Meet Marion, founder & owner
First of all, THANK YOU for visiting my new website! I am so humbled by how much support from my community that has helped my business grow in such a short amount of time.
If you had asked me three years ago where I would be today, I would have said that I would still be working at a PR agency and living in my apartment in NYC, but in March 2020 my life completely changed. I lost my job and was considering changing my career altogether. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and felt completely lost.
Fast forward to the end May of 2020, when I had to move back home to Long Island because everything was shutting down due to COVID-19 and NYC was becoming a ghost town. It was right around Mother's Day when the children of my neighbors and I decided to do some tie-dye in my driveway to surprise our moms and mother figures with a cute handmade gift (we usually do this once every summer, but it was 2020 and we were so bored!). Once we handed out the gifts, my family had suggested that I start my own business, and that's exactly what I set out to do.
I had gone door to door handing out business cards to local businesses, and emailing various school districts on Long Island for permission to use their logos on some tie-dye clothing. I was met with a lot of rejection or unanswered emails, and was solely using word of mouth to promote my small business. Finally, my big break came when Theresa Caputo from Long Island Medium saw my business online and started following me. She even posted my tie-dye face masks on her stories, which was an absolutely incredible moment in my career.
At the end of September 2020, I had reached 1k followers on my Instagram and 2k followers by the end of December 2020. In December alone, I had completed 6 vendor and craft fairs on Long Island and had raised $800 for a local elementary school as part of their winter fundraiser. I was getting a lot of recognition from local press and other businesses in my community requesting to partner with me and my business. I had started partnering with mommy bloggers who were referring me to school PTAs to do fundraisers. My Long Island home has now become a tie-dye factory!
In our first year officially in business, To Tie-Dye For Clothing has experienced incredible growth. We have:
- Completed our website
- Become a sole proprietorship
- Partnered with over 20 local micro-influencers
- Completed wholesale orders for 15 local boutiques
- Taught public tie-dye classes at 14 locations including libraries and play cafés
- Completed 3 school fundraisers
- Booked numerous private parties across Long Island, and
- Launched a collaboration collection by teaming up with other local female businesses to create unique, handmade products
I cannot wait to share with you all the amazing ideas I have for this company in the future and I look forward to continuously growing my business in the years to come!
