Archive for Fashion – Page 9

It’s In The Bag

Lt. Emily Núñez Cavness was a millennial on a mission. She was an “Army Brat” her whole life and was continuously surrounded by military influences. Even at a young age she knew she wanted to help veterans. However, her vision wasn’t realized until she was deployed. It was in Afghanistan of all places that she decided to officially start Sword & Plough. The name was a clever play on the idea of taking military supplies and repurposing them for civilian products, which is exactly what they do. The company recycles military supplies and materials that would otherwise be left to waste and pollute the earth, and turn them into totes, backpacks, accessories, and handbags.
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She started the company with her sister Betsy, and is currently still the CEO as well as serving as a Captain in the U.S. armed forces. Over the last several years Sword & Plough has recycled 30,000 pounds of materials and sold over 7,000 bags and accessories. The real mission is found in the fact that they currently employ 38 veterans.

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Núñez Cavness was one of the first 100 women to attempt the U.S. Army’s Ranger Training Assessment Course as well as named a White House Champion of Changed and Forbes 30 under 30 fellow. Emily and Betsy are definitely a powerhouse duo and have quite the vision. Their mission has a real purpose and their product is of the quality. It will be great to see where Sword & Plough ends up.

Sebastian Martinez: Are you Kidding

At age 5 Sebastian Martinez started his own company.  At a very young age he he had a passion for collecting fun socks.  He began to design his own socks once his mother suggested he do so.  He began his business with just an interest and a passion of socks.  In 2014 he ended up making $15,000 with the help from his older brother who works as his director of sales.  The next year’s revenue began to grow and he was expected to double or maybe even triple their sales.  The socks sales raised money for cancer awareness and they partnered with other companies to donate to Discovery Arts which helps bring art programs to children with serious illness.

It is amazing to see someone so young to have such a passion for something just as small as socks.  I think that he is going to do amazing things with his life.  Now that he has success under his belt he will be even more driven for his next project.  He is an inspiration to other young children who have a big passion.  This just shows that if you have a big enough passion for something, it will drive you to do great things that may also impact those in need.

Sebastian Martinez, CEO, Are You Kidding?

How This Hawaii Surfer Boy Went From Rags to Riches

Jay Alvarrez was borSee the source imagen on the beautiful island of Hawaii and raised by parents who always supported him. When Alvarrez was just 14, his mother passed away. She had an incredible impact on his life and taught him how to love others well. After her death, Jay got the phrase “let’s live” tattooed on the inside of his bottom lip, a memento he lives by and will never forget. After his mother’s tragic death, Alvarrez made the decision to drop out of high school and live the life he knew his mother wanted for him. He began experimenting with film, and started to document his adrenalin including adventures, capturing beautiful footage of his experiences and travels. Posting these incredible videos to social media, Alvarrez began to accumulate quite a following. This was the beginning of his path to stardom. Producing increasingly impressive content, Alvarrez’s work began to catch the eyes of companies such as Calvin Klein, Bonds Swimwear, and Hyundai and participated in high paying advertisements, and sponsorships. These new sources of income blessed Jay with more opportunities to travel the world and build a brand of himself. This is how Jay Alvarrez is an entrepreneur. He wisely gripped his wide array of talents and turned them into an outstanding source of income. His fashion and self-developed trends have spread across the world, and he has inspired million to go out into the world and go live. This is a perfect example of a rags-to-riches situation. He was handed nothing, and became a self-made millionaire. See the source imageFast forward to the present, Alvarrez boasts a hefty 5.9 million followers on Instagram, he has travelled the world several times over, and is now a designer and primary ambassador for DoucheBags, a luggage business whose mission is to create “Better journeys through smarter travel gear”. Learn from this and apply it to your life. Recognize the areas that you have been blessed in and use that to your advantage. Use your gifts to help other people and you might make a little money in the process.

Why Jordan Robbins Is Changing the Swim Suit Industry

Young entrepreneur, Jordan Robbins, at the young age of 23 began her own business; REVLY Sport. Robbins, who graduated from La Costa Canyon High School in California found herself on the beach quite frequently. She recounts memories of her confidence being shattered by the surrounding beach bodies. Robbins had one goal: to push back against body shaming.

Robbins created the swim suit company REVLY Sport that symbolizes self confidence with your own body. REVLY strives to help women feel comfortable when they’re in their swimsuits. They provide a mix of two-piece and one-piece bathing suits to pick from. Robbins tells customers to feel free to mix and match her suits (if you purchase two-piece suits) because each is designed to match well with the other suits.

Robinns started REVLY not to just sell swim suits but to begin a revolution. REVLY allows women to recognize the brand they wear on other women and know that each of them are part of this revolution. The brand is not just a stylish fashion choice, it’s a lifestyle choice. The people who wear REVLY suits are claiming that they will not stand for body shaming and will be determined to stand up for other women who feel poorly about their image. Robbins not only began her own business she began a positive social revolution for all women.

