We recently connected with Brit Jasperson and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Brit, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
I feel like the idea of Weasel Wear FOUND ME more than I created it. My dad is an entrepreneur, and from a very young age, I envisioned myself owning a business. I think I was inspired by the idea of not answering to anyone besides myself, and I saw there was greater earning potential in business ownership. You’re putting in the hours anyway, so why not maximize your income doing it?
I have always had this burning desire to help rescue dogs, and I intrinsically knew that I needed to be the boss of a company to earn enough cash to make the huge, positive impact I wanted to make.
Fast-forward to 2015.
I was just a couple years in to marriage and healing from autoimmunity when a network marketing company called Beachbody found me. It was perfectly aligned with my phase of life at the time—exercising from home, cleaning up my nutrition, and learning to manage stress better. I was even already sharing the journey on social media because I desperately wanted to spread the word that it’s better to take care of your body BEFORE you develop a lifestyle disease than to try and correct one that has already afflicted you.
With the help of Beachbody, I was able to add actual tools to my message that empowered people to live well, but it additionally gave me an opportunity to learn and practice online business ownership.
I did this job successfully for 7 years.
But somewhere along the journey, I realized I wanted something more. I had grown my network marketing business to a respectable level, but I then plateaued pretty hard. And all along the way, I had messages in my inbox saying things like, “I love following you, but it’s for the fashion—not the fitness.”
Listening to the feedback I was receiving, I began to step in to influencer work. If folx adored my outfits, why not make money for sharing them? Not only was I making $100+ per post at this time, but I was also scoring stunning, hand-crafted fashion worth hundreds, and elevating the wonderful small business owners all along the way!!
This led to my next step… modeling and entertainment. Having built my influencer platform, business started approaching me and asking if they could hire me to model their pieces, promote their event, attend their event as a cosplayer, etc, I leaned in to the opportunities because, frankly, they were fun!! And while I did this work, I started to ask myself, “Why am I here making a capped paycheck when I could be one of those babes with a booth and limitless earning potential?”
At this time, my husband and I had our first big idea!! Sure, I would love to create my own fashion line (which we jokingly said we’d call Weasel Wear after our rescue pup, Diesel Weasel). But that was far too hefty an undertaking, so we landed on a fun design for a doggy bag dispenser instead. This idea was quickly followed by a thousand headaches….
American made is outrageously expensive.
Overseas orders require multiple mold fees and large minimum order quantities.
The first 3D printer we bought is too simple to execute our idea.
The second 3D printer we bought is too complex to use.
What a nightmare!! We spent months trying to force this project to no avail. In the meantime, I began producing simpler items with a friend of mine. I would hand her an idea, she would create the image, and I would slap it on T-Shirts, stickers, etc, I suppose my logic was that I was putting in the effort anyway, so I might as well make something (anything!!) to sell as a Hail Mary,
This takes us to the summer of 2022. I was chatting with an online connection of mine, Elle, who owned a successful pinup fashion brand. I happened to mention our frustrating dispenser project, to which she replied, “I think I can help you source a factory for that!!” In absolute desperation, I told her to name her price. I was willing to pay just about anything to get that project off my plate.
She charged me zero dollars.
Instead, she came back to me several days later and said, “Look, this project is so expensive because it’s a two-piece plastic product requiring two separate mold fees. Have you ever thought about producing fashion? It would be way easier, and I could help you.”
The irony that we thought the plastic product would be easier was not lost on me. Life sure does have a sense of humor, doesn’t it?!
At this time, I went to my husband Anthony and noted, “Hey, I have tons of ideas for this. Are you down to invest a little money and see if I can sell clothes since it’s what people have been saying they want to buy from me?”
Thus, Weasel Wear was born…!!
From there, I went from simply co-designing 2 pieces to launching an entire collection of 6 pieces because Elle informed me a full collection would allow our company to sell wholesale (in addition to retail).
Our website has now been open for business for an entire year, and we have released 3 killer collections with no end in sight…!!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Brit, and I am happily married, dog-obsessed, fashion-loving, family-oriented, introvert weirdo. I’m a 35 year-old Orange County native with a rebellious streak, so there was no choice for me other than to be self-employed.
Weasel Wear was forged from both my desires to live free and authentically, and to help save as many canines as humanly possible during my time on this planet.
Our alternative fashion brand was a natural step, as I’ve been curating spooky looks since I was 13 years-old. It’s what I became known for, so when folx on Instagram started requesting information to emulate my style, it made more sense to direct them to my own brand than someone else’s.
To bring the company full circle, we also donate a portion of profits weekly to animal-aiding non-profs, with the ultimate goal of opening our own rescue facility one day.
So to summarize: Weasel Wear provides bold, high-quality, alt fashion year-round, and we then use that success to accomplish our higher purpose of saving dogs in need.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn the idea that struggle is what made me interesting. As a highly sensitive person, I have found life very challenging to navigate. Somewhere along the way, I adopted the belief that my creativity came from this sense of melancholy.
After several years of struggling through my online fitness business, I attended a Tony Robbins seminar and realized that I was subconsciously creating extra challenges for myself to remain relevant. Once I brought awareness to this faulty story, I obviously decided I did not want to struggle my way to success any more than necessary!! Of course business is a battle; if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. But I didn’t need to slather on the drama, nor make it any harder on myself or those around me, to remain interesting.
Since then, I have aspired to create from a place of peace, excitement, and curiosity. I still have bad moments, but I certainly don’t allow myself to have bad weeks, months, or years in business anymore. Even the losses are learning lessons that propel me towards my next big win.
Having sat on both sides of the fence, I can now confirm that people are much more intrigued by the rare joyful artist than a stereotypical struggling one. I also work much more effectively with a clear mind than an overwhelmed, cloudy one.
How’d you meet your business partner?
I met my co-designer and business mentor, Elle Rebel, on Instagram!! At the time, I was working my network marketing business, and would scour other business pages for cute, alt girls. I connected with Elle just after she had shut down her brick-and-mortar shop in favor of an online presence during Covid. I remember she released an adorable coffin-shaped yoga mat for pre-order, so I bought one through her as a Christmas gift for my husband.
After months of hearing nothing (and knowing nothing about business models that included presale), I reached out inquiring about my purchase. She let me know that she’d had issues with the overseas factory with whom she was working, but assured me that it would arrive shortly.
We actually worked out on that yoga mat just tonight. It’s still one of our favorite things. And now my house is overflowing with beautiful possessions she helped me create.
This is actually WHY I continued working my network marketing business even after I realized it wasn’t going to be my finish line. As easy as it would have been to quit when I plateaued and had no other direction in mind, that business held me accountable to the actions (like connecting with awesome new people online) that I knew would reveal my next opportunity.
And that is exactly what happened!! Thanking myself now for that grit and foresight.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.weaselwearco.com
- Instagram: @weaselwear
Image Credits
@MackenzieLenoraPhotography @Mayapologies @kameraguykev @ciarablackhart @pinuppalmer @bethhthebadass @destinee.Deville @drastik91