Inside Parke's $16 Million Year With Chelsea Parke Kramer

0:00Last year you did 16 million in sales. You've been around for like two and a bit years. You're fully bootstrapped. This is crazy. Definitely don't have a scarcity marketing technique in my brand. And I want to make sure that people know that. I started documenting the process of like owning this business. We had launched sweatshirts. Transparently, we made like$40 ,000 that day. We did a pop-up in New York in November. People lined up for six hours. I think having a solid launch strategy has been super helpful for us. Hey, business besties. Welcome back to the Female Founder World podcast. I'm Jasmine.

0:31I'm the host of the show. I'm the person behind all things Female Founder World. And today I'm chatting with Chelsea Park-Kramer, the founder of Park. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm honored to be here. For people that don't know Park, what are you guys doing? We are creating, number one, most importantly, a community and also clothing that make people feel comfortable, that they want to wear from morning to night, and just making everyone look chic. That's what you're wearing now. Yeah, what I'm wearing now. For everyone watching on YouTube. Yes. We love it. I'm going to give some milestones so I can like brag for you in the beginning.

1:03You've been around for like two and a bit years. So really new. You're fully bootstrapped. Is that right? Yes. Yes. Amazing. And last year you did 16 million in sales. This is crazy. Yes. It's been the craziest ride probably of my life. I mean, I'm young, but I feel like I can't even imagine that I would have been here last year. Talk me through the launch in 2022 because what it started as is not what Park is now. No. So when we launched Park in 2022, I had moved to Miami during 2020, during COVID. And I was, I'm a lover of comfortable clothes, you know, after COVID who didn't want to be cozy.

1:40But when I moved to Miami, I couldn't wear sweatpants all the time. And I found myself often wearing vintage Levi's. And I was like, there weren't the places to shop online now where they have reworked vintage Levi's. And I was basically just like, how can I get vintage Levi's to the mass population? I mean, it's very hard to get vintage comfortable Levi's after coming off. No one wanting to wear jeans. We I somehow met this guy at a farmer's market. So random. His dad ended up owning like the biggest vintage recycled clothing warehouses in the United States. And it was in Los Angeles. And I happened to be with my mom.

2:22and she is like, we're both people that could talk to anyone. Probably the wall. So we just were sparking a conversation. I was wearing vintage Levi's. He was selling vintage Levi's and we were just conversing. And that's when he told us that his father had owned this factory. He had moved to Miami, but his brother still runs it with his dad. And I was just thinking to my mom, this is an opportunity. Like I could get this product to all of these people that are scourging these vintage flea markets for vintage Levi's. so I called her the next she went back to New Jersey where I'm from and the next day I called her I said let's go to LA and let's go to this place there weren't like I said all the places where you can buy vintage Levi's get them reworked now um and all actually as a side note like all of these places that do vintage Levi's get their denim from this this same place okay so that's like a hidden gem and so we went to LA he was they were like this is the minimum you have to buy 200 in each style and I was like well if I didn't do it at least I tried and something about me is like I'm just gonna do it always I don't care if it's gonna not succeed and I think that being naive honestly in this case was super important and now looking back on it like I'm so glad I didn't know anything that was gonna come but we went to LA we sorted through the bins like head I mean I probably have a picture of me that we could post with this like in the bins of denim I mean they were like to the sky high with vintage Levi's like all different styles but they're men sizing so there's a surplus of recycled vintage Levi's in men so we reworked them to women sizing and by July this was in May so by July we were live we sold probably a hundred of them 150 out of the 200 in that like initial week I was sort of going with momentum I feel like now looking back on it it's not any any number like that's so minute but that pushed me to just continue and I was so like it gave me it was like a high you know I just and that momentum just pushed me through to today honestly and at the time when I we launched I did have another job and it was a job in traditional wholesale in fashion but it was a I mean I don't want to speak badly but it was not a good job.

4:43It was very traditional fashion, Devil Wears Prada, I felt, but it did teach me a lot. And I feel like it really helped me that I did have a job at the time. And then by November, I was out of my job. And through that initial year, we were just making some new denim styles with recycled denim, but also really staying focused on recycled denim. And I say this one thing all the time, but to have a business on recycled denim is very sustainable, but it wasn't sustainable to build a business that I wanted to ultimately build. And I knew in my heart of hearts that I could build. So I was like, let's go back to the drawing board.