New Idea, Vintage Clothing

Now in their mid-thirties and married, Susan Gregg and Eric Koger began in 2002 with some used clothes and an idea. Susan had always had a love for vintage clothing but eventually came to the point where her passion outgrew her closet. As college students, she and Eric were always looking for ways to make money, and so they had the idea to begin an online vintage clothing shop, naming it ModCloth.

ModCloth had very humble beginnings, with one part-time employee working out of their basement, but over the next couple of years they began expanding rapidly. By the time that Susan graduated college, she realized that ModCloth could be her full-time job. In 2007, ModCloth had one million dollars in sales and raised one million in capital. From there ModCloth continued to expand its sales, bringing in $150 million in revenue during 2014. They grew to the point where they were selling styles from designers all around the world.

One impressive way that they measured demand was through a program called “Be the Buyer.” This program allowed potential buyer to view sample products, vote on them, and give input on each product’s price, style, etc. “Be the Buyer” really helped Susan to understand her customers and what they were looking for in ModCloth.

I think that ModCloth is a wonderful example of a passion made profitable.

 

Susan and Eric with their beloved pug.

ModCloth has since been sold to WalMart. Their website and YouTube channel can be viewed here.

A Jewelry Empire At The Age Of 16 – Post #2

Amanda Thomas is a young entrepreneur who turned her dreams into a reality. In 2005, at the ripe age of 16, she created her own jewelry line called, “Luv Aj”. Jewelry had always been a passion for Amanda. During her teen years, she would return home from school each day and create new designs. One day, she saw an opportunity to turn her after school hobby into a business. By utilizing digital sites like Shopify and Instagram, Thomas was able to not only sell her creations, but also find creative ways to market them.

The unique aspect of Thomas’ business venture was how she capitalized on social media as a marketing tool even before the idea became popular. She was able to see the advantages of using social media as a vehicle to spread her message before most people were able to see them. This was due to her entrepreneurial mindset. Her open and creative mindset allowed her to identify problems before anyone else could and find solutions to those problems that ultimately benefited consumers. Thomas was able to use sites like Instagram to communicate with famous influencers who would then be able to share her products with their already established fan bases. A few of these celebrities included Beyoncé, Gigi Hadid, and Emily Ratajkowski.

Through these well thought out and developed marketing tactics, Thomas was able to expand her jewelry business to boutiques across the nation. She was recently added to Forbes ’30 Under 30’ list at the age of 26.

The most inspiring part about Amanda Thomas’ story is the fact that she was bold enough to act on her idea. She easily could have created her own jewelry line and only have sold it to her friends and family, but she was bolder than that. She not only took the risk of creating a Shopify account, but she also took the risk of reaching out to celebrities. This tactic clearly paid off as her business took off and she created a jewelry empire.

Shark Tank Star Mo’s Bows

Moziah Bridges was only 12 years old when he become the CEO of his own bow tie company, Mo’s Bows. Inspired to start his company at the age of nine by his dad, who he would see dress very nice every day, Moziah asked his mom and grandmother for help on learning how to sew. This led Moziah to making his first ever hand-crafted bow tie. Believing that he had a good product, he started to sell his product online and in retail stores throughout Memphis. From there his business started to gain traction and the demand for his bow ties started to go beyond his local town, “I think the reason Mo’s Bows first caught on among consumers is the same reason it’s successful today. Every bow tie is hand crafted and made in America, and they’re all extremely colorful. There’s a lot of personality behind my line,” says Bridges. Throughout Mo’s Bows growth Moziah has stayed extremely involved in the entire process. He picks and approves all of the fabrics and patterns that go into making every bow tie. Of course everything is not solely run by him, his family helps out in every way that they can.

Mo’s Bows and Moziah Bridges become so popular that he started making TV appearances on a variety of different shows. Shows such as, the Steve Harvey Show, Today, and Good Morning America. He wanted to inform as many people as he could about the brand he was building. Things really started to explode after he made an appearance on an episode of Shark Tank in April of 2014. Moziah did not land a deal with one of the sharks but was offered mentorship by Daymond John. Moziah Bridges still is working with Daymond to help grow his business to this day, “Working with Daymond has really helped me take Mo’s Bows to the next level. He guides me through the practical aspects of running and growing a company”. Moziah’s goal is to grow into a full blown fashion line domestically and internationally. This growth has provided Mo’s Bows with amazing opportunities. These opportunities have involved being a fashion correspondent at the NBA draft and receiving an invitation to the White House where he was able to present Obama with his own blue tie.

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The reach of Mo’s Bows company was growing, and Moziah wanted to do something good with it. This led him to start Go Mo which were bow ties where 100 percent of the proceeds went to send troubled Memphis children to summer camp in the summer. To date the charity has sent over 50 kids to summer camps in Memphis. Now Mo’s Bows has sold over $300,000 worth of bow ties and Moziah Bridges is still only in high school. Incredible!

