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

Hi Abbey, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I never planned to start a business. I started a business on accident and it’s the happiest accident of my life. Let’s go back a few steps and let me set the scene: it’s March 2020 and I’m a teacher. We were all sent home for Spring Break with a lot of uncertainty and not a lot of answers. We didn’t return to our classrooms that semester and I immediately became a remote teacher. Everything was on hold and all I could ask for was some amount of comfort. I only wanted to be in sweatshirts and the cute ones I was seeing online were way out of my teacher budget. So I ordered one blue sweatshirt and decided I would teach myself to acid wash it.
I remember being thrilled with this little project I made for myself and I proudly wore it on my next staff zoom meeting. During the meeting, I got a flurry of texts from coworkers about my sweatshirt- they were shocked I’d made it myself!
After the meeting, I share this with my husband and he looked at me and said, “this is a business, and you should make more.” That thought had not crossed my mind until that moment but with his warm encouragement I took the risk and ordered 12 more sweatshirts and started an Etsy shop. I was so nervous, so many what ifs were going through my head, the biggest ones being “what if they all look terrible, what if this was just a fluke, what if no one wants them.”
Those original 12 sweatshirts sold out in three days. The risk was worth it.
Since then, I’ve expanded. I have a core rainbow collection of acid washed size inclusive crews. I’ve taught myself to ice dye and make regular capsules of dyed sweatshirts. My husband and I thrift aggressively and acid wash the coolest graphic t-shirts we can find. We do regular pop up shops in Kansas City, have gotten to be a part of some amazing events. and have made dear friends. All of this, because my husband pushed me out of my comfort zone and I took a risk.

Abbey, 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?

By day, I am a middle school English teacher. After school and on the weekend, I am Bleach Bae. It’s my secret alter ego.

I started my clothing business as the most joyful risk and it has grown into something I couldn’t be more proud of. I make acid wash and ice dye loungewear with a focus on upcycling. I don’t have a background in business, art, or fashion so everything has been a self taught experiment. It started as acid wash sweatshirts in three colors and now our regular collection features an entire rainbow of colorful crews. I wanted to learn more dying skills, so I taught myself to ice dye. I love this version of tie dye- it feels elevated and the colors are exciting to experiment with.

After a few months of business, my husband wanted to jump on board and learn how to dye. He has been the champion of upcycling and balancing our new dyed sweatshirts with thrifted graphic t-shirts that we give fresh life to. We try to have something for everyone with unique graphics, beautiful colors, and a wide range of sizes.

Our business was founded in a time where we all craved comfort and our goal is to spread comfort and joy.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I was Target about a year ago and across from me in self checkout, I saw a customer wearing a shirt I made. One of the MOST rewarding aspects of my creative journey has been seeing folks joyfully wearing the things I’ve made. I love hearing that I made someone’s favorite sweatshirt, or they cannot take off a new crop, or that they keep getting compliments on an unique graphic t-shirt we dyed. Nothing brings a bigger smile to my face than seeing a customer come shop with us at an event wearing something we made. Every instagram story tag and every message make my heart explode.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

About a year ago, I received an email from Etsy stating that my shop was shut down and I would no longer be able to sell on the platform. There was nothing to contest or argue, my seller privileges had been terminated. I never received a real answer from Etsy as to why. At that point in time in our business journey, my husband and I ran parallel but separate Etsy storefronts. It was a divide and conquer situation- I managed all new product inventory and he filled his shop with our upcycled graphic creations. He had received a few intellectual property complaints that he had been able to address. Once he communicated that we were working with thrifted goods, not printing new things ourselves, legal teams backed off. But after the accumulated complaints, Etsy shut him down. But Etsy simultaneously shut my shop down as well- the only thing linking these independent shops was the shared bank account our payments were deposited to.
I was devastated. The business I had worked two years to build had disappeared overnight. I had thousands of dollars in inventory just sitting in my house with no way to reach customers and sell products.
After an appropriate amount of time spent wallowing and crying, I reached out to other small business friends and started gathering information. I needed my own website and I needed it fast. Then universe smiled on me, and we got two consecutive snow days. In case you were curious, creating online learning management systems for remote teaching really prepares you to panic build an ecommerce site. I was able to launch our website the following week. It’s been a huge learning curve but I love the independence, control, and freedom of having my own platform.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bleachbae.myshopify.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/bleach.bae
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bleach.bae.design
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bleach.bae

Image Credits
Personal Photo- @projectvibrance Additional photos- #2 @mattlien #4 @sydneyjeanphotography All other photos are done by my husband and I.