the lifestyle that I wanted.

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It was pretty long hours when a pretty competitive work environment

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was just really didn't fit with my personality what I wanted

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to do and so right now I still work full time

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at an advertising job and that was a little bit better

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in terms of work life balance and being in more of

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a creative environment,

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but the whole path to learning more about active work came

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and more sustainable fashion came at a total,

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a bit of an accident.

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I will,

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I'll talk a bit more about kind of how step-by-step I've

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built a company but it actually came about because I had

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just moved apartments and I live in New York city and

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I live alone.

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I live in a very small studio apartment in New York

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city and I had just moved from roommates to the studio

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apartment, so downgraded in size in many ways and I was

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trying to make some extra money to cover some of the

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move and get rid of some stuff and I was trying

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to sell a lot of my clothing on Poshmark.

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I hadn't used Poshmark before,

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but I had some friends who have sold clothes before and

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for anyone that's not familiar with Poshmark is a peer to

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peer app where you can resell clothing directly to people.

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Instead of selling it like a Buffalo exchange or something like

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that, you can just take pictures on your phone and upload

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it and then someone will purchase it and you ship it

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yourself. So I was really excited to clean out my closet

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a little bit and post some pictures and I figured to

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make my stuff really appealing.

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I'd be as descriptive as possible and list out all the

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different materials that my clothing was made from and I was

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hoping that it would all be cashmere and wool and really

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nice attractive things.

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And as I was listing out all the things,

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I noticed that everything that I owned was made with this

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fabric is unknown fabric called polyester.

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At least at the time.

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I had no idea what that was.

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And it was weird to me that it was this like

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material that could be made into a sweater and then also

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in my jeans and in my leggings and it definitely in

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all of my active wear.

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And so I was just like,

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what is this thing that's in all my clothes?

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And so I Googled it and that's when I first realized

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how much of our clothing is made with plastic.

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And it was a pretty big surprise to me.

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And it sounds kind of silly now,

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but this was a few years ago and it was really

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kind of what opened that can of worms of me really

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wanting to learn more and try to understand how is my

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clothing actually made.

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Because never once had I really given that any thought.

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So that led to,

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you know,

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tons of documentaries,

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lots of classes,

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lots of articles,

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really trying to uncover the stuff that I never knew before.

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Well, smart of you to ask the question because I wouldn't

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even think of that.

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I just kind of think of polyester being another category.

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Like cotton's a category,

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You know,

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I did too.

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And that's,

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but I think it was like I was feeling these materials,

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I was listing,

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it was like a really thick heavy sweater and these spandexy

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leggings and a tee shirt and I was like this fabric

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is kind of magical.

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It can be anything.

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And I was like,

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what is this thing that could be made into so many

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different types of clothing?

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And I think that's what really was like confusing to me.

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That's why it's become Such a widespread used fabric is its

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ability to transform into so many different types of clothing.

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But I think that's what really kind of puzzled me is

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like what is this thing?

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If it can,

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I always thought sweaters are made from Welland casually lucky you

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if that's all you.

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Yeah, well I was hoping that,

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yeah, really?

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Oh my gosh.

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So is that where the plastic comes from?

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Is from just the polyester?

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Are there other materials within our clothing that are also plastic?

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Yeah, so nylon is also a synthetic based materials.

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So that's again in a lot of active wear and a

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lot of outerwear.

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So similar type of chemical structure and then spandex is a

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tough one.

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There is a way to get natural rubber spandex.

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It's pretty hard to source and it's pretty expensive.

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And so that's one thing that it is still an oil

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based material,

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but it is something that we only use a tiny bit

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of and we're trying to figure out how to kind of

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use more natural materials in that.

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But everything else,

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I think there's like rayon is a tree based material.

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Cotton is obviously a plant based material.

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There's a few that are starting to be better.

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Just also depends in the whole production process.

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So rayon can be pretty chemically intensive as well versus we

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work with a material called Tencel,

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which is a tree based material,

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but it's done in an extremely clean way.

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So it's all certified,

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nontoxic, really safe for both your skin and the entire production

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process. So people who are actually making that fabric from the

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raw materials.

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Got it.

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Well I've got to say for you not having had any

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knowledge in the industry before you started,

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you certainly do now and you're educating us.

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Just like you were saying,

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you know,

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we were talking about the intro,

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getting people to understand this because I really hadn't had any

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idea, I mean I've know of polyester and nylon and spandex,

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but I never really gave it another thought.

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I just felt like,

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well we need those because that's how you make the material

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flexible. Especially active wear because it's got like all around.

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Right, Exactly.

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And I think that was what it was kind of a

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big question of like,

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okay, is it even possible to make it with something else?

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I think the big problem that I'm trying to tackle is

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we're so conditioned to have this feeling in our clothing that

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really feel kind of like it holds you in nicely and

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has that band XC feel like you want them to feel

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a certain way.

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And so it's been tough to kind of transition that feeling

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that we're so conditioned to have but still educate.

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There's a lot of things like tenfold has all of the

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properties that we would seek in our active or naturally like

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it's resistant to odor and bacteria and it always feels cool

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to the touch and it's incredibly sweat wicking.

