Bringing Inclusivity To Bridal & Formal Wear
All women regardless of size or complexion deserve to feel beautiful and find dresses that work perfectly for them!
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pledged of$50,000
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Project Description
- What is the mission of your company or project?
- At Sparkle & Sass by Stacie and through my line Stacie A. Atelier, our goal is to make every woman, regardless of her background, size, complexion, body shape, gender or sexual idenity feel her most beautiful. Nothing gives me more joy than witnessing a woman seeing herself for how she truly is beautiful in one of my pieces.
- Describe the problem you are solving.
- The bridal and formal wear industries are notoriously not inclusive for size or complexion. Most "nude" fabrics only work on one demographic's complexion, quality plus size dresses are very hard to find and representation of women of color is severely lacking. Just today while searching stock images to add to my website, I had a very hard time finding one that featured a bride of color and none that featured plus size brides. It's almost like these women are invisible when in fact, they make up the majority of the clients in this industry. With my collection expansion, I want all brides to be able to have the dress of their dreams that is made just for them. I've spent time learning how to construct a plus size dress, the different materials and boning that is needed as well as how the women themselves want to look and feel. I also want to ensure that the size on the dress tag isn't an insult. Bridal sizing runs extremely small. For example I'm a size 6 but in bridal I will need at least a 10 and possibly a size 12. When I was a size 14 last year, (I've recently lost 35 lbs) finding anything that fit my body properly and didn't make me look larger that I was at that time was a challenge. There were many crying in the dressing room moments and I shied away from in person shopping out of shame. For women who struggle with body image, weight or even those who don't, dress shopping in particular can be a horrible experience. I aim to fix this and make dresses that are true to the size of a woman, compliment her body and skin tone and truly accent her beauty while still being comfortable.
- What is the market size/opportunity?
- Over the past year, my request for dresses in a size 20+ has tripled. The average size of a woman in this country is now a size 16 leading to a $2 billion marketplace and specifically for bridal, I've found that plus size brides are willing to pay upwards of $5K- $8K for the perfect dress.
- What is your company/product about and how does it solve the problem?
- I am a wedding dress and evening gown designer who truly understands a woman's body at all sizes and how to design and construct a dress that will ensure she looks and feels her most beautiful regardless of age, gender, size or ethnicity. For our plus size dresses, we invest in thicker fabrics with stretch that will allow us to add a wider boning so the dress holds its structure and her body is supported. We provide different arm and sleeve options as most women want to cover some part of their arms as well has how the dress zips or ties to allow for movement and functionality. We also understand that one shade doesn't fit all. Most bridal or evening gowns only come with one shade of nude lining or sheer nude illusion fabric. Clearly, women come in multiple beautiful shades and we have witnessed first hand, the frustration of finding a dress you love, but it doesn't love your complexion back and cannot be changed because of the designer's limitation on shades. We plan to offer at least 8 shades of nude to match the majority of skin tones and will be able to dye nude mesh fabrics to better match our client should they not find the perfect one in our selection.
- Why are you seeking funding and how will you spend the funding?
- I'm seeking funding to expand my collection into plus size and make wedding dresses and evening gowns hat my clients will feel beautiful in and compliment their bodies. The money will be spent to manufacture my latest collection, Versatility where each piece can be mixed and matched to create a fully custom dress under $3,000. The cost to manufacture the collection is $7,000 and will be manufactured here in Atlanta with the assistance of my seamstress Gheri LeGree and fabrics imported from Turkey, Ukraine and Africa. We plan to use a size 26 fit model to help draft our patterns and allow for various templates of each dress to be created. About $15K will be spent on marketing and PR. I work with HVH Marketing who truly understands my brand, target audience and has been obtaining press features as well as driving traffic to my store. Finally, money will also be used for cash flow purposes so that we do not have to go into debt with loans and are able to continue our operations smoothly.
- Who is on your team?
- On my team in Atlanta is myself, my showroom manager Shelby Hurst who handles most of the day to day appointments and I recently added celebrity seamstress Gheri LeGree. Based on how fast the business takes off, we may need to bring on more sewers which some of the funds will be used to cover salaries. I also contract with factories in the Ukraine, Turkey and Uganda to mass produce my collections. No only am I supporting women owned businesses in other countries, I'm also cutting my production costs in half.
- Thank you so much for taking the time to review my funding request and I am humbled by your generosity.
Updates
The Campaign FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions:
- What is your gross revenue thus far for 2022?
- So far we are at $50K
- What was your gross revenue for 2021?
- $96K
- What is Stacie's Back Story?
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Stacie A. Sanders Martin started the business out of the basement of her home and is a self taught entrepreneur, designer and merchandiser. Stacie uses her story of triumph and perseverance through the loss of her father, brother and a child in pregnancy while still running a business and maintaining a full time corporate job, to inspire women to go after their dreams. In 2021 Stacie launched her first collection of wedding dresses and evening gowns under the brand Stacie A. Atelier. She is now working on several new collections as well as expanding the retail operations of her store Sparkle & Sass by Stacie. Learn more about Stacie here https://www.sparkleandsass.net/blog
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Just Because I Care
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