Behind the Seams: Growing a Bridal Fashion Brand Without Investors

0:00If anything, at least I was going to be breaking even. And for me, if I'm breaking even with the potential for growth, then that is a good direction. Hey, everyone. Welcome to Shopify Masters, your companion for starting and building a business. I'm your host, Shuang Esershan. Our guest today is redefining the bridal industry with not one, but four successful brands that are bringing a fresh take on wedding fashion. At just 18 years old, Gabby Bayona started designing dresses and taking on local orders. Soon she built Truvel and scaled it into a internationally recognized brand carried by retailers across the globe.

0:43From supporting local seamstresses, running a sustainable business, and staying ahead in the ever-involving world of fashion, here is Gabby to share her story. Thank you so much for being here, Gabby. Thank you for having me. You've had such an incredible career within the bridal industry, within the fashion industry. Let's go back to the beginning and talk about what is it about designing and making things with your hands that really drew you into this craft? My mom was a bridal seamstress and also a single mother. So I grew up helping her out and literally picking up pins and needles in sewing rooms.

1:23So it's always been part of my life. I also learned how to sew from a really young age, which I think is a pretty big part of my story because it's not a skill that a lot of people have, especially being able to sew wedding dresses. I started taking it more seriously after I graduated high school. Her and I had a custom wedding dress shop together. And I, at first, was helping make prom dresses because I was 18. But pretty quickly, I pivoted into wedding dresses. It was a pretty big aha moment for me because brides were really liking my prom dresses. And I realized there was a pivot in the industry.

1:59So that's what got me into wedding dresses as my profession. And I love that kind of journey working in your mom's shop and expanding and pivoting into bridal. And a lot of times maybe some founders might be stuck on wanting to get formal training or going through some sort of process. Can you talk to us about grappling with that decision and deciding to start a business instead? Yeah, so it wasn't really a difficult decision for me because I didn't have much of an option. My mom and I didn't grow up with much money. So going to school would have been really challenging for me financially. I kind of had to start working from a really young age, which I'm glad I did because rather than going to school and then being 22 maybe, when you're finally starting your career, I started when I was 18 and got a head start from all of my peers, which I'm going to be always really grateful for.

2:55And I think nothing beats that firsthand experience, interacting with customers, understanding what design resonates, and also how to make it make sense in terms of the hours you put in and also the business model that you're trying to build. Can you talk to us about figuring the business side of things out in the early days? Yeah, of course. I was very lucky in that I started so early because I didn't really have a plan. And because I was so young, I didn't feel the pressure to have a plan. Around this time, too, was when Instagram started getting more popular. So pretty quickly, I was on Instagram.

3:34I also had a WordPress blog. I kind of just did it because I thought it was cool at the time. When it comes to starting my own company, the idea came because, you know, two-ish years of me custom making wedding dresses, I realized that I had reached my peak in what I could physically do. since I was the one making everything myself with my own two hands. There's such a limit. And when you're 20, that limit is scary. So I started thinking about ways that I would be able to scale and be able to grow. And the best way for me to do that would be rather than working one-on-one with individual clients, custom-making wedding dresses, I would instead make a collection.

4:16and that collection would be sold in multiple sizes. And I would just go from there. That was the plan. And I put my stuff on Etsy the summer of 2013 when I was 20 years old. And pretty quickly, things just took off for me. I got really fortunate in having a few of my first dresses pinned on Pinterest. Pinterest was just starting around that time, so there was a lot of variability. and within a couple months I had a store reach out to me in Ottawa asking if I would wholesale my dresses to them. And I had no idea how to wholesale dresses. I had no idea. Like I didn't even have sizes. That's how unprepared I was for this.

4:59But I said yes. And I'm so glad that I did because it put me on the path to where I am today from being in my apartment by myself, sewing everything myself, to now I have, I think, 60 stores globally that I wholesale to one of Vancouver's biggest garment factories. I have four of my own stores across Canada. And all that started with just me saying yes to opportunities, even though I didn't know exactly what that would entail. Yeah. I love the fact that the journey felt very natural and organic and you found different ways to gain notice for the designs, because I think it also speaks to the fact that your designs really resonated with different people who were on Etsy or Pinterest and also having that opportunity with that store in Ottawa.