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And so a lot of those things,

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they apply chemical finishes to polyester to give them those properties,

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whereas a lot of natural materials have that naturally.

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Ah, gotcha.

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Yeah. And applying chemicals would be a no,

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no, for sure.

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Yeah. Okay.

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So you have actually two things that you're encountering here.

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One is creating a product that will fulfill your requirements.

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Forget even about starting a company because you can't start the

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company until you have the product.

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Right? Right.

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So take us to that point Where you're like,

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I'm not seeing anything out there.

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Maybe I can do something about this.

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Yeah. So I had been familiar with the brand reformation,

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which is huge now.

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And most people are probably maybe if they're interested in sustainable

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fashion, have seen them.

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But I think they started a direct to consumer brand online

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and they have some stores in kind of all over the

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country now.

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But mostly New York and LA and they really championed sustainable

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fashion in a younger millennial woman's market I guess.

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And they are very transparent with the materials they use.

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So that is when I first started learning about,

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they have a really great part of their website all about

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the different materials and the ratings that they gave them and

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they make learning about this kind of like daunting,

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scary thing about fabrics.

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Pretty easy to understand.

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And so I started there and I was reading a lot

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and they work with Tencel and that's kind of where I

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think on their website they describe it as the Beyonce of

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fabrics. And I was like,

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okay, you have my attention,

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I want to learn more.

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And they link out to the manufacturer's website.

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And so I started to read all these things like what

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I have previously said that it's naturally resistant to odor and

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bacteria. It's sweat licking,

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it's cool to the touch.

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It's made with natural materials,

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it's certified nontoxic.

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And I was sort of like,

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this sounds really great for active wear.

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So you're right.

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Like my initial thought wasn't I'm going to start a company,

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I need to make this.

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It was how can I learn about materials?

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So I just changed my buying habits.

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So when I learned about these materials,

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organic cotton,

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tensile, any recycled materials,

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linen, I started searching,

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just Google searching for clothing made with that and organic cotton

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leggings have existed for a long time.

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I'm not making something totally brand new,

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but I really wanted something that also still felt that feeling

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of active wear.

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To me organic cotton feels the way it feels,

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feels kind of like your lounge,

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your comfort,

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your where,

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where your comfort wear that you wear at home.

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And so I really wanted something that felt more that I

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could go work out and and could have this like still

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feel comfortable but still have more of these like performance characteristics.

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So if I was going to go sweat in them,

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they were also great for that.

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And that's when I really was like I cannot find anything

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that's not,

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you know,

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recycled polyester was starting to be big,

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which is huge now.

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There's so many companies that are doing that,

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which is great,

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but it's still a plastic based materials and you still have,

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for me it was the issue of microplastics.

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So the small pieces of plastic that shed when you wash

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your clothing.

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So I was pretty dead set on,

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I want to only a natural and plant-based material wanting to

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buy it versus making it a totally different thing.

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Totally. And so I think I thought there was this light

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bulb moment where as I was Google searching for products with

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these new materials that I had learned about and I couldn't

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find anything.

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I think everyone kind of has this moment of like if

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I want it and I'm talking to a few other people

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who also may want it and I can't find it.

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Like maybe there's an opportunity here.

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And that's when I think I started to think more about,

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I was still obsessed with learning all of this as much

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as I could about the materials and it wasn't something that

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had lasted a week or two.

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It was starting to go on for months of me watching

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documentaries and digging up more information that I was like,

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maybe I should start to invest in some pepper education around

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this topic and see if there's an opportunity here to start

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something. Interesting.

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Yeah. So this wasn't just a passing interest you're saying?

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Yeah. The more you dove in,

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the more interested you got and it became,

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you had start started I guess to build into a passion

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for you.

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Definitely. And I think I record it Nice.

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I still,

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there's so much to learn and I definitely am the type

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that I want to feel like I have some sort of

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base knowledge before I was going to jump into anything and

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I wanted to make sure that if I was going to

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invest the time and money,

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that it was really something that I wasn't just really interested

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in for a week and then was going to pass.

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And that really turned out to not be the case.

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I couldn't get enough of everything that I was reading.

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Okay. So I'm really glad you just said that because now

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we're, was it N how did you have the indication that

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you said to yourself,

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okay, I have enough information at this point now to at

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least start taking some type of an action.

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And I ask you that Mary,

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because so many people will research and research or think and

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think and never actually flip the switch to actually doing something.

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So how did this happen for you?

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Sure. So I really prefer to learn like in person where

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I can ask as many questions as I want and really

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get to connect with people.

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I think there's so much,

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like you said,

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you know,

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you can research online forever and I think you start to

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get overwhelmed because there's so much information out there online and

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they're always wondering,

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is this right?

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You read conflicting stuff.

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I felt like I really needed to get in person and

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talk to people.

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And so I got an incredibly lucky that the company I

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worked for,

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our first office was across the street from fit the fashion

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Institute of technology.

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And they happen to recently launch a sustainable design entrepreneurs certificate.

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They had night classes from six to nine most nights a

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week. And so that was when I decided,

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let me go in person and let me start to meet

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some of the teachers here.

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Fit is really known for having teachers who work directly in

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the field and so they can share their experience with you

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and you can start to meet other people who share this

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passion and really start to decide is this idea right.

