Preppy Podcast
The Preppy Podcast features interviews every Tuesday with the brands, businesses and influencers who are keeping the modern preppy lifestyle alive.
Preppy Podcast
Ink + Alloy
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Gretchen Hollingsworth is a serial entrepreneur who built Paddywax into an internationally recognized candle brand before selling it in 2015 and turning her attention to her next chapter. She launched INK+ALLOY in 2016 — a handmade accessories brand designed in Atlanta and brought to life by skilled artisan women in India, now beloved in boutiques across the country. Purpose-driven from the start, INK+ALLOY partners with Commit 2 Change to fund education for girls in India — giving back to the community that inspires every piece INK+ALLOY makes. Shop at https://inkalloy.com/
You're listening to the Preppy Podcast, and I'm your host, Patricia May Olson. I'll be interviewing the brands, businesses, and influencers who are keeping the modern preppy lifestyle alive. Each Tuesday, I'll bring you a new episode, but if you're craving more preppy, then shop the merch and listen to past episodes at thepreppy podcast.com and be sure to follow at the preppy podcast and me, Patricia underscore May underscore Olson on Instagram. So much for listening or watching on YouTube. I am thrilled because I have another fabulous episode for you, as always. It is with Gretchen, who is the founder of Ink and Aloy. I actually got served a lot of Instagram ads from their brand and then immediately fell in love with them. And I've purchased so much. I just love everything that they're doing right now. It's full of color and happiness and style. So they were part of our Campreppy veil. Their keychains I actually use as napkin rings and the little take-home favor for everyone. But I had to get Gretchen on the podcast to learn more about her and her business, which I was so surprised to learn that this isn't her first time with entrepreneurship. She actually founded Patty Wax, the candle brand, and sold that. And then now this is her second entrepreneurial endeavor. So she just has so much information, knowledge, and was an absolute joy to talk to. She shared so much great tips. I know you guys are gonna really love this episode as much as I enjoyed interviewing her. But before we get into that, a few housekeeping reminders. The first being a Campreppy Barnsley Resort is our holiday Cam Preppy, the first one that we're ever doing that's holiday themed. It's been on my list for a while, and I am so excited to present it. Just a little sneak peek of some of the fun that we're gonna be having is we are going to be doing some holiday baking with the Southern sideboard. That's gonna be just so fabulous. And then we also are going to be doing some holiday makeup. So learning how to make the perfect look for the holidays, maybe a little sparkle, who knows? Um, as well as some holiday shopping and styling with Holly Shea. And then our welcome party, for example, is cocktails and caftans themed. I cannot wait. Um, everyone's gonna get a vintage cocktail ring um at that welcome party from Lady Holiday. And those are just a few sneak peeks. Like I've been working so hard behind the scenes. We have so many fun, great things happening at that camp. So get those tickets at thepreppypodcast.com. Um, as well as you can join Club Preppy there. You can find out more information, shop some of the brands that I have on this podcast, and so much more. But let's get into this week's episode. Okay, so why don't you first let everyone know who you are, where you live, and what you do.
SPEAKER_01Okay, hi, I'm Gretchen Hollingsworth. Um we're based out of Atlanta, Georgia, but I have a women's accessory and fashion company called Inc. Alloy. Um, we design everything here in Atlanta, but we source most everything from India, which I go to several times a year. Um, an important part of our brand is we have a give back that we feel very passionate about, and it is about educating girls in India. So we felt like um we needed to get back to where we were sourcing from. So that's what we do. We are in a lot of better boutiques, so there's a wholesale side of our business, and then there's also a direct-to-consumer side of our business too. So this is just um all about having fun and and being colorful and living boldly, is what we say.
SPEAKER_00I love that. And my listeners know that I love color. Obviously, I'm wearing a lot of color today. Um, and those who attended our camp reppy in Colorado got your bag charms, the little cowgirl boot one, which was so cute. And I actually double used it because I used it as a napkin ring, and then they got to take it home with them as a bag charm.
