From Clothing to Accessories: Pivoting Without a Plan

“I’m Julie Mollo and I’m going to be a fashion designer.” That was my mentality and ethos every day from middle school onwards. I designed clothes, I made party dresses, prom dresses, tutus and costumes every day. That was my thing. I loved getting dressed and I loved getting fun, sparkly girls dressed up in my creations, too. For years, I made costumes for pop stars and musicians, YouTubers and prom queens everywhere. I started my business in clothing and had big dreams of where I wanted to take it in the fashion industry.

I decided that I was going to open a pop-up shop in Chelsea Market, NYC, in the summer of 2016 and wanted to merchandise my clothing with something else. I needed something that got my brand and vision across but didn’t need to be tried on, and something that I knew I could also sell to the crowds that come through Chelsea Market (aka tourists).

My clothing was always very niche and geared towards a very specific retro audience, but I knew it was necessary to expand on my offerings in order to, ultimately, make money. With that in mind, I took some scrap fabric and leftover zippers, opened up a pattern binder full of fun shapes, traced some out, sewed a flamingo on a piece of glitter vinyl and wham bam — the first clutch was born.

When I opened my pop-up shop, my clothing was the focus, but the wall of lower-priced accessories was where everyone’s eyes went. And that is what sold. After that two week test in Chelsea, I opened a 6-month pop-up shop in SoHo to really test my brand. I offered more clothing in addition to clutches. As the clothing slowly sold, I didn’t need to frequently replenish, but the clutches flew, and I had to produce more every single night in my home studio. For six months, I saw the shopping patterns of my customers change and met the new audience that I was now catering to — everyone.

Now my business is 100% accessories (handbags, clutches, pouches and more), and I’ve been able to expand into 200 doors without having to be customer-facing all of the time, which is a great relief. Keeping my business in both wholesale and online has made it a much more scalable business, and by doing that, I’ve been able to expand my team and grow into a larger office, all while creating jobs for people and cultivating a sparkly room full of people that work together to grow something special. I do not miss clothing right now, and who knows what the future holds, but I love being able to tell my brand’s evolution story.

Accessories opened me up from my niche, retro party girls, to a much larger, much broader one. Lowering the price point to be more inclusive opened up another portion of the audience and allowed me to now offer products to just about everyone ages 5-65. Even though the brand was loud and in your face, being able to offer a small item that fits in your hand was something that was palatable to everyone of every age, everywhere.

Sometimes you are not the one to dictate where your dreams go. Listening to people that are going to help grow your business —your customers, the public, strangers— is the best possible, unfiltered research. Learning how to get your point-of-view across while making money will not happen overnight, but, by being authentic, you will be able to naturally learn to grow your brand’s potential in ways you couldn’t see coming.