Its time to switch gears and share some of the excitement of having our dresses finally in the factory! Launching CGC, Classic Girl Clothing has been exciting and exhausting at the same time. But, we are finally almost ready with our first few dresses.
Our journey started almost two years ago during our summer vacation. As my daughter was getting ready to enter first grade I was trying to decide if I should go back to work selling Real Estate here in San Francisco or if I should start my own business, which I had always wanted to do. I had a couple of months where all signs in my life were pointing in the direction of starting a clothing line of little girl dresses. I started listening to the universe. People everywhere complimented the way I dressed my daughter. Whether we were on a fancy December trip to New York, or a casual summer vacation to visit Grandma in Texas, people would stop us to say how adorable my daughter was dressed and how it's becoming rare to see little girls dressed age-appropriate anymore.
One week that summer of 2014 Grandma was visiting from Texas. We bought fabric and made all sorts of things for my daughter from a Little House on the Prairie dress to aprons, school placemats, and napkins. We even made a fun fabric decoration. We had so much fun all sewing together, three generations. The days went by very quickly!
Then on a camping trip, I read a book called “#GIRLBOSS” and became inspired by the vision, determination, and success of its author. Weeks later one evening I was watching Shark Tank on television and Damon said something that has stuck with me “find a problem, fix it, then start a business”. It hit me, the problem I find is mainstream media not letting children be children. Mainstream fashion wants to dress our little girls like teenagers or mini-adults. Not only was I passionate about fixing this problem, but I love fashion and it would be a business in which I could involve my daughter.
That November was my first ever sourcing expo. It was a three-day conference of industry experts giving advice on starting a fashion line. They had a large showroom of fabric vendors and tons of fabric samples. It was very inspiring and super exciting. I met one of my fabric vendors and my first pattern makers.
When registering for the conference I had to state the name of my business and what we did. I accidentally wrote what we did in the business name section which is classic girl clothing. When I realized what I had done and it was time to erase and write a business name, I just looked and said that was it, “Classic Girl Clothing”. The beginning of the next year 2015, my daughter and I went to San Francisco City Hall to get our business license.
From my initial idea to start the business, to finally have a website, dresses, and trademark it has been a journey of almost two years. We have had lots of trial and error with fabrics, vendors, and ideas. Finally, we are excited to have an amazing team in place and we are proud to be launching a quality product.