SPEAKER_01We should tell we should talk about in our socials multi-use there.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. But I am thrilled to have you on the podcast today and learn more about you and your business. Um, so let's start at the beginning. Tell me a little bit about you as a kid. Were you someone that was entrepreneurial, like had a lemonade stand, or creative, like making clothing for your dolls? Um, what was your childhood like?
SPEAKER_01Well, it's pretty funny. My parents have a business also. They have a lamp company, some of their lamps behind me, but they are in in the home furnishing industry. And so most of my days were going to my dad's office and his he had the factory there. So they were always they do all the painting and finishing, and so there's a lot of creativity there too, but also just sitting in his office absorbing like sales reps and selling to stores and traveling overseas and sourcing products. And so it was pretty funny. I think one of my first entrepreneurial things was I had the official snack box in the break room at his business. I think he gave me like $30 seed money, and I went in and I got some like, you know, little Lance peanut butter cheese crackers and candy bars and stuff. And then every day after school I would, you know, tally it up. And you know, every now and then someone took something from me. I was always like, I can't believe they did that. You know, my dad was like, lessons learned, you know. So um, when I went to school for college, I studied environmental science, and I thought I wanted to do environmental science, which is really kind of odd. And that lasted, I think I had a real job for about eight months, and I decided to launch a candle company. So I was 25 years old and I started a company called Patty Wax, which maybe a lot of people hopefully have heard of. Yes, wow. Yeah, and so I started that business literally, like out of my back room of my little house that I rented. Um, it's kind of a cool story. My sister and I bought a house and they had a greenhouse that was full of little terracotta pots. And of course, I had no money, and so I was like, what am I gonna get for Christmas? And so I got my Martha Stewart magazine. Your your listeners might be a little bit younger than me, but that was an old magazine. Yeah, big deal in the 90s. So I got my Martha Stewart Living Magazine and learned how to make candles, and I bathed candles and tied bows on the, you know, and everything and gave those out as Christmas gifts, and then it just kind of evolved, and I um started doing craft festivals and things like that. I was very young, and I went down to the America's Mart here in Atlanta because I was living in Atlanta, and that's a big wholesale show where a lot of gift companies get started, and I somehow talked the um a showroom into taking my line, and it was a very, very nice showroom with a lot of other beautiful lines in it. And I tell this story because it was crazy because I had zero employees, I was 25, and I wrote a $150,000 market, and I was like, Oh my gosh, and that was your first market. First market. Wow, it was the late 90s, and candle scented candles were crazy. Um, I took a huge order for Crate and Barrel and totally faked it till you make it. I acted like I knew what I was doing, and I didn't have any money, and I just got a couple credit cards, maxed them out, yeah, and started making them. But those first that first all those first orders, I made them myself.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01Made them, packed them, invoiced them all on my own.
SPEAKER_00Wow. How long did that take you? And like when that they wrote the orders, how long did you have to be able to turn it around at least?
SPEAKER_01I did it in uh about six to eight weeks.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_01But back then it wasn't wasn't as much like there was no Amazon, so it wasn't like people have changed the whole perception of how quickly they need something. So stores were very used to waiting like six to ten weeks, even for a product. But I was very motivated to turn those orders around because I could get paid, you know, and I had the clock was ticking on my credit card. So so um, anyways, I always tell everyone I had the best arms of my life from you know, eight-pound pitchers of wax for six weeks, eight hours a day, 10 hours, 12 hours a day.
SPEAKER_00Anyways, um it was so that it sounds like you were always entrepreneurial then, inspired by your family, your parents, um, and started. I had no idea you started a paddy wax first. So tell me what um what was that kind of journey like then? You went to your first market, you had a great success, and then at what point, like how'd you grow that? At what point did you decide to walk away from it? I'd love to hear a little bit about that beside before we talk about what you're doing today.
SPEAKER_01Sure. Well, everything was very the way I've always operated when people are like, oh, how do you budget this or set this or you know, do this? I'm very simple. I've never taken any like well once I I sold Pattywax, but as far as getting investor money and stuff, I've really operated it, and maybe it's because my mind can't do it any other way, but like you know, I I buy this, I sell this, and I don't try to I I keep it very simple. So we grew pretty organically, but pretty fast. I mean, we were growing at like 400% a year for the first three or four years, and so we went from 1,500 square feet to six square feet to 15,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet. So we just and we just kept adding employees as we grew.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um, anyways, at uh what do you think um helped with that success? Like it sounds like you were able to be so successful and grow very organically but quickly. Um, what do you think? Do you think Candless were just having a moment? Do you think what you had wasn't out there? Like, what do you think equated to that?
