Author Archive for Rachel Goetz

Stitch Fix

Posted by Rachel Goetz 
· Monday, November 23rd, 2020 
· 6 Comments

Stitch Fix is an online styling service for women who are busy or need a change in their wardrobe. Each customer takes a style quiz and is assigned a personal stylist. The stylist picks out five personalize items that the customer would want to wear and sends them to the customer. There Is a $20 styling fee with every box to cover the stylists’ expertise and time. After trying on every product, the customer can return them for free or use the $20 dollars towards the clothes they want to purchase.

Stitch Fix was founded in 2011 by Katrina Lake. She started the company after her sister was her personal stylist and knew there was a market for women who needed or wanted fashion advice. She was attending Harvard when she shipped the first Stitch Fix box. When she first founded the company, they were only helping women but realized there was also a market for men. In 2016, they launched personalized boxes for men and offered plus sizes in 2017. As of 2020, they style men, women and children.

Stitch Fix’s mission as a company is to “change the way people find clothes they love by combining technology with the personal touch of seasoned style experts”. They take pride in knowing that each box is personalized for each client and that the personalized items can help them build their style. Lake’s goal when founding Stitch Fix was to help women discover their style and feel confident in what they wear.

Since Stitch Fix started, their sales have only gone up, making the company well-known and successful. They have over 2 million customers in the United States alone. Their sales and number of customers have gone up since the beginning of the pandemic. Their sales went from $370.3 million, a year ago, to $451.8 million in the second fiscal 2020, ending February 1st.  Many people have been turning to stitch fix for fashion styles and clothing pieces during the pandemic, instead of going to stores.

6 Comments
Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Business, Clothing, Convenience, Fashion, Women Entrepreneurs

Are You Kidding- Martinez Brothers

Posted by Rachel Goetz 
· Monday, November 16th, 2020 
· 1 Comment

In 2014, two brothers, Brandon and Sebastian Martinez, started their family business called Are You Kidding. Brandon was 14 at the time and has been the director of sales. Sebastian was 12 and is the CEO of the company, and their mom is the president. They turned their passion of socks into a company. Sebastian loved socks and was asked by their mom if they wanted to start a business. The two brothers started unique and creative socks to sell. They wanted to stand out from other sock companies and did so by giving back and making a difference. Their socks raise awareness for charities such as Autism Speak, Stand Up To Cancer, JDRF, Make-a-Wish, and more. They also partnered with schools to help other charities. The two brothers have designed socks for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Be a Hero and Save Lives, American Cancer Society, and many more. They have donated over $300,000 to charities and incorporated a new way for their customers to learn more about the charities they donate to. On each tag, the customer can scan the tag and a video will play, giving information about the charity.

They have appeared on Good Morning America’s Shark Tank Your Life: Kid-Preneurs Edition and pitch their company to Daymond John, an inventor on Shark Tank. Since starting their company and making appearances on GMA and podcasts, they have expanded their business. At first, they focused only on socks because that was their passion but they wanted to expand and build their family business. Currently, they sell long sleeves, t-shirts and socks. On their website, they have a charity collection tab with a pair of socks that are hand drawn for each specific charity. They also have fundraisers to sign up for or by socks for. Their plans for the future include finding retail partners and making hats, shoes, and more apparel.

Building a business is a good lesson for kids. It teaches them how to start, run, and grow a business. Running a business is not easy and it takes lots of time and effort to make it run successfully. Businesses should also be about following your passion. Sebastian said it best. “If you don’t start with your passion, you’re never going to continue the business.”

https://areyoukiddingsocks.com/pages/our-story

https://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/337852

 

1 Comment
Categories : Business, Fashion, Kids, Podcast, Shark Tank, Socks, Startups

Ipsy- Beauty Subscription Service

Posted by Rachel Goetz 
· Sunday, November 1st, 2020 
· 2 Comments

Michelle Phan is an American makeup artist, blogger, and entrepreneur. She created a YouTube channel in 2006, being named the “Beyoncé of the beauty-vlogging world”. She was one of the first vloggers to “gain a mass audience” with 8.8 million subscribers. In 2012, she founded Ipsy, a beauty subscription service. Ipsy is a monthly subscription service that sends 5 deluxe-sized beauty products to you. You take a two-minute quiz based on preferences on brands and products, and pay $12 a month for the “glam bag”.

Phan said the reason she created Ipsy was to “disrupt the beauty industry”. She knew YouTube would become very successful for beauty vloggers and wanted to build her brand after creating a channel. Ipsy’s competition was BirchBox and Dollar Shave Club, but Ipsy specialized in “glam bags”. Ipsy is a platform to for people to express their beauty, inner and outer. She said, “makeup is not a mask that covers up your beauty, it’s a weapon that helps you express who you are from the inside.”

A few years after creating Ipsy, Michelle Phan left the company and named Marcelo Camberos the CEO. Within the first six months of launching the website, Ipsy reached profitability. In 2019, Ipsy made over $500 million in revenue and has millions of people buying their “glam bags”. Ipsy includes makeup tutorials, customer reviews, celebrity content, and personalization quizzes. In 2020, Ipsy has over three million subscribers and continues to grow. The reason subscribers continue to buy products from Ipsy is because of their community, individualism, and empowerment. Ipsy builds a strong community to inspire and encourage customers to be creative and feel beautiful. They also celebrate the individual and what makes them unique. Finally, Ipsy empowers their customers by helping customers’ build their brand and express themselves.