5:23Let's see how we can transform this business into something that can sustain a business model through years. And honestly, being naive also was super helpful but wow I'm gonna ask you about what comes next in a minute but first I want to know where those first customers were finding you like right in the beginning so at the time on TikTok I had 10 ,000 ish followers and I think that also like coming off of that COVID TikTok era it was so focused on like dance and like it's such a different type of influencer than we see now. And I honestly was working, I was working from home and I was finding a way to have a creative outlet and showing my outfits.

6:06I mean, it's kind of hilarious when sometimes like I get a notification that someone likes one of those videos. I'm like, oh my God, I need to archive it immediately. Like I was just working from home, but I was going to the gym in the morning and then I was staying my workout clothes all day. And I wanted to be able to find a creative outlet and make sure I was getting dressed every day. So I was posting my outfits of the day on TikTok from my apartment. And I think that's initially how I got this little following. And then I sort of started documenting the process of like owning this business since I started.

6:37And I think people really resonated with the excitement that I like showed behind it. And to the day, to this day, I still think that's like what resonates with people. That's how people, I think, started the brand. I remember making a TikTok. Like I was at like Miami Swim Week, which is like a, they take resort market from New York and then they bring it to Miami. And I was in the middle of market and I went outside and I filmed this video, like park is live. We launched today and I launched it in the middle of this like horrible situation. And I was just so passionate about it and so excited.

7:11And I think that's what drove people. And also like, I mean, I don't know if you have a pair of vintage Levi's that you love, but they're just so comfortable. So I think that all of it just excited people and being attainable to get. And then the next year, so this was end of 2022 when everything kind of got started and you picked up traction, you quit your job. In 2023, you made a million dollars in sales, which is so like really significant. I speak to a lot of business owners. And in the first year, that doesn't really happen for many bootstrap brands. What were you doing? Honestly, I was just like taking this excitement and momentum and continuing.

7:50and in that on our first birthday we had launched sweatshirts and I had been a lover of cozies my whole life and coming out of COVID and I made a sample of this one sweatshirt and I loved a high neck because I had this vintage sweatshirt had a high neck I loved it so much and I made a sample and I didn't think it was doing anything I just made a sample wore it on my for my now let's call at 15 ,000 followers. And I mean, all the excitement was like, make it, make it, make it. I was like, okay, you want me to make it? I'll make it. We made it. We sold it on our first birthday on July 15th, 2023.

8:29I remember I was sitting in the airport for that launch. I like had somewhere, I was going somewhere in the summer and I went to the airport early for the launch. And it's so funny to think back on it now. Cause I could never go to the airport for a launch. Like it just would never happen. But I was in the airport and I remember tears were just streaming down my face because the sweatshirt sold out so fast. And I just never experienced something happening like that. I think transparently we made like$40 ,000 that day, which I thought that that was like the most possible that we could ever do. And I was so just perplexed by the idea that this was a thing that people do.

9:04And I was so excited by that. And so we launched sweatshirts in the summer of July, the following year. And at that same time though, we were in the backend developing denim to make sure that we could continue that with the business. But having this other product that is sort of different than denim where people, it takes, it's a harder sell and having sweatshirts and something that everyone wears every single day, launching it, selling out, feeling like I could continue doing that just was so exciting for me. So we launched sweatshirts in July. I I think we had a restock in August and we continue to probably a few more collections of that through the end of that year.

9:43But that is how we did one million that that year. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. That's so incredible. I need to ask you who did your branding or what the idea was behind the branding because it looks so good. So it's actually so funny because today we just relaunched a whole new brand identity. Today? Yes. Like in the Uber on the way here. Oh, my gosh. Yes. We just launched. Do we still doing launches like on the move? Yes. Well, just this was different. Like my team is in the back end doing my website live. We were just watching everything unfold here. Oh, congrats. That's so exciting. Yeah. So how do you feel?