SPEAKER_01I think uh with a lot of stuff it's luck, but I also think it's hard work. And so like I don't say no. I pretty much say yes, I'm gonna figure out, figure it out. So, like where other people might say to a crate and barrel container order, oh, we can't deliver that. I was like, no, we can.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01We'll figure it out. You know, but um anyways, I I think that we I think a lot of it was timing. I think another really important part was I went into showrooms. Like when you're on the wholesale side of the business, sometimes there's these multi-line showrooms. And so I really tried to put myself in showrooms that had other great lines because I think a lot of people when they're starting their business, they think, oh, why would I want to pay, you know, a sales rep or percentage? I'll just get my own booth. Well, then who's gonna? It's kind of like an ad. Who's gonna find you? Like if you put a website up and you don't run any ads, no one's gonna find you. Well, the same kind of thing. That's such a good point. So try to surround ourselves by people, other successful people. And um it also get lent us instant credibility, you know. So after we got that good Atlanta showroom, then six months later, I got a great one in Dallas, and then I got one in, you know, San Francisco and one in New York. Markets changed since then. So, you know, I did that for um in 2009. I was um married at the time, and my husband then really wanted to sell, and I didn't. So we could have a whole nother podcast on that. But I'll give you a cliff notes version. We did sell, and so um, and then we got divorced, and I ended up being the only one working for the new partner.
SPEAKER_02Oh wow, okay.
SPEAKER_01So um, it was good. I learned a lot. He came from the mentality he was a uh had a big, big business. So all of a sudden I learned so much about like we were doing everything stateside as far as glasses and vessels and boxes and all that stuff, and all of a sudden I was going to China and you know, learning that whole import-export part of the business, and we grew and grew and grew, and all of a sudden I was doing presentations for Target and you know, but I wasn't the owner anymore, I was the minority owner, and I couldn't handle it.
SPEAKER_00So yes, I take away the passion, I'm sure, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. And I mean he treated me respectfully, but at the end of the day, I the bit perfect analogy is like um you give your bot baby up for adoption and you get to be the nanny.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So it was a little bittersweet. So when the timing was right, I was like, I just gotta beat my own boss again. And so I was kind of fascinated with going to India and because it's just so colorful and beautiful, and I was like, what can I make? I can't do candles because I had a huge non-compete. I was kind of burnt burnt out of that, anyways. And so I thought, let's do jewelry. It's um lightweight, it's easy, it's fun, it's creative, and I could probably step into a lot of my old relationships that also carry jewelry, you know, with stores and stuff.
SPEAKER_00So that's a good point because probably gift shops carry both jewelry and candles, so you already have the connections.
SPEAKER_01And now gift shops, you know, they have gotten to be so lifestyle that they have apparel too. So we're still starting to step into apparel in a bigger way, too, which is really fun because you can get all those beautiful textiles from India. So that's been fun. So um, fast forward, we've just grown and grown. Um, so that's kind of where we are.
SPEAKER_00So uh what year was it then that you launched Inc and Alloy?
SPEAKER_01I sold this is insane, and I really wish I would have taken a bigger break, but I stopped working at Pattywax of June of 2015 and launched Inc and Alloy on January 2016. Like in every showroom across the country, no baby steps, just yeah.
SPEAKER_00I feel like you are very similar to me. Like I love what you said earlier. You're you said it took a lot of luck, but a lot of hard work and like saying yes, because that's my motto. It's funny, my bracelet um even says create your own luck, because I believe in that so much, and I think it it is a lot of luck being in the right place at the right time, but you have to put yourself in those rooms and those places, right? So it they work hand in hand.