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And so I signed up for the classes,

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I signed up for all of them.

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So I was like every single night a week I was

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going to classes.

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I really wanted to get as much of it done right

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away as I could.

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And that was the moment when I started.

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I was still really nervous.

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I was pretty sure I was wanting to start a company,

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but I was still masking it.

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And I said,

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I think I have this idea for something or I'm interested

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in sustainable active wear.

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But I was too scared to outright say I'm doing this.

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Cause I just wasn't sure if it was still a good

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idea and I think being in person with so many people

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share the same passion about sustainable fashion and the teachers there

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who are like,

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this is a good idea and here I work in the

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manufacturing district in New York,

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I can introduce you to a factory.

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Someone else had a background in sourcing and so they knew

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all where to get all of the materials that I was

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looking for that.

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So it really gave me the push I needed of like

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I've met all these wonderful people who are now here giving

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me resources and giving me the steps that I need and

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that one I felt like more comfortable being like,

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you know what?

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I think I can do this.

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I think really getting out there and talking to people and

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sharing it with people and seeing how willing people are to

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connect with you over your idea and kind of help you

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and they see how passionate you are about something.

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For me it was a huge reason why I was able

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to get started.

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Yeah, that makes a lot of sense because first of all,

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you're continuing the learning.

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You're connecting with people who have resources like you said,

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so you started to see where this was more passable for

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you and with the connections and then factories,

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et cetera,

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et cetera.

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I just want to point out gift biz listeners for you

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with different products that you may be thinking of doing.

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Go to trade shows where you know those products are going

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to be,

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or the people who provide the ingredients that you use to

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make your products,

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whether it's beads or all the foundational elements of your product.

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That could be one way of doing it.

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Going to local classes or even going to other people who

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have businesses similar to what you're thinking about,

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but maybe not in your same hometown.

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Right, because then you'd be a competitor,

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but just ways for you to use what Mary's talking about

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and spinning them off for things that you're thinking of.

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It's so great you said that because that's exactly what,

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there's a huge fabric trade show in New York twice a

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year and I believe it may also go to LA if

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there's anyone on the West coast and it's called text world

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and it's free to register and attend and they have hundreds

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of different fabric suppliers who come in from all over the

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world and I signed up with a business name that I

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was thinking of.

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That's all you need is just an email and I could

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be a fake business name and I was able to definitely,

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as you said,

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you get to go and you see all of the things

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you could be sourcing or the other products and we get

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to start to talk to people and it's really cool to

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go to get to see.

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I know as soon as I started to see this fabric

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in person and start to talk to people again,

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I think as many steps as you can kind of take

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in person to really connect with people and see the products

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and see all of the different materials is really a great

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motivator to get the creative juices flowing of like,

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Oh, this is what I could create with this material that

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I'm seeing in person now.

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And you're also building your network of connections in your future

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industry. Exactly.

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So I'm sure you could reach out to them if you

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had questions or steps along the way or ideas.

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And what I've continued to hear from people is I think

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we put it in our mind that competitors don't want to

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share. Where I found that more people are willing to share.

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Then you think,

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Oh my gosh,

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and what's the worst they're going to say,

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no, sorry,

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I'm not going to tell you my secrets.

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Yeah. And that's happened once or twice and I think,

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I don't know,

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they're lost.

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But even I think one thing that I learned,

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so from another kind of business mentor was that yes,

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you may look around the market and see there's a million

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sustainable active or companies out there.

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You will have,

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when you're creating a product in your company,

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you will be the only one that's making it in your

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specific way.

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And so I think don't let,

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going to something like a trade show where there's a ton

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of people also sourcing and also looking at my case,

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active wear fabrics deter you from creating your company because there's

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still a way to make it unique.

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There's still a way to make it yours.

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And so I think that's one thing too.

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I started to get nervous as I was,

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Oh my gosh,

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they just came out with something similar like why am I

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even doing this?

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But you can still do so many different things.

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There's under Armour,

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there's Nike,

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there's Lou lemon,

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there's a ton of large active wear companies out there selling

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similar products.

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But they all have found a way to really make them

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unique. And so that's another piece of advice is really don't

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let the competition out there deter you because you're the only

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one that can make the product in your way that you

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really want to.

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Yes. Words of wisdom for sure.

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All right.

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Let's carry on with your story.

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I'm thinking at some point here,

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you're going to make a prototype.

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We'll continue on with Mary's story right after this quick break.

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or find packaging that includes a saying whose meaning is known

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go to the ribbon.

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Print company.com

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yes, So after the fit classes I felt I'm going to

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do this.

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I was pretty committed and so I signed up for,

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there's an accelerator program called factory 45 and it was similar.

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There was some overlap between what I learned in fit and

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the factory 45 program.

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But what was appealing to me,

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it was a step by step process and how to launch

Speaker:

a sustainable fashion business.

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So it gave you the exact email templates to reach out

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to people and the path there was really leading into a

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crowdfunding campaign.

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I chose Kickstarter and that's how I knew I wanted to

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launch. I wanted to a clothing businesses,

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a lot of money and I wanted to make sure there

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was validation and people were actually interested in what I was

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creating. So through the factory 45 program is how I learned

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how to find that first pattern maker to make the samples.

