Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Crystal Burse-Adams. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Crystal, thanks for joining us today. Almost every entrepreneur we know has considered donating a portion of their sales to an organization or cause – how did you make the decision of whether to donate? We’d love to hear the backstory if you’re open to sharing the details.

A huge part of my mission or purpose with my brand is to pay it forward. I believe in being a blessing to others, being the gift that keeps on giving. This is why my logo is the infinity logo. What you put out will continue to come back to you. When you give a blessing you in return receive a blessing. While on my business entrepreneur journey, I kept saying to myself “all these business expenses are starting to add up.” When you start a clothing brand, you think all you need are some shirts and a printer. In theory, that’s true. However, to be a long term successful brand you need so much more: licenses, permits, graphics, website, samples, etc., these things can be a few thousand dollars before you ever put anything into production. I was fortunate to be able to have personal savings and good credit and credit knowledge to build business credit to help with some of these costs. Not everyone has that. In that moment I realized I wanted to give to other starting entrepreneurs. Therefore, once every quarter I have paid it forward to another starting business by gifting them $500 toward their business costs. I pray as my business grows (and sales too), the gift to others grow with it. There have been five recipients of my pay it forward gift campaign.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Crystal and I started my clothing brand because I finally had enough with ordering comfortable athleisure apparel from online stores only to be disappointed with fit or quality. I decided to create my own brand to be able to offer what I felt was my version of athleisure wear. I also knew I wanted to create clothes that will serve as a conversation starter or reminder to give and receive grace Demonstrate gratitude. Promote self love and affirmation. This is how I came up with the name Abundance of Grace.

At the same time, the name itself leads people to think it is a religious brand or affiliation. I tell everyone that asks, my brand is an affirmation brand. I design affirmation apparel. I create clothing that will make my customer feel their best self! If my client feels their best when practicing their faith or religion, my clothes have served their purpose. So many customers have messaged me or sent pictures/videos letting me know they were stopped in the airport, or grocery store or gas station because of what they had on. I personally was stopped four times in the airport because of an Abundance of Grace sweatshirt I was wearing. An NBA player spotted a customer wearing a Hella Grateful hoodie on the plane and reached out to order.

My brand is designed to remind people to give themselves as much as grace as they are so quick to give others. To externally show how they feel internally. It is hard to have a bad day when you are wearing a Hella Grateful t-shirt. There are a lot of affirmation brands or clothing pieces online, the difference between them and my brand is my brand is here to serve as a reminder to show grace to yourself FIRST, and then others. And pay that forward in all ways possible.

I am extremely proud to see the energy I pour into my clothes coming to fruition. First by design, and then by message. Every time I scroll social media and randomly come across a post of someone wearing my items, its super surreal. I get excited.

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

I manufacture my products to be exactly what I feel is missing when I am the consumer shopping. That can be fit, style, quality, color, size, design. When I love a clothing item I will wear it continuously and as a result of that, the material doesn’t hold up. Sweats begin to get thin between the thighs, have fuzz balls, or holes. When I created my first jogger set design I made sure the quality would be strong, durable, perfectly thick fabric.

When I began my manufacture search, google and Alibaba were my best friends. I did a lot of research of how to find a manufacture, how to speak with them, what kind of questions to ask, how to negotiate price point on orders. Once I found two or three manufactures, I requested samples from from them to see their work. My main manufacturer was chosen because they pay attention to detail. The customer service is amazing.

It has not been all rainbows and unicorns, I have taken production and financial losses, and learned lessons throughout the process. The biggest lesson I learned was to not rush the process and to sample EVERYTHING! Never go into production without receiving a sample. Ordering customized fabric, the sample can vary from production. Do not rely on pictures. I even have a local printer that I work closely with, an entire set of t-shirts were printed off center. I had to work with my printer to get this corrected a day before launching the collection.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn is, you can’t make clothes for what you personally like. I know that sounds weird, but the fact is you are not the customer. Of course you will love the items you put out, but the items created are for the audience you are there to serve. When I started, my initial pieces were designs I personally wanted in my closet. I wasn’t creating according to the audience I wanted to serve. I quickly learned that trending designs and colors are there for a reason. I also learned it’s okay to poll your audience and see what they like. Asking for audience input is not the same as targeting everyone. I made a t-shirt in a color I felt was best. My audience wanted more color options so I polled them and introduced new colors.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shopaog.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/abundanceofgracellc
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/abundanceofgracellc