SPEAKER_01And so I do think I was like successful with the candle business. And so that this was almost kind of like, was it luck or was it being hard work? So it's a little validating to have another successful business. And it was also kind of fun because business has changed so much from when I started the candle company till now, it's like you can kind of make all those changes with it like clean slate, you know. It's like, okay, we're gonna have a website, we're gonna do it direct to consumer, we're going to, we don't need this, we need that. And the really fun thing is I have um three employees that came with me from Pattywax, um, one of which has worked for me since 1998. So um we have a lot, we have a lot of history around here and a lot of fun. So we we did have a quicker start because we kind of knew what we knew what we were doing, you know. So that's how we know what we were doing. What we didn't know is direct to consumer. So that's been um really awesome because now our business is pretty much split split half-half.
SPEAKER_00And what was the decision behind wanting to do more direct to consumer, would you say, this time around?
SPEAKER_01COVID COVID.
SPEAKER_00Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, we were getting ready to go to all the markets, and all the markets were closed down, and you know, we used to spend X money going to markets, and I was freaking out, and all of our stores were canceling orders, and I was like, what are we gonna do? So instead of spending that money on the shows, we hired a um ad firm, you know, to run ads, and we launched our we had a direct-to-consumer site, but we weren't running it, we weren't really promoting it. It was there, it was functioning, so the bones were there. So we just uh put some money into ads, and it was so weird. We it took off in a crazy way, and at the time we were heavily jewelry, and I think a lot of people were on Zooms and they wanted earrings.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01So um we went from like you know, having just a few thousand people on our mailing list to over a hundred thousand quickly, and um it was in a weird way, COVID was really good for the business because when when um wholesale came back, which it did, then we had already had this other, so it's almost like doubled our business because wholesale came back, but then we had this direct-to-consumer definitely, and I think there's a place for both.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I think direct to consumer, you know, I that's a great way to reach the customer directly and cut a little bit of the cost then there of the wholesale. But then wholesale is sometimes how people discover your brand, right? They're in a boutique on vacation and then they find the bracelet, they buy it there, and then they go to your website and buy more. So I think they totally work hand in hand, and it's important to do both.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's funny. I just I was a I spoke at a marketing conference back in May, and that was a big part of my talk because it was a lot of director brands that don't want to do wholesale. And it's like, God, do we really just want to do all of our shopping on Amazon? That makes me so sad. Don't we all love these cool boutiques all over the country and want to support them? I mean, I'm sure a lot of your listeners like when you go on vacation, that's part of your vacation as you walk the main street and you go into the, and it's like, I'm like, I kind of equate them to the the OG influencers.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, that's a great point. Um, so tell me a little bit then about the product assortment as it is today, because you mentioned you also have clothing now. Um, I know you have accessories like bags, jewelry. Um, what's that look like? And what was, you know, kind of the decision process of each edition?
SPEAKER_01Okay, well, like I said, most of my decision processes are really just based on gut and going for it. But um, we were going to India and there was a big trend for a lot of beaded earrings. So we kind of got on the map with that, but we also loved all the block printing scarves, so we were doing a lot of block printing scarves. Well, the beaded earrings kind of evolved to beaded bags and they've gone crazy. Our beaded bags have been really fun. And then I was like, wait, we're she's going on vacation, it's colorful. Let's give her a caftan. So we started making these caftans, and they have gone crazy. And now we're like, wait, we're in we have relationships with these vendors. Let's make some colorful super soft PJs. So let's do that too. And I can even show you. We like like so one of our new beaded bags. We know she likes Mahjong. Yeah. Your customer does too. So we made we made a beaded bag. Um these have been really popular. We have another beaded bag like this, which is tennis, and we have one that's golf, and then we really thought did a deep dive on who she is, and we're like, let's hit her all of her hobbies. We even have one with uh a martini because we know that's her hobby too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, cocktails. I love it. I mean, hobbies are having such a moment right now, so it's totally makes sense.