5:48I always think about that first big wholesale order because there's also so much mental shift as well, where you have to maybe find a team, let go of doing everything on your own and have people help you to fulfill that first wholesale order. Yeah, how did you manage that mental shift and handle that first big order? That first big order, I did everything myself. I sewed everything. I did the sales. I did the shipping, quality control, cutting of the garment. And I'm really glad that I did because I think that if I had needed to figure things out with people around me, it would have been more difficult.

6:30When I did hire a team, I was able to say, this is how you cut something. This is how you sew something. This is how you ship something. This is how you sell something. Which made the process of growing my business a lot easier because it all came from firsthand experience. So at which point did you feel like you needed to expand the team and also kind of offlay some of those responsibilities? The first hire I had was a sewer. somebody, a wonderful woman named Mary who still works for me. I just needed help. So, and she was somebody I knew through my mom. So that came really naturally, I think within a month or so, or no, a few months I had hired her just to help on a contract basis.

7:15With sewing, there's something called piecework. So I would assign a certain amount of hours to a dress and she would bring it home. And if she did it quicker, then she got paid more. If she did it slower, then she would get paid less. But it's pretty standard within the factory world to do things that way because you can control your prices. And then, yeah, my next few hires were just people that I already knew. And they started off helping me with things on a really small scale and eventually grew into bigger roles. Sounds like you grew the business in an organic way. But talk to us about funding the business in the early days.

7:50So I had mentioned earlier that I don't come from like a family that was able to fund or support my business. So I really did bootstrap a lot. I bootstrapped all of my company. I, to jumpstart everything, I did get a loan from the bank. I got a$15 ,000 loan and I, yeah, I just reinvested everything. Like I didn't take a salary for very many years because everything went back into the business. And there were moments that were a bit scary where I was like, oh gosh, I hope I can pay rent. But I just kept on believing in myself and kept on thinking, okay, well, if this doesn't work, then worst case scenario, I can just get another credit card, which probably isn't the best way of going about things.

8:40But again, I was just so young when I started things. So I didn't really have that much fear as I might've had, you know, in my thirties where I am today. I understand that you've launched multiple brands. So as a creative and as a founder, what challenges did you face when you're managing these different brands and also making sure that they're all growing in their own unique way? For people who don't know my story, I have four different brands. Three of them are bridal dress brands. And then I've got a chain of stores. My first brand, Truvel, is the brand I started on Etsy. I founded that in 2013.

9:23And then 2016, I launched a second brand called Lode. That one, the vibe was just different. Truvel was very flowy dresses and effortless, kind of whimsical. Lode, at least back then, was more sexy, fitted dresses, plunging necklines, interesting laces, more daring. The reason why I started that second brand, there was two reasons. One was because the dresses themselves are quite different. The other reason is because, so in bridal, you have exclusivity zones that you give to your retailers. The reason why you have to give these exclusivity zones is because brides are willing to travel far distances for their dream dress.

10:05So the exclusivity zone that I gave to my retailers was 80 kilometers, I believe, yeah, around 80 kilometers in your, around from where your store is, I can't sell to any other stores, which is really restricting when you look at the major cities in Canada and the major cities in the States. Um, so the second reason why I've started creating these other brands was so that I could sell to different stores in the same city, or I could sell to the same store twice. Um, so it was also, yeah, just a way of garnering more business and a way of expanding. Uh, my third brand I started in 2019, it's called Aisling.

10:43They're minimalist, like crepes, satins, really, really simple dresses. That one was started to just follow some trends that were already happening in bridal. And it also happened alongside me opening my second store location. It just looked better to me to have a store with more brands than just two brands. So to have that third brand when it was already a clear, like different vibe and followed a very like, um, a very big trend at that time. And still to this day, it just all made sense to me. Um, when it comes to managing them all now, I mean, the beauty is the three brands, like you start your first brand and it's really difficult.