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It's so funny,

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I think looking back now,

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when I've done this now a few times,

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if he runs a production,

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I showed up with a pair of I think Nike leggings.

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I wasn't trying to make anything too design heavy.

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I really wanted some simple black leggings,

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but just made with a better material and so I showed

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up and my horrible sketches,

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they probably could look like they were done with someone's left

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hand. I'm right handed,

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so it was,

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they were pretty,

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I don't come from,

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I don't have a strong ability to sketch,

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but that didn't stop you Mary.

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I mean that's a good point right there,

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Right? Yeah.

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You had the vision,

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you had the idea,

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you did the best you could to put your vision on

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paper and you went with it.

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Yeah, and I will say I think there's so many people

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who I meet now who my sketching is bad.

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I don't know how to put together the perfect template to

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get a pattern made and I think the factory may be

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preferred to work in a more templated way,

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but you can make it work.

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And eventually I'm trying to move towards standardizing the things that

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I give to them so they're able to work with me

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a little more easily.

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But I showed up with this sketch that was horrible and

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a pair of leggings and I said,

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can you help me make this?

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And again,

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I was lucky we were still in the garment district and

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I'm kind of like speak away during my lunch break and

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meet with this pattern maker.

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And he was really great and he kind of,

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because I wasn't asking for anything too crazy,

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it was so a pair of leggings,

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which is a pretty basic pattern.

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We worked from there and so he ordered fabric from a

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place in LA that I had found through the text world

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show. So from going to that trade show,

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meeting with a fabric person who is willing to work with

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my low minimums,

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they'll send you a few yards at a time,

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which a pair of leggings uses about a yard of fabric.

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And so it's really affordable to kind of get started in

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that way and make one pair of leggings.

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And then I kind of,

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I made them in my sample size cause I didn't have

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money to work with a fit model and all these things

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and kind of the normal way.

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And so,

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and then I just wore them a bunch and I kind

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of wear tested my own product.

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I think that's important is you saying to model,

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you need to know that what you're going to start making

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performs properly and you'll have the most confidence if you're the

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one who's worn at a time and you sweated in it

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and you've washed it and you Kind of worn it until

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it hopefully doesn't wear out.

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But longevity is also an issue,

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right? Because especially with active wear because you're moving around a

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lot, so you're stretching the material probably you're washing it a

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lot, et cetera.

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Exactly. Yeah.

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All important.

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Okay. I don't want to stop you.

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This is really fun.

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So Then I had the sample that I loved.

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It was finally a pair that I felt really good.

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About How many rounds did you have to go with a

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prototype to you felt like you had one to bring to

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market? Yeah,

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so the leggings I got lucky.

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I think we made two different samples.

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The first style we launched with has this little like lace-up

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detail in the front.

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I wanted something that was stylistically a bit different than really,

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really super simple black leggings.

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Although we've just come out with a pair of those very

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simple ones cause that's what people ultimately were asking for.

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But the leggings,

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they were really long at first.

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For some reason they came out and they were kind of

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like over my ankles and then so we shortened them.

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I did originally for the Kickstarter launch with five products as

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a tee shirt,

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a tank top,

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a sports bra,

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pair of shorts and leggings.

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I will say keep it simple.

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Someone told me they're like,

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just choose one or two products.

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And I was like,

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Oh five is simple enough.

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And I would say that I have since scaled down to

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only two styles of leggings that share the same pattern because

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five was even a lot to manage.

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Well then five it wasn't even the same product.

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No. Yeah,

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they were all different.

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So that's when we had a ton of different rounds.

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The tank top,

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I probably made like five different samples and because I was

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on a pretty tight bootstrap budget,

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I kind of at some point was like,

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you know what,

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I'm not a hundred percent happy with this,

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but I don't really have a choice and it looks good

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enough and I kind of need to get it out there

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and get feedback from people because maybe what I'm trying to

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perfect is,

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and actually what people want.

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And so that was another thing where a few of the

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products we went through a couple rounds of and notice I

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kind of ran out of money and I was like,

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these are pretty good.

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I know I have some of the products that I love.

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Some of them I think people may like and,

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and you know,

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would be willing with the Kickstarter fiercely pricing at a lower

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price kind of in that for people taking a risk.

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And so people will give you feedback.

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And so at some point I was like,

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I think these are good enough.

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I had a bunch of friends test the rest of the

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sizes that we made,

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give me feedback.

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And I felt confident enough that there was something that I

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was still putting forth that was good,

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but that I could probably receive a lot of feedback on.

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And so that can be the tough part too.

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Okay. So if you were doing the Kickstarter all over again

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with what you know now,

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would you have only done one or two products then?

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Or maybe one product with two variations or,

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Yeah, I think I really would keep it simple.

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I think right now,

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so we have gone and just done the leggings and so

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I think picking one product that you can make that you

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know you're super,

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super competent in either whether it's one product in two different

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colors or maybe two very simple styles.

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So maybe a lagging in a shorts or the tank top

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was the one that was kind of our next best seller.

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We'll probably to reintroduce it again,

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but it kind of needed that time to take a step

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back and simplify.