SPEAKER_01And then we're doing a lot of textiles, so we like we have this for your love that it's really cool. It fits your your game in it, and we also did some scarves. Um, we have a really cute little beaded bracelet with the tiles on it. So our products kind of evolved into the storytelling moments around hobbies. So, like we have the tennis collection, we have the mahjong collection, we did an equestrian collection, we have a ski collection coming. Um, and then also we are doing a lot of like what what does she like? If she likes wearing a caftan, she probably likes wearing like an oversized striped shirt dress, you know, or like a color block skirt, maxi skirt. So we have a lot of those that are dropping um mid-September, which we're very excited about.
SPEAKER_00I have to say, I've seen your striped skirt all over my Instagram. Like you guys are doing a great job with the ads there and the influencers because I always see that and it is so cute and it's so memorable. Like whenever I see it, then I know it's yours.
SPEAKER_01Oh, well, that's great. Well, we have some color block ones coming that are really cute. They're like a solid color with a different color at the bottom for fall, and we're um doing some really cool sweatshirts that are um another part of who we're selling to now is, you know, when I was at Pattywax, it was great, but it was more like just we're selling to everybody, you know. So, and it was so wholesale. Now it's like I can really kind of fine-tune. I remember I got so excited because we found we were doing this customer survey, and I'm like, she's this and that. She's she's she's liberal, she cares about her social causes, she loves color, she loves travel. And I was telling my daughter, and she goes, My daughter goes, Well, she's you then, right? I was like, Well, that makes it easy then. Yeah, it's me. So we're doing some sweatshirts for this fall that are really cute. We have a girl power one that gives money to our charity of giving back for the girls' education. We have a vote one coming that's about um supporting League of Women voters. You know, we have we try to give to causes that she's feel strongly about.
SPEAKER_00Yes, which I want to talk about causes then, because like you said from the beginning, that seemed like um an important part of launching this new business. So tell me more about that, like the inspiration. What you guys are doing there.
SPEAKER_01Well, I really wanted it to be um support women and also where we were coming from. And here's the crazy thing after doing some research that just blew my mind. Um, one in six girls in India don't make it to 15. So they're undervalued, they don't have an education, the poverty's so extreme that the boy will always live with the family, the girl gets married off. So they're just not, you know, in the poverty families, they're just not valued, and so costs a lot of money to get educate them, and so they're not educated. Or the sad thing, there could be a 13-year-old girl that's like shipped over to an old man farmer. I mean, it's just the stories are horrendous. So we found this organization called Commit to Change, and they're all about supporting education for girls, and I think we found out last year we give 10% of our profits go to them, and we've educated 10,000 girls in India in 10 years.
SPEAKER_00That's impressive.
SPEAKER_01And so when I go to India, we usually try to go visit them. There's a couple orphanages, and I mean I it's the most moving thing I've seen when a little girl runs up to you and she's like, I want to be an engineer, and I couldn't have done it without you guys. You're just like, you know, so um it's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00I love that, and I love not only obviously giving back, but I love how then you're going in person, you're seeing the change and the difference that you're making because I think a lot of times brands and businesses they just write a checkoff to different charities. Um, so I I love that it's it's impactful and important to you, and you're there and you're seeing the change.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and there's some great pictures on our um website under our give back. There's some pictures of us there with the girls.
SPEAKER_00So that's amazing. So I'm curious with this business, what's your favorite part? And then what's your least favorite part or the hardest part?
SPEAKER_01Well, of course, products are always fun. I mean, at my heart, I love coming up with ideas for products and any anything creative, but also probably the least favorite part is trying to look in that crystal ball and do demand planning to where we have the right mix of product at the right time, which is so hard but important part too. You know, I mean the the weird thing is when I sold Pattywax those last few years I was there, I was really regular, you know, really just doing product, and they were kind of like, oh, don't worry, you're a little head on the business. We got it. And I missed that part too. So I kind of like doing that too. But um I I mean the most challenging part has got to be trying to figure out the, you know, because now with direct to consumer and the way the algorithms work, it's was easier with wholesale. You can have one ad take off and it's showing this one item, and then it goes crazy and it's selling so much more than the other ones that are just as good because they don't even see it, they don't even get the on your website, they're just getting this ad. And so it's been that's a challenge trying to figure that out, you know.