10:14I feel great. I feel like, so it's interesting that you ask because when we launched the branding of Park, I, one of my great friends, she's still one of my amazing friends is an amazing photographer. She's really, really good with branding. And she was initially the one who helped shoot the initial products, launched the initial branding. But the thing is that when we made the branding, we didn't have a brand. So I felt as if like we were using this branding that obviously has been elevated through the past couple of years, but we were using a branding that had no tie to what we're doing. So for me, as an aside, everything I like to do is with intention.

10:55And so I did feel like the reason that I wanted to move to a new brand identity was that I wanted it to feel intentional. I wanted it to feel like we are making this product and this is why this is our identity. I mean, it's not like we're, I wanted it to match and be really cohesive and make sure that our full branding suite was aligned with our values, also with our colors and all that. So that's how we launched our initial branding. But today we relaunched our new branding and it is much more cohesive, I think with the future of Park. Okay. 2024. This is the big one. You did 16 million in sales and so much happened you blew up on TikTok and Instagram I feel like personally and also on the brand account as well I find it really interesting a lot of people I talk to when you come up when I said I was interviewing you they're kind of like oh the the influencer brand yeah and I'm like she didn't it's not really like she became an influencer as you were building the brand like it's not it's not like you built this big audience and then launched to it so I find that like I don't know an interesting like perception that people have about the brand And I think it's because of the way that you show up as the faith and you're so good at that.

12:07You're like this inbuilt like creator and spokesperson for the brand, which is such a superpower. And there are so many people in the community that I think want to be able to do that for their brands. And I know it's such a tough question because I feel like it's probably something that comes really naturally to you. But what advice do you have for someone who's like, I want to be that person for my business? I think that it's a really interesting comment because I feel like I get boxed into this group of people who have influencer brands. And I'm honored to be a part of that. But I wish people knew that I wasn't an influencer who did create a brand.

12:45I was a consumer person, lover of fashion who created a brand and happened to grow at the exact same time as that happened. And I'm so grateful that my trajectory and Park's trajectory have been the same because I feel like it's given me a reason to continue sharing about the brand. But my MO isn't being an influencer. I think at the end of the day, if I had to remove part of it, I would always go for the brand more than being an influencer any day of the week. If I had to turn down a partnership or something, I mean, I've had to turn down partnerships because I'm not going to do a partnership with another brand.

13:23because of that. And at the end of the day, park is what's most important to me. But I think that it's very dependent on the person because at the end of the day, I don't think that everyone wants to share their story necessarily, but that has helped me tremendously while sharing my life in creating park has gone hand in hand with the brand launching and becoming successful. But I think that it's important to know that you don't have to share your own personal life to have a brand. And I think that there's so many other ways to do it. But I think that if it is what you want to get into, it's important to be super passionate about it because I feel as if my passion and if I wasn't wearing Park every day and I wasn't showing my morning to going to sleep and also including Park in that, I feel like people wouldn't want to follow or people wouldn't care much because I feel like there are a lot of creators with brands, but they're not ever wearing their brand.

14:24So, and I think that that also is why some brands do fail. I mean, I think that if a creator has a brand and they don't want to be using the brand or wearing the brand or eating what they're making, there's no reason to do it in my opinion. And unless you're locked in for that, I think that that is what hurts a lot of people. How do you choose what you're going to post personally and then what's going on the brand account so I think it's sort of interesting because I feel like it's we have two separate accounts for the brand that I'm like a leg of the brand usually we keep all assets like for launches and more aesthetic things on the brand side and more mine is like into the nitty-gritty maybe it's like more of my personal side of what's going on rather than the brand showing the launch the marketing strategy like our marketing rollout strategy pretty much is the same for every launch so we can get into that a little bit more but that is pretty much what we keep going on park we sometimes add in a few fun tiktoks or stories but usually it's like about each launch or about the brand and mine is more like about the back end about what where i'm going or going to shoot a collection what have you you do it so well if If people don't follow you and the brand account and you're listening or watching, go and do that now because I really do think it's a masterclass on content ideas, tone, like how to split what goes on the brand, what goes on the personal.

15:48You just do it really, really well. As you're talking, I've just looked down at my notes and I've gotten big letters here. Never spent a dollar on ads. And I know this is something that the Female Founder World Business Bestie Group, they're going to be thinking about when they hear your numbers. Like, but how much did you spend on ads? And so I want to call this out that you've never spent a dollar on ads. your wholesale strategy is not a huge part of your business. So it's really coming through your marketing efforts, your brand, your community stuff. We've spoken about community a little bit.

