We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chloe Allison. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chloe below.

Alright, Chloe thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

The first dollar outside of friends and family Alli.C made was from a children’s boutique, (wholesale account!) and those are a big deal in the fashion industry because it allows you to receive your production money upfront, YAY! But they’re also a lot of work.

Here’s how it happened, it was my first collection of silk-lined baby hats and blankets, I made way too many styles and colorways looking back lol, out of my 50+ samples, I created lookbooks that included line sheets, order forms, and note cards with product images, buyers could take collection notes on. I packaged it all up in folders I had laser cut with my logo so my lookbook would stand out from the thousands of lookbooks buyers/store owners receive every season. From there I researched children’s boutiques I felt my products would be a good fit for, and then I would send them a lookbook in hopes of getting an appointment to show them the collection in person. Well, the calls for an appointment didn’t come. Soooo, I picked the top 5 boutiques I was interested in on the east coast (because I had family there and could cover the tristate area easier), brought a plane ticket, and went to each store I sent a lookbook to. Fortunately, one of the boutique owners was in when I stopped by, we chatted for a while she informed me that she received the lookbook and loved it and that things around the store had been very busy, so she didn’t have time to follow up and was glad I stopped by. She looked at ALL the samples and placed an order! I was on cloud 9, and the rest is history.

Chloe, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started Alli.C because it has always been a childhood dream of mine to own my own business, and since day one, I’ve loved fashion.

So, after high school, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in fashion, so I enrolled in college at Savannah College of Art and Design, better known as SCAD, where I studied women’s and children’s apparel design and found my niche in children’s fashion. I graduated with a BFA and honorable mentions in apparel design in 2006 and moved to New York to work in women’s and children’s fashion design for Kenneth Cole. After my time there I went on to design for several children-only apparel brands to further my skills and knowledge of the childrenswear industry.

In 2010, after fashion week, getting a paycheck every two weeks, and designing for some great apparel brands it was time for me to head home and finally make my dream come to fruition- opening my own timelessly fashionable children’s brand.

And thus in 2011 Alli.C was born!

Alli.C is a children’s design house, that uses luxuriously soft fabrics sourced from around the world to create exclusive heirloom quality clothing & accessories. We design timeless silhouettes with modern details. For parents who value style and comfort for their child’s delicate skin.

We are known for our luxuriously soft silk-lined baby blankets and hats. And are proud to say that all our manufacturing is done in the USA.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

Yes, I manufacture all Alli.C products. My background is in apparel design, and I learned the production process while working as a designer in the fashion industry for several notable brands. Recently I’ve had to hire a sewing contractor to help with the workload because it’s become too much to do on my own.

What lessons have I learned along the way about product manufacturing… Time is everything! The earlier you can get started the better because there are always delays. It’s a lot of moving parts so having a nice buffer will keep you sane, and on schedule for collection deliveries.

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

I sell on my site www.loveallic.com because I own the site and don’t have to pay a listing fee that you usually must pay on e-comm platforms like Etsy. Also, I have full control over the look and feel of my site which is a plus for Alli.C marketing. The only downside to selling on my site is you don’t get the built-in traffic that you have with the well-known e-commerce platforms which means I have to find ways to create my own.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.loveallic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/love_alli.c/