We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cristal De La Cruz and Jessica Strong. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cristal De La Cruz and Jessica Strong below.
Cristal and Jessica, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Cristal and I were both born and raised in Orange County, California and grew up along the warm, sandy beaches of the southern coast. Cristal ultimately settled in California and I in Colorado. While envisioning what we wanted DriftWood to be, we knew we wanted to stay true to our Southern California roots while capturing the outdoors of Colorado. We wanted DriftWood to be an affordable, sustainable and comfortable lifestyle brand with staple pieces that can be mixed and matched. DriftWood started as a blend of both of our styles and has evolved into mens, womens and kids apparel along with select home goods.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Cristal and I both met while we were attending college at the Fashion Institute of Deseign and Merchandising (F.I.D.M.). After graduating we always talked about starting our own clothing line. We talked about it for years and our vision for our brand gradually evolved. After spending time living in different states, traveling and finding our niche in our careers, it finally felt like the right time to turn our clothing line talks into reality. In 2023, we both took the jump and made the commitment to turn our vision into a reality and we officially launched DriftWood. Through coastal and neutral colors inspired by our Southern California beaches and Colorado mountains, our vision is to use recycled/ upcycled materials creating a sustainable aesthetic. We have created unique patterns and designs that can be mixed and matched, for men and women to minimize our carbon footprint and promote less is more when it comes to our clothing line.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Cristal is definitely the social media guru and handles all of the marketing and promotions for DriftWood! Building our audience and social media presence hasn’t happened overnight. Cristal puts a lot of time and effort curating posts, stories, campaigns and giveaways centered around our brand and target audience. When we first launched DriftWood we reached out to friends, family, colleagues and classmates to help spread the word about DriftWood and get our name out there. Staying active on social media and engaging with our followers not only in the social world but through pop up shops and vendor fairs has been key to building our brand. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there!
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
Building brand awareness has been imperative to bringing new clients. Attending pop up shops and vendor fairs along with collaborating with local busniesses and entrepreneurs to drive partnerships has brought new and exciting clients to DriftWood. Additionlly, being proactive in various marketing strategies, social media engagement, and promotions has helped attract new business to our social media pages and website. Building a brand from the ground up is a lot of work and takes true dedication, commitment and patience!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://shopdriftwood.myshopify.com/
- Instagram: @shop.driftwood_
Image Credits
Cristal De La Cruz, Alexis Estrada, Kristin Eleperuma