16:14Is there anything else that's like missing from what we've talked about that's helped you drive this organic online growth? Do you drive this organic online growth? I think having a solid launch strategy has been super helpful for us in growing the brand because at the end of the day, well two things one every single month at the end of the month we send a monthly recap where I write a little note and then we share basically everything that happened this month we share some inspo and then at the end of that has a little calendar of the next month so on that number one our customer our open rate for that email is insane because our customer wants to see what's next so first of all they see like let's call it March we had first of the month restock which I want to talk about too then we had a sale for international women's day but we didn't say sale we just had like international women's day and then we have our collection that's launching at the end of the month on there so that people know what's coming so then it's sort of interesting because then people are super like on their toes excited for the month but then following the launches we have a very specific marketing structure that we use where on thursday we'll post like an inspo-y photo and maybe one story set like introducing then Friday we'll do maybe two two photos like a kind of sneak peek from the collection shoot and maybe another one and a small story set and then Saturday we always post the line sheet and then Sunday continue continue continue and for our customer they know that that's sort of the unveiling of the collection and I think that is really helpful because it keeps things consistent and it also keeps people on their toes because they're like waiting to see.

17:54And then alongside that, like in the couple weeks prior, I start to tease on my personal social too. So all of that combined has sort of been our marketing strategy and people are just taking notes. I know I'm like, if you need an actual marketing strategy, I'll help. But no, that's been super, super like, I guess, signature to us. I know other brands have similar marketing, have marketing strategies in general, but for us, this rollout has been consistently consistent, if you will, on our launches through this past year. And we actually have a new hire starting for a marketing manager, head of marketing.

18:33And so I'm curious to see if she has any ideas on to change things. But for now, it's been pretty much consistent with us. And also we usually launch on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. Eastern. So also that time. So people know, they know the format. I think that's really smart. I actually just wanted to ask about pop-ups as well because you did three last year two in New York one in Miami at the end of the year talk me through how they worked yes what the impact was what the vibes were for you as the person who was kind of like bringing this to life in 2023 and to the beginning of 2024 we were doing pop-ups a few pop-ups like I'd say we did one in New York we did one in Dallas we did one in Charleston at other brand stores.

19:19But I looked at my sister-in-law who is our COO and she is alongside me with everything. And I was like, why are we doing pop-ups at these stores? And there's a line around the block for our product at another store. Like we could do this ourselves. So we did a pop-up in New York in November, in Dallas in December, and we did March in Charleston. but in after december i was like we need to do this on our own i'm so done with having people like i just want to be able to capitalize it on ourselves like and have more time it'd be like a branded moment for you for you guys yes and i i thought it was so cool and so we started planning new york for may and mind you our space was like 400 square feet like we were i was like so nervous we were taking a chance i'm like whatever it'll go fine if some people come if some people don't it's a great moment for branding also like to sort of announce ourselves as this up and coming brand.

20:14Cause I feel like before then people might've not known us as much, like, especially, I don't know, interactive is, is so valuable. So we had this pop-up and we had people lined up for six hours every day that we were open. I mean, people waited in line all day and I was just like, oh my god we don't have enough space people can't get in I felt bad turning people away and from that point I was like well we need to do another one in September we did basically the bookends of summer we did the weekend before Memorial Day and then the weekend after Labor Day both in New York we did it like four times the size in September and May I mean September in New York City and it was just as successful people were getting there at 3 a.m to wait in It was wild.

21:04I cannot believe that people were waiting to do that. And then we did Miami in December, which was fantastic. And it is such a valuable in-person experience for a customer. And also for me as a founder, being able to put these faces to these names and seeing people that I DM with and meeting them in person. And I mean, a brand and our brand, especially we have such a community and people meet people through them I hear people always messaging me saying they went to Pilates and they another girl was wearing park and then they became friends and now they are best friends or they met in line at the pop-up or someone was saying how they're in a sorority and they didn't really they weren't really making friends which I mean is breaks my heart I'm like I'll be your friend don't worry and someone she was wearing park and then she became friends with other girls and I mean I'm just sitting in my house crying because that It just touches me so much.