11:22There's a lot of figuring things out. You start your second brand, you just follow the same formulas as the last one. The difference really is the branding, the dresses. And the same goes with the stores. The first store I opened, I mean, you look at the timeline. I opened my first store in 2015 and I didn't open my second store until 2019. Third store, 2022. Fourth store, 2024. So it's getting quicker and quicker, the timelines, and it's getting easier and easier. Yeah. It's just always more difficult the first time you do it. The more you do it, the more used you are to it and the easier it is to manage.

11:59When you're thinking about new brands, do you also think about the new type of bride that you're wanting to speak to? I will say generally my demographic is kind of broadly the same. Brides getting married in the like 20 to even 45 space. My dresses I would say are mid-range, so not people who are looking for dresses that are in their$1 ,000 range, more like – I think my dresses are 3 ,000 to 4 ,500 Canadian. People who really care about things being locally manufactured, where their things come from. We really focus good service, good customer service. We really focus people feeling really good in their items.

12:44I personally try every single dress on. So people who really value fit, feel. Yeah, that would be generally my bride. And then the true val bride is like, I guess would go more romantic, more pretty. The low day bride would be a little bit more spirited, a bit more chic. The Aisling bride would be more sophisticated, more refined, more minimalist. I love hearing about you describing the different brides because it allows our listeners to really envision the different visions that you've had for these brands. And I love that you have also highlighted their journey of different retail locations and how the openings have been more close together as the years have gone on.

13:31So for founders who are thinking about having a physical store in addition to selling online, what's your advice when someone's going through that process of picking a location and committing to a lease and a bigger financial investment? Yeah. So I started in 2015. I definitely was really cautious about my rental costs and I was really, really conservative with my staffing as well. The shop was open, not that much, just as we were building appointments. And I was just taking a really keen look on like what appointment levels were. And I let the team know too, like the more appointments that we have, the more hours are going to be, the more coworkers you're going to have and really having them like think about what the success of the shop will mean for their progression and their team's progression, which helps with growth.

14:26I was already selling my dresses in my apartment. So I already knew that there was customers. I already knew that there was demand. When I opened up the store, it was when I couldn't take any more appointments in my apartment. So it wasn't so much of a risk for me because I didn't just go from like, you know, idea to opening a store. I was running the store out of my apartment for a number of years until I did that, which made it less of a risk because I already knew we could at minimum fully book a weekend. And with knowing that I can at minimum fully book a weekend, Then I started breaking down what the costs were.

15:02So my rent is$4 ,000. Having one person run it might be at the time like$3 ,000,$3 ,500. So then I minimum had to make$8 ,000 to just break even. And my dresses at the time were lower of a price than they are now. I think they were like$2 ,000. So if I can sell four dresses in a month, I'm not losing money. And I was already doing that in my apartment. I think anytime you're doing something new, it was a risk, but it was to me a very safe risk because I was already pulling those numbers. And if anything, at least I was going to be breaking even. And for me, if I'm breaking even with the potential for growth, then that is a good direction.

15:44Yeah, I like the way you broke it down because it makes it more approachable instead of looking at, oh my goodness, I'm doing a five-year lease and this is the total amount, which can get really overwhelming at times. And of course, you've come a long way from that first wholesale order from Ottawa, that first retail store in 2015. How does the team look like today and what are some of the ways that you're making the whole team make sense now? So I've got, I believe, around 40 people on payroll. And then we bring in a lot of contractors. So I do manufacture all of my own dresses here in Vancouver.

16:24So around half the team, maybe even more than half the team actually, might be two-thirds of the team, are people supporting the dress manufacturing process. Cutters, sewers, quality control, shipping, things like that. Then I also have a couple salespeople. I've got the people running each of the stores, plus the stylists within the store. And then I have a lot of contractors. So yeah, when it comes to team structure, my factory staff, most of them are all full-time. But my marketing team, they're all contractors, which gives me a lot of flexibility because trends change and because we want to be able to pivot easily.

