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

Brittany , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

Yes, I think it is so important for my mental health and the health of my family to vacation. I don’t think vacation has to mean “elaborate or expensive” but more, “rest, recharge and relax”. We spend most of our days on the go and taking the time with my family or just me and my husband to put work aside and focus on each other is very important to me. It is important for me to step away and since I have a home office, leaving my home is sometimes the only way I truly feel like I can disconnect. Our most recent trip was to Disney World. After spending last year working every single weekend to build up my company with an amazing opportunity at the Batavia Boardwalk Shops, I promised myself and my family we would go on a family vacation. We chose Disney because it was somewhere my grandparents took me as a child frequently, those memories are still with me. My grandma passed away in 2022 and taking my son and my mom to Disney together with us, was a memory I wanted them to always have together too.

Brittany , 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?

When I was young some of my fondest memories are at my Grandma’s house. Her and I would play dress up. I would analyze her perfectly organized and color coordinated clothing and accessories for hours. Staring at each piece as if it was the first time I saw it. We would sew together, she started sewing dresses for me and I would watch her closely and ask questions about how she did that stitch or how to insert a button hole. I was amazed by her talent. As I grew older I started collecting American Girl Dolls and she would let me make dresses for them to match the dresses for me. I would spend the rest of my years practicing this skill. These memories stay so close to my heart.

Meanwhile, my Mom had opened a children’s clothing boutique. My Grandma and I would both work there. I would look at all my Mom’s crafts the way I looked at my Grandma’s clothes and accessories. I could spend hours looking at glitter and ribbon and fabric, watching her craft the cutest kids garments. I knew this was my calling at an early age. I proceeded to take Fashion classes in High School to continue sewing. I was granted a scholarship to college where I studied Fashion Design professionally. I quickly realized I knew how to make garments, but I wasn’t sure what to do with them once they were completed. I quickly switched my major to Fashion Merchandising to learn the ins and outs of running a retail business. With first hand experience from my Mom through my job at her store plus my education, I was able to get my first job running the new H&M store by my home. Over the next 11 years there, I grew from a Management role to a flagship store manager, working on recruiting and HR and growing to be a Controller for the Midwest Region. I loved this job. I had my hands in every department , traveled the world and learned so much from it along the way. As I got married and wanted to start a family, I quickly realized that traveling that often wasn’t going to work for me. I decided to go another direction and work as a Product Owner for a tech company. There I was given the opportunity to learn about Google Business, SEO, Social Media & Marketing plus gain some tech experience that put a lot of things in perspective for someone like me. This specific company way male dominant, I regularly found myself unheard, unappreciated and lacking the respect I deserved. I quickly found myself ready to move on to be my own boss.

In that time, my son was born. I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could. I started making some cute onesies for fun and selling them at my Mom’s shop. As the demand for them grew, I did to. I wanted to expand my business and opened Arlo.Hendrix (my son’s name) inside The Rustic Fox. My clothing started selling quickly and I decided to build my brand. Arlo had severe skin issues and we pin-pointed it to the soaps and garments that were touching his skin. We quickly made changes in our home and I started diving into fabric and textiles, pulling out my old books from college. As I learned what was in some of the clothes my son was wearing, I immediately knew my clothes could not be this way. I looked for companies who used safe dye’s and no chemicals. Companies who didn’t employ child labor or unsafe working conditions… companies that sadly couldn’t be found at big box retailers. My line grew, I felt people appreciate what I was doing. I was able to move from a few shirts on my Cricut to screen printing and sewing. I wanted people to know what they were putting on their kids and feel safe.

As I grew I started branching out to find companies that had similar beliefs but didn’t break the bank. I am a Mom, I get it. Spending hundreds of dollars on a few pieces wasn’t something I wanted. I wanted a price point that was moderate and affordable but I didn’t want to sacrifice the quality. I brought in brands that aligned with me and grew my boutique to what it is today – Online, 2 marketplace shops and my new Brick & Mortar shop. I truly feel community is everything and I plan to grow by offering fun and exciting events for the community to attend as well as supporting other local businesses in every way I can.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I had zero dollars to put into my business. My husband and I were putting savings away for kids, for a house, a future. We knew dipping into our savings was not an option – if I wanted to quit my six-figure, full time career to start a business and make zero dollars, I was going to have to do it with zero dollars.

We inspected everything. We cut cable, we looked at insurance, we cut out eating out, drinking alcohol – you name it, we cut it out. We realized that we were spending so much money on useless things that it was actually pretty easy to live off one income. My parents each borrowed me $1,000 for some build out supplies and inventory and here I am today. I was able to pay them back within a few short months by following the Profit First mindset and sticking to a very strict budget.

Two years in, sometimes I pay myself, sometimes I don’t. There is no guarantee, but I work extremely smart to make sure every dollar counts in everything I do.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I don’t know that I have a “strategy” per say. I try to be as involved as I can in the community. I participate in several markets every year and try to volunteer/donate as much as I can. I think just being a good person goes a long way. If you show up for people, they will show up for you. I am the face of my business. I involve my family in the community and we talk to our customers. I want to know what they like, what they are looking for, where we dropped the ball, what we can offer them later that we aren’t now. I think this alone has helped my grow into what we are today. The world around us is not going to stop changing so I need to be there to hear those needs change too. I want to evolve in the right direction so I can be the first name someone thinks of when they need the products I offer.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://arlohendrix.com/
• Instagram: @arhohendrix_babyoutfitters
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arlohendrixclothing.clothing

Image Credits
@aprildudaphotography