21:57Being in person with our community is invaluable. So that has been the most special part about pop-ups. And also just. I think it's also just really clever for anyone who has an e-commerce brand to just find ways to make yourself feel really tangible and like bring it into the real world. Yeah, it's amazing. And it's also such a fun way for a moment. Because, I mean, marketing is everything, right? So getting to have that marketing moment is also so amazing. And at the end of the day, we could only have, let's call it 5 ,000 people in, in a four day period. But online we could have 80 ,000. So at the end of the day, it's not, doesn't make sense for us to have a physical location.

22:41But being able to do that so often is amazing. And we are actually doing it again in New York in May. Amazing. Like basically one year after our first one. and in this insane space that I cannot wait. It's like so grand and it's crazy to see how we came from this little 300, 400 square foot space to this, I don't know, 4 ,500 square feet space. Oh, wow. That's amazing, Chelsea. Yeah, I'm so excited about that. That is so cool. Okay, I want to fast forward a little bit. October last year, you had your collab with Set, sold out predictably. Like, of course it did. I want to talk about your relationship with Lindsay and mentorship because she's been someone that I've heard you talk about.

23:22You came to Summit last year and you were on stage with her. And I feel like you guys have this really amazing kind of like peer mentor relationship. How did that start? It's sort of funny because now looking back, it started, we had followed each other, I'd say, for a little over a year and a half. This started just like an Instagram friendship or TikTok friendship. Instagram friendship, which is, I love. I've met so many people. I have so many friends that are just DM friends. But last, not 2024, or not 2025 Valentine's Day, 2024 Valentine's Day, we also had a similar situation, which on two different scales.

23:57I mean, one, we were a small business and now we're like a little bit bigger. So our 2024 Valentine's Day collection also sold out in very quickly. I mean, the inventory changes from last year to this year are insane, but it sold out. At that point, we, I don't even know if we had like 30 ,000 followers on Instagram on Parks. so I mean it sold out super fast and I remember I made a video on our Instagram just because we were we've always been a community first brand just explaining a little bit about it and Lindsay made a video on her own personal page being like standing up for me and we never really had like a formal conversation yet but I just thought it was like the nicest thing ever so and then we reached out to each other and just sort of had a relationship since then I think that she is one of the best people ever and it's been so nice to have someone that has been in my position before and it's really really isolating because at the end of the day like I am still a 27 year old girl doing something that I've never done before yeah and I'm just learning and figuring it out and someone that has been in those shoes before it's so special to have someone that I know I can go to and ask anything from like across the board and get that advice and I hope to one day be able to do the same for someone else because it's been so helpful I mean for the randomest things to something about I don't know someone's contract has been so helpful to get her advice on because at the end of the day like I said I'm just doing this for the first time so it's nice to have someone who I can look up to and has can help me you mentioned Valentine's Day just then and so I want to talk about Valentine's Day 2025.

25:38You had this amazing collection sold out in five minutes and 80 ,000 site visits just amazing. It hit instantly then what happened? So after Valentine's Day 2024 I'm like coming back into it I'm like Valentine's Day 2025 is going to be insane. So we started planning Valentine's Day I think around August of 2024 and at that time maybe on Instagram we were starting to get more followers maybe we had 60 I wish I I'm gonna look the exact numbers but maybe 60k on Instagram and so when we ordered the collection we had a following and on a drop day we never had more than 30 ,000 people online and that 30 ,000 started after the set drop so maybe before that when we placed the order we had 20 ,000 max.

26:23So we make this amazing collection and I was so excited about it. And we ordered it in, call it September, October. So at that time when we ordered the collection, and then when we launched, we had about 125 ,000 followers. So in that short time, we grew really, really, really rapidly. And there was no way we could edit or change our bulk order at all. So we launched the collection and it sold out super fast. And it's bittersweet because at the end of the day, I'm so proud of my team and myself and the product. And I'm so, I stand behind it so, so much, but it's hard then when so many people are disappointed.