Today, people want to feel beautiful with or without makeup. They also want to feel empowered and trust companies’ to help them feel that way. I think that’s why many customers trust Ipsy and continue to buy their products.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2015/10/05/how-michelle-phan-built-a-500-million-company/?sh=6414740d8c4a

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/020316/ipsy-review-it-worth-it.asp

https://www.ipsy.com/about

2 Comments
Categories : Beauty, Business, Cosmetics, Female Empowerment, YouTube

Gymshark- Ben Francis

Posted by Rachel Goetz 
· Friday, October 2nd, 2020 
· 5 Comments

Gymshark is a fitness and sports apparel brand founded in 2012. Ben Francis, the founder of the company, created this company with some of his high-school friends. He was only 19 years old when starting the company. He was a full-time college student and worked night shifts at a pizza shop. The money he earned helped him to start his company. Francis couldn’t find athletic apparel that he wouldn’t want to wear. He started making his own clothes after learning how to sew from his grandmother. He would work out of his parents’ garage and create around 10 clothing items a day. He created clothing pieces while earning a degree and working.

After two long years of hard work, he made over $320,000. He realized this company had potential and dropped out of college. After focusing on Gymshark full-time for eight years, he is about to make over $130 million in sales. Francis said the secret to his company’s success was “using social media influencers with large followings to wear the brand and spread the word online.”

Francis sold the company to Steve Hewitt, sportswear expert and Gymshark’s new CEO. Hewitt had experience in business and has helped the business grow, as well as their sales. Francis is still a major stakeholder in the company.

The three main values of Gymshark are family, progression, and vision. The family of Gymshark are athletes, artists, and visionaries. They are all around the world and all bring the visions of the company to life. Progression is making the products with a mindset of the future. Vision is bringing the ideas to life. All ideas are accepted.

I think it’s inspiring that Francis created the company at 19 years old. He found a way to balance college, work, and building a company. Francis shows us that we can achieve anything though hard work and determination.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6227737/Gymshark-owner-entrepreneur-Ben-Francis-26-Birmingham-tells-story.html

https://www.gymshark.com/pages/about-us

5 Comments
Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Athletics, Business, Fashion, Fitness, Uncategorized

Airbnb

Posted by Rachel Goetz 
· Friday, September 25th, 2020 
· 2 Comments

Airbnb, also called “Air Bed and Breakfast”, is a well-known company that allows people to rent out people’s living spaces to travelers. In 2007, two men, Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky, founded Airbnb. The company started off an email, from Gebbia to Chesky, about a design conference convention happening in their town. Chesky and Gebbia were roommates in San Francisco and could not afford rent at their apartment. Gebbia knew hotels would be booked out for the convention and many designers would need a place to stay. He emailed Chesky and decided to create a space in their apartment for an air mattress, a small desk, wireless internet, and breakfast every morning. Two men and one woman paid $80 to sleep on an air mattress in Gebbia and Chesky’s apartment. After realizing how much potential this idea had, they welcomed their old roommate, Nathan Blecharczyk, into their business. That’s how airbedandbreakfast was born. After founding Air Bed and Breakfast, they tried to create Roommates.com but it was already founded by Bryan Peters. Air Bed and Breakfast was changed to Airbnb because people were confused with the air mattress concept.

In April 2009, they received a $600,000 seed investment to help build their company. In 2011, Airbnb was in 89 countries and surpassed 1 million nights booked. There were some downsides of people renting their houses or apartments to strangers. Some would come home to find their place trashed and have to clean up the mess. They implemented a coverage policy and a cleaning fee when booking a rental property. They provide rentals all over the world and have over 30,000 tiny houses, 5,000 castles, and 3,000 tree houses to rent. Who knew?!

Their multimillion-dollar business started from not being able to pay rent. They have transformed their business into letting others rent out their own apartments, townhouses, houses, etc. to strangers.

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-airbnb-was-founded-a-visual-history-2016-2#they-created-a-simple-site-airbedandbreakfastcom-bought-three-air-mattresses-and-arranged-them-in-their-loft-5

2 Comments
Categories : Arcade, Business, Experience, Male Entrepreneurs, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Technology, Travel

The Honest Company-Jessica Alba

Posted by Rachel Goetz 
· Wednesday, September 9th, 2020 
· No Comments

Jessica Alba is a well-known actress starring in movies and television series such as Honey and Dark Angel. Her fame has helped her create her own company and become a successful businesswoman. In 2011, Alba founded The Honest Company, a company who focuses on selling safe and toxin-free items to use in households. Their brands includes baby items such as diapers and wipes, as well as beauty products and personal care.

Alba had a large following after starring in popular movies and used that fame to bring attention to her company. She started this company after becoming a mom and not wanting to use household or beauty items containing chemicals. She called her brand The Honest Company because there are no chemicals used to create their items. Instead, they use all-natural ingredients that are proven to be beneficial. She said, “I created The Honest Company because you shouldn’t have to choose between what works and what’s good for you.”

The Honest Company believes in creating sustainable and environmentally friendly products to help the earth. They hope to change the impact that all products have, especially towards the environment. For every purchase that is made through their company, they will support Social Goodness’ work. It helps them to research safe products to use, creating a positive impact on the world. Since 2012, The Honest Company has donated their products, money, or other necessities to organizations in need, especially for mothers and their children. Since 2012, they have donated over 20.6 million products to different organizations.

https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/jessica-marie-alba-1819.php

https://www.honest.com/about-us/our-story.html

No Comments
Categories : Beauty, Celebrities, Health, Women Entrepreneurs