The smile from this accomplishment has been going strong for 3 days now. As I write this I still feel so proud of myself – and I hope to capture this moment forever. On Saturday May 1st I got my collection into the first retail location, a store called I Am More in Scarsdale.
Yet this story begins over a year before that date.
JANUARY 2020: I had just finished a brand messaging meeting with my future mentor at a café. She recommended I go next door and introduce myself to the store owners at I Am More. I only had 2 swatches of prints I was planning on developing that year.
I went in, introduced myself to Marcy, and showed her the prints. She said to keep in touch, let her know when the samples came in, she’d love to see.
The time passed quickly and our world flipped upside down as we knew it – Covid hit. Plans of trunk shows were cancelled and survival with toddlers at home became the goal.
DECEMBER 2020: 12 whole months later, I went back into I Am More, this time with a 5 piece collection. Marcy recognized me right away – from my Instagram she said. (Well let’s just say that made me happy!) And we scheduled a trunk show for outside her store. It was December 28th – a bright day for sure – but I left with frost bitten toes, and ZERO SALES. I knew setting up in December was not ideal but I wanted to try anyway. Hit or miss they say – well this was a miss. Yet Marcy smiled and told me we’ll try again, come back in the spring, whenever you want.
APRIL 2021: I got a text that read “Hi! It’s Marcy and Abbey from I Am More. Happy Spring. We hope you are doing well. Your Stuff looks amazing. Would love to have you back at the store now that the weather is warmer and the tent is up! Let is know if you’d like to come one day” I was thrilled. The fact that they reached out to me was amazing, and I couldn’t wait. Life was also starting to feel back to normal – we were vaccinated and the virus numbers were declining.
APRIL 29th 2020: The trunk show outside I AM More was supposed to be this day – and it was cancelled because of weather. Yet I didn’t feel sad – I felt hopeful. Why? Because when I spoke to Marcy and Abbey about the weather, I asked, instead, could I come by and show them the whole collection to get into their store at Wholesale? And they said yes!
MAY 1st, 2020: I showed up on a sunshine Saturday ready to share my pieces – and they were so well received. We agreed on the arrangement and I left the pieces in store – after I was able to style everything! By 5pm that night they sold 2 pieces – the rainbow sarong and the rainbow caftan. Within 1 hour of me leaving!!!
The moral of this story is certainly patience. And resilience. And to trust that things find their time, in their own way – the way they’re supposed to happen. I am grateful for the team at I Am More that is supporting my small business journey. I am proud of myself for getting to this point – less than a year after launching my business. And I am extremely excited to see where this goes!!