Benjamin Kickz

“Business is boomin’” for 19 year old entrepreneur Benjamin Kapelushnik. It all started when he was around 13 years old and started becoming what is known as a “sneaker head.” Around 15, he began to buy and sell a lot of shoes to people he knew, online, through social media, as well as to celebrities. Benjamin “Kickz” Kapelushnik makes his money from reselling rare sneakers. The market value of resale sneakers has steadily increased in recent years and is now valued at around $1.2 billion. He is able to get some rare sneakers before they even hit the market and he resells them on his SneakerDon website as soon as he gets them. He is able to get all the shoes in all the sizes, which sets him apart from other resellers in the market because they generally only have a few sizes. This gave Ben an advantage over his competitors and attracted a lot of business. 

 

Some of his most well known customers include DJ Khaled, P Diddy, and Travis Scott. Benjamin’s family recently moved to Los Angeles and he believes this will help his business to grow. Currently, he has near $1 million in stock shoes waiting to be sold and buys more almost every day. He makes around a million dollars a year reselling sneakers online. That money is not even including the money he makes from selling to celebrities. The celebrities tend to buy the more high-end sneakers too. All this is possible because of his great marketing skills. He gets the sneakers from resellers that don’t have the customers that Ben has. 

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SNEAKERDON WEBSITE 

Kylie Jenner: Soon-To-Be World’s Youngest, Self-Made Billionaire

Kardashian. This is the name that with one utterance, can spark debate in almost any room. This one simple name divides Americans and causes them to either rave with admiration or mock with scorn and disdain.

The name, “Kardashian” was made famous by the Los Angeles, “it” family when they started their reality television show: Keeping Up With The Kardashians in 2007. The show features a day in the life of the Kardashian-Jenner family and the exhilarating drama these socialites encounter.

The youngest member of the KJ clan is Kylie Jenner who is quickly emerging her entrepreneurial career at the age of 20 years old. Kylie has premiered on the show many times over the last 11 years and has gained an enormous amount of fame and a fan base of over 150 million because of it. Regardless of what people may think of Kylie and her family, she has utilized the exposure from the show to propel her career and to become the youngest, most successful, self-made entrepreneur in the world.

In 2015, Kylie launched her own line of cosmetics: Kylie Cosmetics. She started this entrepreneurial venture because she had a passion for makeup, because she saw an unmet need in the market, and because she realized she had the opportunity to leverage a huge platform from her already established reputation. She understood her target market and she sought to please them.

Kylie did not just blindly enter into the cosmetics world. She strategically planned for years before she actually launched her first line of lipsticks. She discovered a niche in the cosmetic market, and through understanding her target customers, she branded herself by focusing on that one specific area.

According to Elle magazine, Kylie Cosmetics sold out of all 6 lipsticks in the first 10 minutes of their release. 15 days later, when the lipsticks were restocked, all 6 sold out in the first two minutes. Whether or not this “shortage” was intentional, many believe this rush to purchase Kylie’s line was due to her marketing genius.

She not only stimulated anticipation for the release of her new line through her multiple social media platforms, she also kept in constant communication with her fans, letting them know when the lipsticks would be restocked and where they would be able find them. She also showed a considerable amount of public relations expertise by encouraging her fans not to buy from outside vendors who purchased the lipsticks for their original price of $29 and marked them up to as much as $225 on sites like eBay. In July of 2018, Forbes estimated her company at nearly $900 million. Over the next year, Kylie is expected to become the youngest self-made billionaire ever.

Kylie Jenner displays an immense amount of ambition, motivation, and persistence – traits that are necessary for any entrepreneur looking to start a business. Many may attribute her success to her family’s already established fame and reputation, but the bottom line is that she is an inspiring, young entrepreneur who has strategically used the resources at her disposal to create a cosmetic empire.

Fair Harbor Company, Helping Save The Oceans.

Fair Harbor Company is a clothing company that sells swimsuits, sounds normal right? The interesting thing is that this company makes swimsuits out of recycled bottles, they also make clothing through recycled polyester. The company idea was started by Jake Danehy. The company name comes from a summer spot, called Fair Harbor, that he and his family went to during the summers. Over time he and his sister Caroline developed a deep love for the ocean. Later while studying geography at Colgate University he was moved by how much damage was being dealt to the oceans. So entering Colgate’s version of Shark-Tank, along with his fashion minded sister Caroline, they debuted Fair Harbor company. They won a 20,000$ grant to start their company.

Even with this grant they have faced challenges and mistakes with starting and keeping the company going. But the duo are continuing onward and striving to always make a superior product. They intend to show how plastic can be used for so many other things. And how plastic is not just a one time use product, and their way of showing that is by making swimsuits out of plastic.

Company Website

http://www.fairharborclothing.com

More Info on the company

http://www.inc.com/maisie-devine/these-millennial-siblings-are-building-a-multi-million-dollar-fashion-company-from-ocean-pollution.html