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I would say as simple as you can keep it,

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you'll be working on so much when you launch and we

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were trying to get the product out there and collect different

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feedback from people and I think trying to collect feedback on

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five different styles and you're getting different things from so many

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different people was pretty overwhelming.

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So if you can take your one core product and get

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a bunch of feedback from people and kind of fix and

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work on that until you know it's perfect and then introduce

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something else.

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That is one thing is going back that I've learned and

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I would definitely do differently next time.

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And I'm thinking also for our listeners,

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Mary, not everyone would be doing a Kickstarter type situation,

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but they could be doing craft shows or farmer's markets where

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people are tasting a product or you're just going out.

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So you're wanting to see which version of your product sells,

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that kind of thing.

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So that testing mode and keeping it more simple in terms

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of the number of options that you have would be your

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advice. Yeah,

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I think it applies to definitely all of the scenarios.

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I think I've done a bunch of pop of events since,

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so same kind of thing as like a craft show.

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A lot of these small vendor tables and I think having

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your one core product and asking people,

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anyone who stops by the table as many questions as you

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can about sort of that one product and you can also

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then ask them if this product does it for you,

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what else would you like to see from us?

Speaker:

And that way if you want to introduce things in the

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future, you're also getting kind of that demand of like what

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else would people want?

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And that's sort of how we will probably go forward and

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introduce new products is really what people are asking for,

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if not the one that you have started with.

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You get a wealth of information when you do something like

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that. Yes,

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but you also are setting yourself up for criticism or maybe

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some negative comments and I'm sure that you had some people

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who had ideas or ways you could improvise.

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I don't know how crazy it got in terms of the

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feedback, but I'm also thinking of our listeners and they're saying

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like that,

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you know,

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I'm going to be hurt if anyone says one thing about

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my product,

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I'm going to just go in a hole and bury myself

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and never come out again.

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It's hard.

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Yeah. Before this,

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it's so funny.

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I've always been a pretty,

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I love to be behind the scenes.

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I've always worked at jobs kind of behind a screen.

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Well, I was terrified to do this because I really don't

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like putting myself out there and I had never before posted

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something about a project that was really passionate to me.

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So even just announcing that I was working on a company,

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I had kept it quiet for so long,

Speaker:

honestly, until like a month or two leading up to the

Speaker:

Kickstarter because I was kind of terrified that people's feedback would

Speaker:

get in the way of my progress.

Speaker:

Like I didn't want to tell people until I was like,

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it's too late.

Speaker:

I have it ready,

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I'm going to do it.

Speaker:

And so I definitely recognize that.

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I think it was really scary to get feedback and I

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think it's a different timeline for different people.

Speaker:

I think some people can start to get feedback before when

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it's just an idea and I was trying to do that,

Speaker:

but I was also like I really,

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I know that I want to do this and I don't

Speaker:

want too many harsh criticisms to deter me,

Speaker:

but it is inevitable.

Speaker:

One thing that I often hear is price point and I

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know that can be a really tough thing for sustainability and

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I think for me it really just teaches me about how

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much more I need to educate about sort of why the

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prices are at a certain point we're seeing materials that are

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made in with less chemicals and in a more lengthy process

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always, you know,

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the time it takes to make them and then the way

Speaker:

that the forests are grown,

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you know,

Speaker:

without any pesticides.

Speaker:

And it's grown in the regenerative force.

Speaker:

There's a lot of things that go into the raw materials

Speaker:

that make them more expensive.

Speaker:

We manufacture locally with a woman owned factory in New Jersey,

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so manufacturing locally versus overseas tends to come at a higher

Speaker:

cost as well.

Speaker:

So I think that's the biggest criticism I've heard is like

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the price point.

Speaker:

And I think that's a fair criticism,

Speaker:

especially when you look at other vendors out there who are

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able to sell products at a much lower price.

Speaker:

I always welcome the feedback you want to have to understand,

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you know,

Speaker:

where people are coming from.

Speaker:

And then we just introduced a platform called quad pay,

Speaker:

which allows you to break up the price into four different

Speaker:

payments to try to address this and try to meet people

Speaker:

in the middle.

Speaker:

I've used it for purchases I've made that have needed something

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like that with a price point a bit more.

Speaker:

But I think it's tough and in person hearing the feedback,

Speaker:

criticism, you know when you're selling at a trade show or

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an event,

Speaker:

it's even harder to hear it in person.

Speaker:

Although people can sometimes be kind of brutal online.

Speaker:

But I think it's part of it.

Speaker:

I think so much easier said than done,

Speaker:

but don't let it deter you because there's probably 10 people

Speaker:

who love what you're doing for every one person that's going

Speaker:

to give you that criticism And I think today a lot

Speaker:

of people are focused and value sustainability to,

Speaker:

you know,

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a lower carbon footprint,

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all of those types of things and there are a group

Speaker:

of people who are willing to pay more for that because

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it's their value,

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right? The values that they hold within themselves.

Speaker:

So it depends on,

Speaker:

you need to make sure.

Speaker:

Also, I'm not speaking to you,

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Mary, as much as a global statement that you're actually talking

Speaker:

to people who are your potential customer.

Speaker:

Exactly. Because that's going to be the most valuable feedback that

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you can have.

