We were lucky to catch up with Lauren Warkentine recently and have shared our conversation below.
Lauren, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
William & lauren was born after my own fateful experience with collapsed confidence at a dinner meeting in 2015. I was a female executive in the pharmacy technology space, it was incredibly difficult for me to find good work wear, but it was nearly impossible to find blazers and suits that fit, and I felt confident in, let alone any variety of color or pattern.
It all came to a head for me at a dinner meeting in Atlanta, I was in a suit I felt incredibly uncomfortable in but had no other option. During the dinner I was constantly shifting and tugging at my clothes, I felt like I was in a costume. I was the only female at the dinner, which was normal, but the entire time the men focused their conversation and attention to my male coworker. Because of my lack of confidence, I did not demand and take up the space I normally would, instead I felt so uncomfortable I let it happen and just sit back during the dinner.
Waiting to board our flight home, I was vulnerable with my coworker how I never wanted to feel like that again and how impossible it is to find women’s blazers and suits that make me feel confident and like myself. He admitted he struggles with the same thing as a larger guy. This experience and subsequent conversation with my co-worker triggered in me a fire to solve that problem because no one should feel that way. I experience first-hand the direct correlation our clothes play into our confidence and what gaps there were in the market. I knew I had to do something.
As I started working to solve the problem, I was told time and time again that there is not a market for women. What kept me going was the belief there were plenty of professional women just like myself that wanted to wear suits that made me feel feminine and powerful, but they did not exist. So we didn’t wear them. It wasn’t that demand didn’t exist; the supply was missing. I was also told for men it’s too saturated, suits are everywhere. But I believed there was a hole. Yes, there are lots of places to get suits, but there aren’t a lot of options in style and personality, they don’t fit well or if they do are incredibly expensive and unreachable for the normal person. I felt we could fill the gap on both sides and crate a brand and product that empowered people through clothing.
Solving the problem was initially what got me incredibly excited, the question of “could I actually create something” but the more I fit people for suits and the more stories I heard what really fired me up was seeing how I was not alone in the feeling and how it does directly make you feel confident, empowered and like your best self.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I am born and raised in Oklahoma City and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Boomer Sooner! After graduation I started my professional career at a pharmacy software company, Computer-Rx. I worked in various roles from sales, customer support, product and ultimately President of the organization. During my time in the pharmacy space I saw such a hole professional women and men for custom clothing, specifically workwear like suits, blazers, shirts, etc.
Following that tug, I started William & Lauren. We provide custom, made-to-measure clothing for men and women meant to capture their personality and unleash their confidence. What sets us apart is our price, but most importantly the experience shopping with us. There is not a better feeling than putting on a piece of clothing literally made for you.
We focus our energy on the experience, from start to finish everything is about learning what our clients wants in a wardrobe and helping them build that. Whether they have no clue or an exact vision. We talk them through fabric selection, details such as buttons, liners, thread accents and monograms and then we measure. After we measure the production begins, typically about 4-6 weeks later we do a first fitting. This is crucial in making sure the fit is absolutely precise, if we need to make any adjustments we take care of them at this point for the client. We manage the process from start to finish with the goal of making it a stress-free, fun process that makes the client feel good.
I am most proud of our women’s line. It took years of perseverance to get a women’s line to market that was truly made for women, not just an altered version of a man’s pattern. There were many times I wanted to give up and didn’t think I would be able to make the dream come true. We finally launched the women’s end of 2020 and every single woman that gets a piece of clothing and you see them light up that something is finally available for them that fits them and they can feel themselves in, really makes me proud to see it come to life.
As far as what I most want potential readers to know really is consider custom, whether William & Lauren or not. There is truly not a better feeling than a piece of clothing that fits you how it’s supposed to. You are far better off investing in less pieces that fit you and make you feel your best, it will change how you show up in the world and your confidence. If you don’t think it’s for you or you can’t afford it, you would be surprised. Custom is not necessarily cheap, but places like William & Lauren have made it more accessible, it is something you are worthy of and available to you.
How did you build your audience on social media?
As the founder, social media and specifically content is one area that overwhelms me. I was the typically perfectionist that felt when getting started my social media had to be perfectly curated, so I was really hesitant when I started. The first step I took to help build the audience was consistency, as simple as it sounds, I just posted on a consistent schedule and we slowly grew an audience, people started knowing we existed in our community and engaging with us. However, it was still small and not necessarily a great representation of our brand. I was so worried about the perfect caption, curated image and message we really had a pretty robotic brand voice.
During and after the height of the pandemic so many people were going to more raw content and expectations were lower in my mind because it almost became survival. That was such a great blessing because it allowed me to feel confident not being perfectly curated and having more of a voice on our social. Needing content that wasn’t stock images, I started snapping pictures of our clients when they would come pick up their clothes during their first fitting and posting them as well as celebrating why they were coming in. whether it was a wedding, new job, engagement, milestone celebration, we celebrated it. What happened was unexpected. People began to really grow a following and connection to us as our voice came through more authentically and raw. And most importantly, they began to see themselves in our product. They loved seeing people they knew, they loved seeing various body types and styles in ways that felt accessible and not curated. That really was the part that began to trigger momentum within our community and really spur growth of business and our social presence.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
We have strategy for digital marketing and other areas. However, the simplest way that we’ve steadily grown our base has been referral business. I have and will continue to have a simple motto, take the best care of the person in front of you and the rest will come. I don’t believe a business can rely only on referrals, you must have a strategy to fill the pipeline quicker, but I believe a recipe for long term success is to take exceptional care of the people in our care. As you fill your pipeline that fly wheel gets spinning and your referrals grow faster as well.
Second most successful has been community partnerships to help get our name out. For example, we have partnered with local universities, law firms, nonprofits and others to host events, giveaway product, scholarships, etc. The cross promotion with like-minded community business and leaders has been a good point of exposure.
The third most successful marketing strategy to dates has been investing in digital, SEO, PPC and social advertising.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://williamandlauren.com
- Instagram: williamlaurenco
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WilliamandLauren
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/williamandlauren
Image Credits
Trace Thomas and Eric Baker