Today we’d like to introduce you to Brooke Wright.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Brooke. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
We first started what we originally called Funky Wright Designs, as an invitation and design business. I could not find something I loved my daughter’s first birthday invitation. Finally, I decided I would just design and create it myself, and quickly found out how much I loved designing! Within the year, the business was started, mostly from word of mouth and sweet friends using me to design social invitations! I loved working with the Junior League on a few big projects, as well as Breakfast with St. Niculous and other foundations which really pushed me to do really different looks.
As we grew as a business, I also grew as an artist. Originally, I had never worked really with watercolors, only acrylics, and within the first year, I wanted my invitations and design to have the organic look of watercolor. The market for this wasn’t as saturated as it is now, and it was an almost seamless transition for us. I had to self-teach myself how to use watercolors, how to get the best photograph/scan to pull the art into the computer, and how to digitize and was determined to teach myself new tricks. Self-teaching myself is one of my proudest accomplishments in the business, and I love to help others learn as well.
I have a degree in Education, and a Masters In Marriage Counseling and Play Therapy, so teaching and learning are pretty much in my blood. After two years of invitation work, we got a little bored. I had created seamless pattern repeats of my own work, and wondered, what else can I put these on besides paper? Paper is so over-consumed and usually thrown away. So a few searches into manufacturing first led me to a North Carolina Company, where our cute little clutches are created. The clutches were very popular, especially our local Horned Frog. I also started creating tablecloths and sold fabric and wallpapers to interior designers and friends. We had turned a corner.
We worked with an awesome nonprofit, doing invitation work, called Design Inspirations FW, which is a Pi Phi/Kappa Alumnae Fundraiser. We love working with DI, and as a Kappa, I love being able to support and give back! We designed a table for our second year in 2015, and with that came our next big expansion. We designed an India Hicks inspired Tropical Oasis, complete with mini pineapples, and the base was our beautiful jade green palm tablecloth. I really wanted a skirt to wear that matched the entire table, so we sketched out the design, had our sweet seamstress (who I had no idea loved making clothes) create the pattern and skirt, and away we went.
Our first apparel piece was born, naming her the Lottie skirt ( a name I really wanted to name a third daughter, but we ended with two). After the Lottie came the cropped Kimono top, and the Olivia Top/Dress (named after my firstborn). We couldn’t stop, and we were having so much fun. We decided to take it national in the summer of 2015. With that came lots of hard decisions. A lot more work than I had even thought of. My husband also moved our business out of the house and into an adorable studio that year. It allowed us the room to breathe without being covered up in tons of pillows! Our first release went so well, and I can’t help but thank the first retailers who believed in us.
Our first pieces are still a part of our line, but we have streamlined the fabric quite a bit, and continuously update patterns each season. We also introduce new temporary pieces, for fall, and have introduced other fabrics incorporated with a touch of our patterns (like our Cate Cape Coat, made of Mohair wool and our Silk lined Patterns on the inside.
This 2018 line, is probably my favorite release yet. Seriously. The colors, and patterns, and feel of it, take me back to a decade which I feel like clothing was more of a treasure rather than a season. Our clothing is made to be worn, season after season. Hopefully creating a timeless look that brings feelings of joy and happiness. I really couldn’t have gotten here today with everyone who has helped, from my first interns, to design assistants, and our current head of design/operations, Rebecca, this little business continues to grow. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us, but know each day offers new opportunities.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The biggest struggle has been navigating manufacturing, from fabric printing sources, printing repeats, and costs, the balance of numbers and designing can be tricky. I love to create, and honestly, love numbers, but it is a tricky balance.
Also, we are a cash-based growth business, so the first year we released our apparel line, I didn’t go out and buy tons of yardage at once, but as we needed, which slowed production, but allowed me not to invest too much at once. The quality of the fabric wasn’t exactly what we wanted, but it is all we had access to at the time. We are so thankful to be in a position where we can get amazing quality fabrics, and bring a better price point to our customers.
Please tell us about Brooke Wright Designs.
We specialize in Apparel, using our own fabric designs, and our own apparel designs. We tend to design with classic clean lines, with a flourish of what is trending, but most of our pieces have the feel of longstanding fashion designs. We especially love the 1960’s. It was such a feminine decade, and our pieces now really reflect this.
We are proud to do what we do with just a few employees! It is just myself, Rebecca, and our sweet intern Bailey. It is a lot of work, but somehow, the balance works! For now anyway!
Shipping/receiving, designing, invoicing, emailing, we really try to keep the focus on amazing customer service and design service, and hopefully, we can expand in the future!
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I am so thankful we have learned so much as we went. I would really not want to be perfect starting out. I don’t regret mistakes, we have only learned from them, and I feel like any business should learn from anything it can.
If anything, I wish I had been more fearless starting our apparel line, and not worry as much. I feel like that self-doubt can be the most destructive of any business, and listening to your heart and God is so much more important to the success of any business.
Pricing:
- Olivia Top- $104
- Loli Mexican Dress- $140
- Olivia Dress- $160
- Jackie Skirt- $180
Contact Info:
- Address: 3986 West Vickery Boulevard
Fort Worth, Texas 76107 - Website: www.brookewrightdesigns.com
- Phone: 8177700955
- Email: info@brookewrightdesigns.com
- Instagram: BrookeWrightDesigns
- Facebook: BrookeWrightDesigns
Image Credit:
Jordan Bounds Photography, Louella Reese Blog
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