Speaker:

The other thing,

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Mary, that I'm hearing from your story that I want to

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underline for all of us is,

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and you may find this surprising,

Speaker:

but I've seen it happen often.

Speaker:

You took graduated steps,

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you learned that there was an opportunity,

Speaker:

you were educated on the situation,

Speaker:

you made a prototype,

Speaker:

you started testing through Kickstarter,

Speaker:

graduated steps that continue to build on themselves.

Speaker:

That's really important in terms of the way to progress versus

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thinking. You've landed it right from the beginning.

Speaker:

Make a ton of inventory only to come and find that

Speaker:

there's a flaw in the design.

Speaker:

Nobody really wants it.

Speaker:

You know those types of things and I have seen that

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happen, so I just want to reemphasize the fact that what

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you did was so smart and give biz listeners,

Speaker:

I want you to think about that too.

Speaker:

If you're in this situation,

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so easy to want to jump to the end line where

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you're selling a ton of product,

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but you want to go through these graduated steps first.

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Yeah, thank you.

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I think that's really important.

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I think that was something that helps being on a limited

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time and budget to kind of like control those steps,

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but it's hard.

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I think,

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of course anyone wants to see,

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get to the point where you're growing a ton and you

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have all these different products and you're kind of at that

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level, but it also as the ton to your plate,

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the more product you have in,

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the more units you have,

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the more work you have to do and the more people

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you need to help you.

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And so I think it's still me running the business by

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myself right now and I'm packing up every order that I

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get from my kitchen.

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And so I think you just kind of have to think

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about yourself too in kind of that and put yourself into,

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you know,

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how would you feel if you had to deal with all

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those products or things like that.

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And they think that kind of helped me.

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You know,

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you can only take on so much.

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And so sort of,

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if you can,

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what's that next step that you feel comfortable taking on to

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kind of grow it and I guess for lack of a

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better word,

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more sustainable way.

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Yeah, exactly.

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And you know,

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you want it to still be fun.

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I mean you're starting this because you have a passion for

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the product,

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but you also don't want it to just completely take over

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your life.

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Although let's both admit many times that it does.

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Yeah. But you can't be up at night until three in

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the morning.

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You know,

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if you like Mary you're talking about you have another position

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right now.

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Like it has to fit within your overall life too.

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Okay. So then from Kickstarter,

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so that's how people started to get to know some people

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on a certain level people started to get to know about

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the product,

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try the product,

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you were able to get feedback,

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et cetera.

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Where did it go from there in terms of getting exposure

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of the product out to the world?

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Sure. So the Kickstarter was great.

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We raised her center $1,000

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and had I think like 200 customers and I reached out

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to like,

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and I probably knew like 90% of those people and I

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reached out to every single person who is,

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who probably have ever talked to.

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I just went through my Gmail and I was like a,

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B, C like any email I could get.

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I was really reaching out to and so that's a great

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question cause it was sort of like the Kickstarter kind of

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tapped out.

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My friends and family and friends of friends network and I

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was really like,

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okay, what's next?

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Where are these other people?

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And so I focused on a lot of,

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I had found better success doing a lot of these in

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person events.

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It's not the most scalable,

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but I think to get that kind of core couple hundred

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customers who really,

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really love what you're doing,

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I found that connecting with people in person is kind of

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the best way for me to kind of get those champions

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who are then sharing it with their friends and their networks.

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So I attend a lot of,

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it's a full range from,

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I did a one trade show to a lot more smaller.

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There's fitness event where they have vendors just reaching out to

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local wellness boutiques and asking if I can come do a

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mini pop up for a weekend.

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And sort of there's ways to do it for free too.

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You know,

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if you're willing to bring in people and kind of share

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on your social media about their location,

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it helps cause it brings in people to their store.

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I've been trying every other weekends a lot,

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but maybe like every other weekend or twice a month to

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have an event like that.

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And looking now a bit outside of New York as well

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cause I recognize there's so many other places that have people

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that would really,

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I think appreciate what we're creating.

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But I think for me it's been such a great opportunity

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to connect with people in person.

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I think if you're selling,

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I'm selling,

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the only difference that I'm really selling is a material.

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And so I think people really want to see it and

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feel it in person and they immediately try to leggings on

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them like,

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Oh my gosh,

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they're so incredibly soft.

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Or they'll feel the fabric.

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And there's always this surprise element of I had no idea

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how soft it would be.

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That's been sort of something I've truly tried to focus on

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eventually. I can't be spending every single weekend traveling around the

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country doing these popups,

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but it's been a great way for me to build the

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kind of core group of people who then have actually forwarded

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and shared the product with other people.

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Just how I'm reaching new people I haven't met yet.

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I'm so glad you said that cause that's exactly what I

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was thinking.

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Yeah. One person who you don't know to like it,

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buy it,

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wear it and then share and then the next person's interested

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and on and on.

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Of course for those people who then aren't able to see

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you at the popup cause they're the friend of someone who

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bought, then you have an online presence to where someone could

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buy. Correct.

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Yep. We have a store online and working with some,

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hopefully eventually some wholesale opportunities.

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But it's funny because my day job is in digital advertising

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and so I know so many people when they start,

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and I have a lot of peers and I'm tempted to

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immediately want to go and run Facebook ads or Instagram ads.

