We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sarah Shemirani a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

At the start of the pandemic, I found myself experiencing a totally new and unexpected way of life. I was stuck at home, teaching my 7th grade students from my living room, all while figuring out how to be a first-time mom. With these changes came weight gain, postpartum hair, and overall feeling pretty down about the way I looked — which was especially difficult as I had to be on camera with my students every day. To try and manage my unmanageable hair, I would put it up in a messy bun using one of the headbands in my vast collection, and would add some vintage brooches my grandmother had given to me. Although just a small detail, I called ‘dressing the mess’, this little touch would totally change how I felt about myself. My confidence lifted! I then went online to see if any retailers were doing anything like this, and found nothing. So I started digging up more vintage brooches, visited local thrift stores and antique dealers, and my business was born! I wanted to create items, all with distinctive little touches in them, to help people dress their mess, and feel better about themselves.

Sarah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I think what’s most special about Dress the Mess is that every piece is handmade, and specifically crafted by me. The brooches I source, can be decades and decades old, and reflect a glamor that I think we’ve lost in today’s culture. By taking these vintage treasures, and mixing them with modern designs, I feel like I’m creating something exciting, refreshing and totally new.

Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?

I bought what is formally know as Banditsheadbands, these are non-slip headbands that are great for athletes and those on the go. When I saw this business was for sale I thought it was a great opportunity for me to add to my repertoire of hair accessories. What I also got out of the acquisition was an opportunity to work with and learn from someone who has been doing this longer than I have and part of the purchase was a full day to learn from the previous owner. This was extremely beneficial because she taught me ways to expand as well as fine tune was I was currently doing.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

I do sell on Etsy, and although I enjoy the ease of the platform and how much it is used by people, it can be frustrating with how over saturated the market is with 3rd party sellers and the way to be seen is much more difficult.

Contact Info:

• Website: etsy.com/shop/dressthemess
• Instagram: @dressthemessofficial
• Other: tiktok: @dressthemess