SPEAKER_00The forecasting for sure is hard to know. And and it is funny, you know, I work in PR with a lot of brands in my full-time business, and I often find what's is the best seller for wholesale is not the best seller for direct to like they're completely opposite a lot of the times.
SPEAKER_01They are completely opposite. So sometimes we'll do our wholesale markets first and we'll be like, okay, this is gonna be popular, and it's not like a great example. We did this tennis bag. We went to our wholesale markets and they felt it was like, oh, it's too niche or whatever.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it took, it went crazy direct to consumer, and we were not prepared. Yeah, we it you know, at all. Yeah, we had no idea.
SPEAKER_00It always happens that way. Um, but speaking of that, what is your best seller or customer favorite either all time or on the website right now? And then what's your personal favorite?
SPEAKER_01Oh gosh, that's a good question. Um, the beaded bags are so popular and the caftans, but we are out for the season, but there will be more to coming. So I think my new personal favorite that drops uh mid-September is going to be these new shirt dresses. You can see I like stripes, but we did like these really cool button front black and white, there's a port and red, there's a navy and brown, they're really cool. And um all the scarves are dropping with them too. So we've got all these fun new scarves that really make them fun to style. So that's my personal favorite right now, but um kind of our viral products have been um the tennis bag, the sardine bag. Um, we have a sardine bag that was featured in that show four seasons by uh Tina Faye's new show. Yep, anyways, um that has gone crazy too. So I think bestsellers the bead of bags. Um, we also have some beaded necklaces that go crazy that I usually wear and I'm wearing this one now, but I usually wear this other one that's kind of a chain-link beaded necklace. We call them the Jennas, and they've gone crazy too.
SPEAKER_00I love that. I did so fun.
SPEAKER_01Did I give you too many things?
SPEAKER_00No, no, that's perfect. Oh and now I'm curious. Since I always ask this to everyone, what does preppy mean to you? This is the Preppy podcast, so how would you describe Preppy?
SPEAKER_01I like classic preppy. To me, I go back to like um I don't know if you've ever listened to the there's a great book and it's fallen out of my head about J. Oh, yes, yes. Yeah, you know, the uh Rise and Fall of J. Crew or something like that. I think it's so good. But to me, I love like the Preppy where it's like, if you know, you know.
SPEAKER_00Do you know what I mean? Like the subtle, quiet luxury, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Worn out look, you know, maybe a guy that's got a worn out Oxford and it's kind of frayed, but it's cool, and he's got his docksiders on and the classic sweater. I mean, to me, it's all classic pieces. That's what preppy is to me. Yeah, it's a if it's a it's a if you know, you know.
SPEAKER_00And I think like a classic shirt dress is so preppy like you're wearing right now, right?
SPEAKER_01Right. And then it'll be like, yeah, exactly. It's just like a classic, and you can just you can wear you can throw your tennis shoes on and go to market with it, or you could dress it up nighttime, you know, all kinds of things.
SPEAKER_00So definitely. Now, since obviously you had your past business, you have this business, it sounds like you know, you've learned a lot and have a wealth of knowledge. What's a resource you would share with listeners um in terms of business? Like, is there a newsletter you love, a book that you've read that you found really helpful, or maybe just like a quote that stuck with you?
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh, that one's really hard for me.
SPEAKER_00I mean, you did mention the J. Crew book already, which I do think is a great book about business.
SPEAKER_01That is a great book about business. Um I read a book a long time ago. I think it it now it might be out of fashion now, but it was called The E-Myth. And I think it's pretty good because it it made it be like, oh, I love making pies, so I'm gonna make a pie company. And it's like it's not really what it's about. Yeah, do you know what I mean? Like so it's like um advice.
SPEAKER_00I think emyth is I think I have heard of that book actually. I might have read it a while ago.
SPEAKER_01It's a it's an older book, but it's really good. Um, and then I think it's just like someone told me this. It's like touch your customers every day. Sometimes, especially if you're doing wholesale, you can bury yourself in your office, and there's no way you like call someone, go to markets. I you know, sometimes people are like, I'm too big, so I'm not gonna go to market anymore. I'm like, oh my god, I still you gotta go to market because then you get to talk to people and you get to hear, like I mean, I I I think if you have a wholesale market, those store owners are your biggest resource because they hear they're they hear things, they're your on the street, boots on the ground, people. So I think um just be open to feedback. I would I'd say go into the best boutiques and become friends with those people running them and see what they have to say about what people want.