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And it's tough.

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The online space is really crowded right now and it's kind

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of expensive and it's really hard to get people's attention nowadays.

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I'm totally guilty.

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I have like a very short attention span online,

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especially for ads.

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I feel like we almost learned to kind of gloss over

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them a bit.

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And so I think as much as I wanted to just

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started advertising a bunch on social media and getting the word

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out there,

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I felt that my time and money was better spent kind

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of cultivating these in-person relationships that people could walk away and

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say, Oh,

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I saw them in person.

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You know,

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I met her,

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she was really helpful.

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I saw the product,

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it felt great and it was a much more meaningful use

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of time and money,

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at least at the beginning to kind of get the word

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out that way.

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But that's my personal take on it.

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Okay. Will you talk with us a little bit more about

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how you got your individual boutique popups?

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I think that would be really interesting for everyone to hear.

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How did you select which ones you were interested in and

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how did you initiate the contact and actually have it happen?

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Have the actual event happen.

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Yeah, so it's kind of a full range of things.

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I would say anything from following certain people.

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So one of them was a kind of fitness influencer and

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Instagram role.

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Then I just happened to see,

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she posted that she was doing an event,

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so I messaged her directly and I said,

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did you have space for vendors?

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Are you still looking for people?

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I would love to vent and if you could send me

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more information.

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So I think a lot of it is reaching out to

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people directly.

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There's usually like a vendor's fee,

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so sometimes it's worth it,

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sometimes it's not.

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And then other times I have,

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so we just did an event with parachute home and that

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was something I've done a bit of kind of the past

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year. And since launching really looking into who is my customer,

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is it exactly what I thought when I launched,

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who's been buying,

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who's been coming back and purchasing again and then looking at

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sort of what are the brands that they are also liking.

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You know,

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you can do a lot on social media by finding people,

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kind of looking at what people who are interacting with your

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brand are also liking.

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And so realizing that the sort of like comfort leggings and

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comfort at home feeling was really what people was resonating with

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people. That one I just reached out to them.

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Um, I knew someone who worked at the store and they

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were willing to lend the store for an event and kind

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of created that one out of nothing a little bit and

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just said,

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let's do this for your store.

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We'll bring in people,

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we'll bring in a few speakers,

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put together a panel event and then everyone can conveying product

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and kind of shop there.

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Stores that sell complimentary products are usually willing to do that.

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And so I think there's a lot of free ways to

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get creative.

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I'm sure newsletters that are advertising certain craft fairs,

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but I think if you can think of places that you'd

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love to,

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brands you'd love to be aligned with.

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It happened to have a physical presence.

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If there's something you can offer them by getting new people

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into their store and allowing you to just have a small

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table space for a couple hours of the day.

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I found people are usually pretty receptive to it.

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Yeah, I mean if you're not a direct competitor but the

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audience is the same,

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they come in and see you and then also purchase products

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that would normally be at that store and get potential customer

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into the store who'd never walked in before.

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So absolutely.

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So as you look into the future,

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Mary, what comes next?

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We're really trying to grow now.

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So I think over the past year,

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like I said,

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I've really done a kind of a lot of like,

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okay, the Kickstarter,

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it's tough.

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Kickstarter for me was really like,

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okay, the idea is out there,

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but I didn't really come from a brand building background and

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kind of turning it from an idea into an actual company.

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And so the past year is really going back and building

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a lot of that foundation.

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I probably should have thought about more,

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but I really wanted to make sure that the idea of

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people liked and then you can kind of go and tailor

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more of the branding stuff as you realize like okay,

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this is actually something that people are interested in.

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So we just kind of did a bit of a relaunch.

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I have the site kind of understanding more who our customer

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is and now I think this next year is really trying

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to take that and kind of amplify it.

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So looking for more PR opportunities,

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getting outside of New York,

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trying to really put in programs to get the word outside

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again outside of my extended network and really grow the brand

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awareness is,

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I think the big one is still still kind of local

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because I've been focused on a lot of local New York

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events and so really to kind of get people and get

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myself out of my comfort zone and start to travel a

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bit more of the brand and introduce it to new people.

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Well, it's a work in progress,

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right? Step by step and focus on the product to get

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that down and solid.

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You can't do everything at once.

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Yeah. And it's tough to grow it when you,

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I felt,

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not confident,

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but I felt like,

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okay, people love this idea,

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but do I really know now what this bigger message is

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and what people really want?

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They love the leggings,

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but what's,

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I think I needed to do a lot of kind of

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like internal work of like what's truly our mission,

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kind of the typical company brand building things like what's our

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mission, what's our goals and objectives,

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what does our brand look like?

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Who is our brand?

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What does it feel like?

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There were a lot of kind of take a step back

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and I think it's okay to get sort of a product

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validation first and then take a step back.

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And once you know people love your stuff,

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you can kind of tighten things up internally.

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And so I think that was the last year has been

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really good for that.

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It's been a huge learning experience for me because like I

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said, I did not know a lot of this.

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I relied on a bunch of friends who have expertise in

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this area to help me then pivot a bit more into

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habit fields,

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like a company that I can be proud of and that's

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a lot easier now for me to go in front of

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new people with something that I feel like I've put a

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ton of more thought and work into,

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which is really nice.