27:02And for me, I'm just a human with feelings and it's, it was really hard, honestly. And it's hard to navigate that because I want the best also for my team. We had made this pact that we weren't going to do pre-orders in this new year, because for us that sort of just delays things. And I don't want my, my team to feel responsible for holding on to something but at the end of the day the community is the most important thing to me and they wanted that pre-order so we launched a pre-order the week after giving it some time so people didn't make rash decisions and making sure that the website was great and ready to go and we launched pre-order it did really really well but it's crazy to see the growth from 2024 valentine's day to 2025 valentine's day because the numbers are astronomical when all of this was going down i saw you post on your TikTok, like your personal one, just like, you know, like an apology to the community that it sold out and found anyone that was disappointed and kind of like taking them behind the scenes in the business of what it actually takes to launch something like this and how far in advance you're working and all the stuff that you just said then.

28:05And I saw it and it actually broke my heart a little bit because I can see how much you love your community and your business and your brand and what you're building and then the intensity of what came from something that like came from such a good place like just must have been really tough yeah yeah but I think that it's my responsibility that if I'm going to share a lot of the behind the scenes and everything then I'm going to be also vulnerable and share that what goes on behind it because I think that it's important that people know that even I mean people don't care and that's fine and they can say what they want with that but I just want people to know that I definitely don't have a scarcity marketing technique in my brand and I want to make sure that people know that this is what happened and this is how we're going to change it for the future and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that if someone wants something they can get it and I think that at the end of the day like someone might be upset but like deep down I'm the most upset because it hits me the heart hurts me the heart the hardest has it changed the way you want to interact with TikTok?

29:06At that time I was like I can't look at TikTok because my whole feed was and I think it's really great and I feel like in this past year I've grown and been able to step back and be like if this is what's going to affect me in this way I'm going to take a step back but it doesn't change the way that I want to continue to share the business because I know that if someone's saying something it might not be true and that's the most important thing is that I know it's not true and I'm going to continue to keep sharing. This year you also launched at Shopbop Is that right? Okay. I'm so interested in launching with a retailer and why you decided to make that decision when you're just smashing it with your own e-commerce store.

29:41My background is in wholesale. Yeah. So when launching Park, I know that wholesale is a huge add to businesses. And I learned that in my previous role. But I think that it's important that we at Park started really slow. And I could have just gone to wholesale and gone to market and done all the things and had buyers and that had them purchase Park. But at the end of the day, I knew that I wanted to build that community first. So the past two and a half years, really growing that community, knowing that they are gonna come back to us regardless was super important to start there. So I made sure that the brand community was one thing before even taking it to wholesale.

30:24And something that I wanna know about Park is that after working in traditional fashion, I realized that as a consumer myself, Like I don't need a traditional fashion calendar. I don't need fall, winter, spring, summer resort, et cetera. Like I know that a consumer doesn't need to shop that way. So I was super intentional when launching Steffer Park, which sort of ended up getting us into this drop model. But it's sort of just because I know that people don't need to shop on in August for winter. Yeah. I know that they maybe in August want to shop for like transitioning into fall. They don't need that.

30:57So that was another thing with wholesale because that's how they shop. So I was intentional with starting off with a few small stores. So we have about five small boutiques across the United States that sell Park. And they have for about a year now. And for me, I was super intentional with a bigger wholesaler account because I knew that at the end of the day, I wanted our return customer to keep coming back to us. but I also didn't want them to be going online searching park and it being on every single fashion website platform what have you and I wanted to keep it still true to us and keep it on our site but I had been working over the past year with shop op getting our assortment making sure it felt really classic because at the end of the day people do shop for things like jeans or a sweatshirt on a different platform like a shop op where they're going for a sweater and then they have it styled with the jeans and they buy the whole outfit.

31:56So at the end of the day, it was super important that our customer could also get it on a platform like that. And to start with ShopUp is where I like to shop online. So it was super full circle and it was great. You mentioned that new marketing manager. Yeah. You're about to have 14, 15 team members. A year ago, you had two. Is that right? At this time last year, there was three of us. That's a lot for you. I think also as a leader and a manager, it must change your role in the business how do you feel in the business now compared to like a year ago it's just insane the way things I mean I'm like am I like alive but no it's been when you walked in the first thing I said I'm like are you okay I'm like this is like the biggest honor of my life I wouldn't change anything I think that the growth of the team has only helped me be able to like they always say hire for your weaknesses and that has helped me tremendously I think at the end of the day I'm a creative.