Today we’d like to introduce you to Allie Wardlaw & Bess Callarman.
Hi Allie & Bess, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
We are a Dallas-based, women-owned jewelry brand. We founded Allie + Bess as close friends and former healthcare colleagues in August 2019. What started as a creative outlet quickly turned into a business when we realized there wasn’t anything on the market that fulfilled our need of pieces that we could take from the carpool line, to work, to happy hour, to workouts, and more.
We use a mix of globally sourced beads to create our signature bracelet stacks in every color, style, size, and trend imaginable.
We started with an IG account and took orders through DMs until the pandemic hit. We quickly had a website created and launched in April 2020 online and the rest is history. We’ve been thrilled with the community we’ve been able to create and
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Absolutely not! Any small business owner will tell you how much hard work goes into running and growing your own business. We have spent countless hours, nights, and weekends doing things from beading to shipping to making stories and shooting pictures. At the launch of Allie+Bess, we had gotten picked up by a notable store here in Dallas and had planned to go the wholesale route. Then with the pandemic we decided, in what feels like a whirlwind, to completely shift to direct to consumer and currently do about 95% DTC and 5% wholesale. With that said there were so many challenges when the pandemic hit that included redesigning our product to fit the materials, we were able to get. Shipping delays, children at home, spouses now working from home all while still running a very rapidly growing business. It made us resilient in every sense of the word and looking back it was a hurdle we wouldn’t change because as 2 women from a healthcare background, it forced us to sharpen our business skills quickly
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Allie+Bess is a fashion jewelry brand. Everything is hand-designed here in Dallas with beads and materials we source from all over the world. We have varying styles which end up creating a beautiful end product and we believe that’s a direct connection to our success. We really do have something for everyone!
We are also a social impact brand that employs Afghan refugees to make many of our pieces, and our headquarters are right here in North Texas. Giving back to our community is an integral part of our brand’s DNA. Aside from hiring refugee artisans to make our pieces, we are passionate about supporting local nonprofits – especially those focused on mothers and children, given that we have five children between us ourselves. We’ve had multiple giveback initiatives and have one planned this spring we are excited to announce soon, so stay tuned for that!
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Bess grew up in Dallas and Allie is from a small town but landed here for college. I stayed after college because there is so much to offer and every neighborhood feels like a small town in itself. Dallas has amazing fashion and shopping which is a way we draw inspiration but also, we both love art, graffiti art in particular. The colors and vibe are so visually appealing. Here is a great example of why we love Dallas. A few weeks ago, Allie+Bess launched its wedding collection. We were doing a photoshoot in Downtown off 30 and 2nd Ave and as we were setting up at 9 am and to our surprise, gaggles of people pull up and we got to talking to them and they were graffiti artists who were about to paint a huge mural for an event that weekend in Deep Ellum. It was so cool to watch their process because neither of us had ever seen anything like that and the creativity in this city is endless!
Pricing:
- pricing varies from $15-200
Contact Info:
- Email: allie@alliebess.com
- Website: www.alliebess.com
- Instagram: @shopalliebess
- Facebook: Allie+Bess
Image Credits
Elizabeth Lanvin