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I also liked that you really started with friends and family

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and a lot of people will be anxious to do that

Speaker:

because those are the people where our egos on the line,

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right? If you start something and they don't like it or

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the product's no good,

Speaker:

but it's the right place to start,

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for sure.

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It's scary.

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It's almost the hardest people that fell to.

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Yeah, But I'm so glad you bring that up in terms

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of where you started and your demonstration of that,

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because it is the right place to start.

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For sure.

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I saw some of the feedback you can't take as much,

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not from an emotional standpoint,

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but they're probably not going to say things.

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They don't want to make you sad,

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you know,

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they don't want to hurt you.

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So you have to take that kind of with not a

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grain of salt but filter it a little bit I guess

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I'd say.

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Or have really trusting friends who will honestly totally tell you

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even if you're going to start to cry.

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Yeah. It was really tough to know kind of like,

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is this true feedback or are you just being nice and

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friendly? It's okay.

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You can tell me if you really hate it.

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And so I think they're a great place to start cause

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they'll tell you all the great things and hopefully you have

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those people in your life too that you feel comfortable saying.

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Giving the product to them and saying,

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you know,

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really truly like,

Speaker:

tell me what you think about this.

Speaker:

Cause like it only hurts you if they're not honest,

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if they really don't like it.

Speaker:

And so,

Speaker:

but everyone has those friends that are really willing to give

Speaker:

you the critical feedback And the first sales,

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you know,

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no matter where they're coming from,

Speaker:

those first dollars that you start seeing coming in help you

Speaker:

build your confidence also.

Speaker:

Yeah. Well where would you direct our listeners online to learn

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more about your product so they can take a peek?

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Yeah, so we sell everything right now through our website,

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which is just reprised active wear.com

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and then share a lot of the new product and kind

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of behind the scenes images on Instagram,

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which is just at reprise active wear.

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Perfect. Beautiful.

Speaker:

Thank you so much and give busy listeners.

Speaker:

Of course there's a show notes where we'll have Mary's links

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and I'm also going to link to a lot of the

Speaker:

resources that she's been talking about as she's been working her

Speaker:

way through the story here.

Speaker:

So if there was anything that you didn't catch,

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just jump over to the show notes page and I'll have

Speaker:

the link there for you.

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Mary, this has been so interesting just to learn,

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understand the product.

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I think it's so valuable that you found an opportunity and

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then continued to pursue it.

Speaker:

You know,

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and it started with one intent,

Speaker:

just learning and then evolved into,

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well maybe I could make my own product and then maybe

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it could be a company and then I'm going to learn

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more. And then you went to school and that like all

Speaker:

of that together make such a beautiful picture and a beautiful

Speaker:

example of how to start a business.

Speaker:

I am thrilled that you were here to share the story.

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It's a great model and I appreciate your generosity in letting

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us all see behind the scenes.

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Thank you so much.

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Yeah, well thank you for the opportunity.

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It's always fun.

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I love sharing it and I love if there's any way

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to kind of be that motivator that it is possible.

Speaker:

You don't have to come from,

Speaker:

there's no typical background to start a company and so thank

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you for the opportunity.

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It's really fun to share it.

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Thank you.

Speaker:

So there you have it.

Speaker:

Mary's proof.

Speaker:

Those of you who want to start your business and are

Speaker:

putting it off thinking there's no way that you can fit

Speaker:

it in because of your full time job.

Speaker:

I really encourage you to self reflect.

Speaker:

Is this true or is this an easy out you're giving

Speaker:

yourself? If this really is a dream of yours to turn

Speaker:

your hobby or your craft into your very own business,

Speaker:

you don't need to wait and there are plenty of resources

Speaker:

just like this podcast out there to help you.

Speaker:

Why not make 2020 your year?

Speaker:

Next week show is a really interesting one too.

Speaker:

Our guest has created such an obvious product one we all

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already use,

Speaker:

but when you hear what he's done with it,

Speaker:

you'll be saying to yourself,

Speaker:

Oh my gosh,

Speaker:

how smart and I'll be saying to you,

Speaker:

there are lots of other ideas out there just waiting for

Speaker:

you to grab onto whether it's something that you would integrate

Speaker:

on top of your current product or maybe you're just starting

Speaker:

and you're on the search for a core product of your

Speaker:

very own business.

Speaker:

Get all the details next Monday and until then,

Speaker:

make it a great week.

Speaker:

Bye for now.

Speaker:

This episode is all wrapped up,

Speaker:

but fortunately,

Speaker:

your gift biz journey continues.

Speaker:

If you're thinking of turning your hobby or craft into a

Speaker:

business, our gift biz gal has something just for you.

Speaker:

Are you already thinking about your business name and logo?

Speaker:

Wait, that's not the first step.

Speaker:

Before you spend a lot of time and money on your

Speaker:

new business,

Speaker:

make sure your product is positioned in Bryce,

Speaker:

so you'll see results right from the beginning.

Speaker:

That way you can start your business with confidence.

Speaker:

Check it out at gift biz,

Speaker:

unwrapped.com/start and until next time,

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