This will be my last post before we wind down for the holiday and the year. When I look back at 2022, I am blown away by how it started and how it ended. If you recall, my word of the year for 2022 was expansion, and expand I did. From where I stand now, I can look at all of it with immense pride as I took bold leaps, faced the challenges of growth, and scaled my business. In addition to business growth being at around 200% this year, Bridgette Raes Style Group is now a team of three and everything about how we now conduct business changed to meet these immense challenges of growth. My business of January 2022 looks completely different from the business I have today. As I have learned through all of this, growth is hard and unbelievably challenging and despite this year being one of the most rewarding, it was also one of the most demanding and exhausting I have lived. Yet, make no mistake, I wouldn’t trade one second of it. What an incredible journey.
BUT WE’RE NOT DONE GROWING
A few months ago, while in a weekly staff meeting, I pitched the idea to my team that we expand again by opening an online shop. Over the years, I’ve delighted in hearing terms I’ve coined to help clients and blog readers develop their wardrobes and styles said back to me. When a woman I don’t know says to me, “I think I am splitting my wears,” I can’t help but feel a sense of pride knowing that things I have said and sayings I have come up with, have gone on with lives of their own. What I suggested to my team that day was that we create products to capture these musings and more.
INTRODUCING THE BRIDGETTE RAES STYLE GROUP ONLINE SHOP
I am thrilled to announce our Bridgette Raes Style Group Online Shop which carries merchandise that not only sells products that capture the sayings, mission, and essence of what built this company but also sells other fun, stylish, and playful items too. Every print, branded product, and design has been imagined, chosen, and curated by me. It was great fun to put my product development hat on after nearly 20 years of taking it off.
WHAT YOU’LL FIND IN OUR SHOP
STYLISH BRIDGETTEISMS
1 Where Are You Going in That Pouch 2 Tights Are Not Pants Pouch 3 Tights Are Not Pants Debossed Journal 4 Spectacularly Dressed Somebody Tote 4 Tights Are Not Pants Magic Morphing Mug 6 Spectacularly Dressed Somebody Journal 7 Don’t Wait Until It Matters Until You Wear What You Love Journal 8 Chicken Outfit Mug 9 I Am My Own Superhero Flat Pouch 10 Stylish Bridgetteisms Coasters (get 4 for $20) 11 Where Are You Going in That? Chill Wine Tumbler
Of course, our shop wouldn’t be complete without merchandise that features what we call Stylish Bridgetteisms, like, Wishful Wardrobing, Chicken Outfits, Splitting Your Wears, and Where Are You Going in That? Oh and, of course, Tights Are Not Pants, a line I became synonymous with when I wrote that blog post that went viral. I happen to be resting my drink on a Wishful Wardrobing coaster right now as I write this.
OUR NEW LIFESTYLE COLLECTION
Engineer. Loves Fashion Tee 2 Scientist. Loves Fashion Tee 3 Carpools. Loves Fashion Pouch 4 Gardens. Loves Fashion Tee 5 Intelligent Woman. Loves Fashion Tee 6 Dog Walker. Loves Fashion Pouch 7 Ivy League Educated. Loves Fashion Tee 8 Rescues Animals. Loves Fashion Mug 9 Does Pilates. Loves Fashion Mug
I also wanted to capture the essence and backbone of what I firmly believe about style, that it should be inclusive to all and that women who enjoy fashion and style are diverse. All too often, fashion offers a narrow view of the type of woman who is “into” fashion, and is usually seen as a vapid, shallow woman lacking in intelligence and self-control. This limited scope can sometimes make women who don’t identify this way feel excluded or that they’re not thin enough, young enough, interesting enough, or pretty enough to be worthy. My hope is to widen that circle. This collection was very much inspired by this post as well as this other one that I wrote this year.
We’ve launched our Lifestyle Collection that proves that you can be any type of woman and love fashion. You can find this series in tees, mugs, pouches, and more items that will be coming soon.
FUN PRINTS WITH QUIET BRANDING
1 Decorative Pillows and Pillow Cases 2 12 oz Printed Latte Mugs 3 20 oz Tumblers in fun prints and patterns 4 Cell Phone Cases for 33 different mobile phone sizes 5 Apple Watch Bands 6 Printed Matte Hard Cover Journal in Floral Lace 7 Printed Totes 8 Printed Flat Pouches that match our totes.
In addition to products that feature my Stylish Bridgetteisms and other iconic sayings, as well as our new Lifestyle Collection, we’ve also created products you’ll just want in your life. These products have what we call Quiet Branding so you know they came from us without being pushy about it. Our goal is to add a little style, a little fun, and a little whimsy to the things you use daily. While I did not design any of the prints, I selected them and, in some cases, also recolored them. To start, we are featuring mugs, totes, phone cases, Apple Watch straps, accessory pouches, and other fun things, and as time goes on, we will dream up other chic and stylish things for you.
HOW THESE PRODUCTS GET TO YOU
Despite going from a team of one to a team of three this year, we’re still a small, scrappy group. Therefore, I knew if a shop was to be launched, it needed to be one that was easy to manage, required little overhead, and didn’t demand that handle product. We’re still a lean, company that doesn’t have the capital for a large endeavor, Our solution was to create print-on-demand products that aren’t produced until you order them. When you make a purchase, your order is sent to the supplier responsible for producing it and they will handle getting your order to you. We dream it, they make it.
This also means that receiving what you purchase can take up to two weeks to arrive, so keep this in mind as I know we’ve all become accustomed to getting what we want when we want it. My original goal was to launch this shop with plenty of time for holiday gift giving but getting our ducks in a row to operate a shop and be an online seller proved to be a lot more challenging than I anticipated given that up until my business didn’t need to be set up to charge sales tax before (personal styling services are not taxable items.) But we’re here now, a little later than planned and not in time so you can give any of our products as holiday gifts (unless you are planning on giving some gifts after the holidays), and I hope you will save some of your budget for us.
As we have worldwide readers, unfortunately, as of now, we are only shipping in the United States. This may change in the near future, so stand by. We’re just getting our sea legs as an online retailer.
2022 WAS FULL OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS, BUT WE’RE ONLY GETTING STARTED
I will be back with blog posts on January 3rd, and will definitely spend some of this time off reflecting on the journey of this year while also preparing my Word of the Year for 2023. Despite reaching many amazing milestones this year, I do feel like we’re just getting started. Growth, while sometimes painful, is also like a drug, a good one, that you just want more of. Once you know you can face things and survive a new challenge, it emboldens you to want to grow and succeed even more. I have no idea what 2023 will hold, but as I prepare to take the plunge with a fresh perspective, I am truly thrilled to find out.
I wish you a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season, and thank you for all your support, readership, and encouragement. It goes without saying, 2022 wouldn’t be nearly the year it has been without all of you being the wind at my back.
Visit our Online Shop at Shop.BridgetteRaes.com
The post INTRODUCING OUR NEW ONLINE SHOP: SHARING THE NEWS BEFORE I HEAD OUT FOR THE HOLIDAYS appeared first on Bridgette Raes Style Group.