Growing A Women's Apparel Brand To $12M/Year By Building A Community
This is a follow up story for Beautiful Disaster. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published about 5 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
My name is Christina DuVarney and I am the founder of Beautiful Disaster Clothing. Beautiful Disaster is more than a clothing brand, we are a tribe of women who support one another through all trials and triumphs of life. Beautiful Disaster Clothing exists for the many forgotten Women who are finally starting to believe in their lives, their stories and themselves.
All of our collections are based on powerful sentiments that help Women show the world that even though they have been through it all, there is still hope. Wearing Beautiful Disaster is like slipping into self-acceptance. With our brand, women are able to speak their truth and express their stories without saying a single word. Beautiful Disaster sends messages that relate to your past and inspire your future.
We are on track to reach 12 million in sales for 2021 however, the true measure of our success is by the size of our Beautiful Disaster Tribe. We have not even scratched the surface of reaching the millions of Women around the world who are looking for a tribe to love and support them, a place to call home and an environment to feel heard, understood, empowered and appreciated.
Failure is inevitable! So, start right where you are. Even if it is just with an idea, you will figure things out as you go.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to! Has the business been growing?
Outperforming previous years - set to do 12 million this year with an average of 80-100% growth year over year.
Our brand is built on storytelling - emphasis on brand messaging and community building, since our last interview with Starter Story we have pivoted to more SMS/MMS communication and are really putting a focus on first party data. We are obsessed with the one on one interactions with our tribe!
We have hired people in key roles such as Social media manager, Technical designer, wholesale manager and recently promoted a lead customer service manager to a Junior designer as she finished her degree in design. We love to promote from within and help our team accomplish their career goals.
Community Building/Listening to their feedback is what has worked best for us to keep our existing customers happy and coming back. Engaging with our tribe and we have increased our accuracy in our fulfillment center, we made a large investment into a new system that allows us to scan and pack at a much more accurate and fast pace.
October was a huge month for us! We gave away our 2nd Jeep valued at over $60,000 and we also raised money for survivors of Domestic Violence from within the Beautiful Disaster Tribe, we were able to cut checks to 19 very deserving women and are so blessed to have been able to donate every dollar of the proceeds from the sale of an exclusive t-shirt to the women who needed it most.
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
Never put your eggs in one basket. We rode the Facebook Ad wave a little too long and we were ill prepared for the crash that the iOS update brought to our business.
Facebook ads were the #1 way we reached our future and current audiences and with the update it nearly demolished our reach and re-targeting. It saddens us because for so long it was such a great way to create awareness around our brand and our tribe. All good things come to an end, right?
We are now in pivot mode- asking ourselves how we can reach all of the women in the USA that we know will identify with our brand mission and message. We have a few ideas cooking that I think will be an organic way to grow the BD tribe.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
Without giving too much away, we are taking an unconventional approach with our tribe, we have our goals set high for creating more growth and healing for our Beautiful Disasters, we’re working on how to go beyond confidence you can wear and really cultivate lasting change for each one of our incredible tribe members. The question of the year for 2022 is “ How do we give the tribe MORE?”
I am incredibly excited to help our tribe take a bigger chance on themselves and their healing journey. To guide them towards happiness and further from pain.
Have you read any good books in the last year?
The Untethered Soul by Michael A. SInger. It was a wonderful book about being free from limitations and soaring beyond our boundaries. Letting go of limiting belief systems and I highly recommend it to everyone!
Limitless: Jim Kwik. This is a lesson book for upgrading your brain so you can operate with complete focus and concentration, how to move from being a slow learner to a speedy learner and discovering the genius superpowers that live inside of us all. Also highly recommend it!
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
Failure is inevitable! So, start right where you are. Even if it is just with an idea, you will figure things out as you go. Remember to research trademarks and copyrights. You can’t just start printing shirts with words on them, there is a good chance someone owns those words and you could get in big trouble.
Lastly, remember that success doesn't happen overnight. You will have to go into it with patience and an open mind. If you have enough passion and patience, you will succeed. Combining passion and purpose is a winning strategy and remember to make your money matter. Everyone should make as much money as possible in order to do as much good as possible. Let go of any fear behind making an enormous amount of money because you can do an enormous amount of good with it!
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
I am on the hunt for a Line Planner, someone who can really sink their teeth into our tribes likes, wants and needs, so that we can continue to curate the collections and pieces that they love! Someone who can help us predict the future of our Beautiful Disaster tribe so that we can continue to over-deliver with our apparel and accessories.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