17:11And with contractors, you can really make sure that you're finding the best person for the role for that time. And then besides that, I've got like, I want to say four right-hand people that I have monthly meetings with. And then the rest of the team gets managed by those four people. I'm really grateful for that because if I were to be hands-on with every single person, it wouldn't be impossible. I just wouldn't be able to do a good job managing that many people. Yeah. With you reaching this really great point where you have a team that's running smoothly, were there points of like challenges or learnings that helped you to get to this point?

17:53Because it sounds like it's so incredible to go from just a single designer maker to now supporting the livelihood of 40 people. I'm probably making it seem like I did everything so naturally. And I did follow things as I saw fit without forcing too much. But yeah, I made a lot of mistakes over the years. And things that I wish I did differently, but I also at the same time don't wish I did differently because those mistakes were really helpful. Going back to just being so young when I started things, I think I was given a lot of grace because I was like 20, 21, 22, 23. now because of where I am because of where the business is when I do make a mistake it's a little bit more like hard hitting um which on one end I will say makes me like less brave than I was when I first started because I'm so like nervous about making mistakes now versus before but but Yeah, I have to keep on reminding myself like mistakes are inevitable and I need to give myself grace when I do.

18:59They are just learnings, right? And they help you to scale and grow even more. Were there some of those instances where, you know, on the onset it might look like a mistake, but it's actually helping you to learn and grow from them as well? So when I first started my company, I was very like buddy-buddy with a lot of the people that I worked with to the point where lines were blurred between me being their friend, but also me needing to step in and be their manager. And in some instances, I let that line get too blurry and it made it so that I wasn't able to properly manage people because they would think I was joking or they would like clap back because I don't think there was that level of like manager, like team member respect because they would see me like drinking on the weekends, for example.

19:55And it goes to two sides on that because on one end, the people who've been with me for a really long time, they've seen me go through so much growth and they've seen me be from like, you know, this 20-year-old girl to now. And I think those people do have a certain level of respect to see my journey. But at the same time, there are, unfortunately, people who are no longer with me and friends who are no longer with me because of that exact same dynamic. So what it's taught me now is to make sure that there's more boundaries between me and the people who work for me. That all being said, I am grateful for the special relationship I do have with my core team.

20:35It is such a tough balance. And I think highlighting that is so important just because having a business is so intimate and it's basically all of your life because I think entrepreneurship bleeds over the workday. So I think that's such an important point to think about and highlight as well. Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime purchase, brides might be thinking about this decision more so than anything else in their life. How do you make sure they say yes to the dress? Yes, I don't get repeat customers. Where a lot of businesses try to make sure they're retaining customers so that they buy again from you, our approach is make sure that they have a great experience because they're going to tell their friends, they're going to tell their family.

21:21When brides come in for wedding appointments, they're often bringing their mom, their sister, their maid of honor, their bridesmaids. And sometimes they're coming back two, three, four, five times and bringing different people every time. You want to make sure that you're giving everybody a really, really beautiful experience that they themselves want to have because those people are going to come back and then they might tell their friends. They are going to be posting photos on their social media. and if they really love their experience saying, I got my dress from Love Note Bride and being so proud of it, building that community within their friend group and now within Vancouver.

21:57I think just giving a good experience, knowing that it will eventually create a really incredible word of mouth business, which I do think that my stores have. All of my stores, I think, are like 4.9 or 5 on Google. We've got a really, really good reputation. And for my Vancouver shop. It's been around for 10 years now. It's something I'm really proud about. So, I mean, ultimately they do need to like the dresses. So somebody will say yes because they feel beautiful in it and they like them. How they're going to get drawn into the store is like, I mean, for us, word of mouth, but also a bit of like story building, branding, like people wanting to be a true belle bride because they really love the content we're putting out or other people who've worn the dresses or even my personal story, which was something early on in the company that did get us customers.

22:51I actually, so I'm half Filipino. I had lots of like brides who were Filipino being like, oh, I want to support a Canadian Filipina. And like, I would get, I would get brides like that, that were drawn to my story as well in the early days. So that would be how we'd get people coming in. And in terms of the pressure of saying yes to address, we just try to make sure that we're giving people the space they need. Like if they, like we're not into pressure selling. I know some stores will say like, if you buy today, we'll give you 10 % off. And our belief in the store is that if we do that, then they might not be happy and we might not get, you know, the word of mouth business that we've now built.