SPEAKER_00Yes. And speaking of that, then I'm curious, where do you get inspiration for design? Like we talked about obviously your, I'm saying like your women in air quotes, like this this person that you're designing for. But when it comes to the mahjong, the golf, the sardines, you know, I think the others we talked about are more the hobbies, but like the sardines, where did that come from? Where do you find inspiration for design?
SPEAKER_01I mean, that would be really hard. I probably scroll Instagram way too much and Pinterest, and then um I love travel. So going places and shopping the streets and um just keeping my eyes and ears peer um open to what's going on, I think. Yep.
SPEAKER_00Travel, I think, inspires so many of us.
SPEAKER_01A lot of scrolling and travel, but a lot of scrolling. I sometimes travel in my scrolling. So I think I have all my folders saved of Mexico, Paris, India, um, Amsterdam, London.
SPEAKER_00I think like 25% of my photos in my phone are screenshots from scrolling of like random things like an outfit inspiration idea or a business I want to reach out to or a place I want to travel to. So I have to- Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01And we've got a great team here. I don't want to say that I'm doing it all because I'm not. And it's very collaborative here. Like we all everyone comes in office, kind of old school like that, but we sit around and we I mean, the marketing team might have an idea for PD or PD up to an idea for the marketing. I mean, we're a small team, but it's like, you know, we just play off each other.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. What about a dream customer? If you could have anyone have your pieces, wear your clothing, who would a dream be? It sounds like Tina Fey have it. I mean, that's you mean as far as like celebrity or something. Yeah, celebrities or influencers or anyone. Um, even sometimes people are answer answer and say someone like Kate Middleton, or even like, oh, they wish like Jackie O back in the day would have been a great customer.
SPEAKER_01We try to think about like who our kind of style muses are, you know, and we have a few of those that are like um Jane Birkin back in the day. She was so cool. Yeah. Or we even say like Jenna Lyons because she mixes a little preppy and a little, you know. Um, I'm trying to think of all the other those are good ones.
SPEAKER_00I feel like I haven't had those answers and I like them.
SPEAKER_01And then the other one that we don't know if it's actually correct, but we think Parker Posey bought a caftan from us and we all lost it here because she's so cool. Um we also love like you know we love Jennifer uh Coolidge, we love just cool, bold ladies living their life and being true to who they are. So not so that's kind of who we are, like or we aspire to be.
SPEAKER_00Yes, perfect answer. Um, any sneak peeks you want to share? I know we talked about for September some fabulous um shirts and scarves. Like, what does holiday look like maybe?
SPEAKER_01Um I'm very excited about I can't say enough about the shirt dresses and the skirts that are coming mid-September that we're so excited about. I do notice on my bulletin board I have a mailing that's going in-house right now where they're all dressed in that. Um which I'm so excited about. So those are our sneak peeks that I have a feeling if they take took off anything like the caftans, we're gonna be chasing inventory. So I would think people need to get those right away.
SPEAKER_00Okay, and they're launching September, just like after Labor Day, probably.
SPEAKER_01Probably more like September 15th.
SPEAKER_00Okay, mid-September.
SPEAKER_01Mid-September. And then the other thing that's launching next week, though, is like five new beaded bags and about six new scarves. So we're very excited, and we are offering your listeners a uh promo code. So maybe they should check back on the website then. I would love that.
SPEAKER_00Okay, perfect. And we will put the discount code um in the description of the podcast episode, and I will also on social media for when this comes out. So that's very generous. Well, Gretchen, I loved having you on the podcast today and learning more about you and your business and just your advice. And I really enjoyed chatting with you.
SPEAKER_01Oh, well, thank you so much for having me, Patricia.
SPEAKER_00I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for listening to the Preppy Podcast. I hope this put a little prep in your step for the day. Please subscribe, rate, and review on wherever you listen to your podcast. And follow along with at the Preppy Podcast on social media.