Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Yarborough. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Sun Is Up Shop was established as an online maker-based business in March 2020. When it first opened, merchandise included handmade, modern travel accessories. Two weeks later the world went into the COVID-19 shutdown as a pandemic took over. Suddenly travel bags were totally unnecessary, and after a handful of sales in the opening weeks, the online shop completely lacked traffic and sales.
Rachel has always had a passion for sewing. It runs in the family — passed down over 3 generations — Rachel being a 4th generation sewist. When Rachel moved with her family to North Texas in 2019, she left behind an almost decade-long career of teaching piano at one of the top-rated schools in the United States (Houston TX). Rachel’s opportunity to carve a new creative path came from their family’s choice to follow her husband’s career move. And Rachel suddenly had ample time to dream up a maker-based business. It took about 7 months for the business idea to shape up into a defined product to sell: travel accessories. And only two weeks for that to become an insignificant product that would be impossible to sell.
Then schools began shutting down and attention shifted away from a business idea toward caring for the kids and schooling them in the spring of 2020. When mask-wearing started to become commonplace in April of 2020, Rachel began producing masks for family and friends. The newly defined product of Sun Is Up Shop was predominantly cloth face masks. Sun Is Up Shop appeared in Mosaic Makers Collective in Bishop Arts/Dallas, TX late in June 2020. With that product placement combined with increased online sales, mask-making was a non-stop full-time endeavor throughout the rest of 2020.
While mask sales were constant, Rachel continued to explore viable product that could be added to the shop — including home goods, accessories for men and women, throw pillows, the ever-popular rope catchall, and yes, once again — travel pouches re-invented as small zipper pouches.
Sun Is Up Shop continues to grow, evolve, and expand to meet market trends. All creations are focused on possessing utility, attractive colors, and textures. Product is still a part of Mosaic Makers Co, and also appears online, and in local markets.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
All product from Sun Is Up Shop is crafted from the sewing machine. Accessories range from leather clutches to rope bowls to flannel cowls and velvet scrunchies. I love the unique and varied texture of different textiles, which is why I use leather, rope, velvet, etc… to create my product. Sometimes I even combine two different textures — for example, the velvet or leather accents the rope bowls. When I am trying to develop a new idea, I look for color combos that grab my attention and inspire me to MAKE! I would say another really important aspect of the products I choose to sell, is that they all must have a function! I see my product part art and part utility.
What’s next?
Last November and December I finally ventured into the local market scene, and I would really like to pursue more of that in the spring to continue to expand my customer base.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: RachelSunIsUp
- Facebook: RachelSunIsUp
Image Credits
Mochie Snyder
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