23:33We might get people who are upset, which, you know, Maybe they'll ask for a refund. I just don't think that's a good way of doing things. You want to make sure that people just feel really confident and good in their decision. And yeah, I mean, things that we do at our store would be, all of my stores have really beautiful lighting with a mirror right in front of the window. So it's a very beautiful, lit situation. So good for photos. We call it our Say Yes mirror because when you go up front, you see yourself in the natural light and everything's just really pretty and aesthetic. Another thing that we do is we let people take a lot of photos so that they're able to see what they look like afterwards, send them to their friends, just try to get them excited about it.

24:14We send follow-up emails just to make sure people are still interested and if they want to come in. We just really take a customer service approach in a way that hopefully feels really natural and genuine to our clients. Yeah. Yeah. And I think the way that you've highlighted the experience with Truvel and all of the other brands, I feel like it really enhances the way that different brides would feel. And I feel like that ultimately leads to the word of mouth because they love their experience and they want to share what they just went through. So I think it's so special. I guess, you know, obviously there's also an online component as well for brides who might not be close to a store or close to a retailer.

24:58How has that impacted the business and also customers' expectations? So how it works for bridal is a little bit different. In bridal, people want to have their experience with like their mom, their dad, their friends. They want to have that in-person experience where they can try things on. So how our online shop has acted for a number of years has been a way for people to scope out our products, see what the price point is like, see if they like it enough to be able to make an appointment at our store at one of our retail partners with minimal online sales, but very impactful for our in-person sales.

25:33That obviously changed when the pandemic happened, people not being able to shop in store. We did see an uptick in online sales then. And now, interestingly, the past year we've had our biggest online sale year yet. And the reason for that is because we've started attracting more of these digitally native live online kind of brides because of our popularity on TikTok. TrueVal has got maybe 200 ,000. Asing's got over a quarter million. Lode's got, I don't know, 20 ,000. And with all of that, we just have brides that are more comfortable shopping online and have been like obsessing over photos and we link our website.

26:17So then they go to the website and then the same customer service does also happen online. Like they can reach out to us. We'll reply back really quickly, make sure they feel confident in their decisions and the extra photo links that they need be. And then, yeah, then they'll purchase through our website more than we have in history. It's been really cool to see that change. Well, it's incredible to hear, right? Because managing different accounts and having them go viral and have such a large following is hard to do, not to mention you're doing it for multiple brands. What's your advice for understanding TikTok for your business today?

26:54My advice would be the same as I've done with all of my business is to personally do it yourself. So when I first started TikTok, I found it really difficult to be able to understand and manage and give insight in the way I've always been able to give insight. So I personally have a TikTok as well. I think I've got like over 30K, maybe 35K on there. I haven't posted in a while, but I am glad that I got on there just to be able to properly manage. That's just my way of doing things. Then besides that, for navigating it, I mean, I'm at a really great point in my company now that I am able to hire experts in their field.

27:32So I just have some really amazing TikTok gals who have themselves proven success by building their own following, listening to what they want to do, giving them a lot of free reign. If there's something I don't like, then I'll set up a meeting. But if it's something I don't like and it's working, then I also don't interfere too much. You keep all production local even to this day. How are you managing to fund local seamstresses and fostering that community today? So local manufacturing was always on the core. I grew up with a seamstress. So to be able to now be able to create this or maintain this industry in Vancouver where a lot of factories are shutting down is something that I do hold really near and dear to my heart.

28:18I mean, my mom still personally helps out every now and then. Like that's how deep-rooted that is for me. I mean, the main reason why it's really helpful for my business is because I'm able to pivot really quickly. Like during the pandemic, for example, where a lot of a lot of businesses weren't able to ship dresses. If I had the fabric and if the person who was sewing it wasn't sick, we'd be able to send out a dress in as little as a week, a week and a half. So it allowed us to have a lot of flexibility and accommodate a lot of tight timelines. It allows us to do a lot of customizations within my brand, which is a huge selling point for me.