We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Demi George. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Demi below.
Demi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry?
Womenswear has not been based on female figures. Sizing has always been the same as mens sizing, yet females have different body shapes than what is emulated on an industry standard sizing chart. After the existence of HeartGlass and the push for more inclusion, brands had begun falsely claiming a straight size of 0-14 for example suddenly fits all sizes and now shapes when they do not. You still look at a sizing chart and the numbers do not lie. Most women still fall in multiple sizes and their measurements do not fall into one size specifically. With the use of stylists, they claim that you can wear certain styles for your body shape. It’s like if you broke a glass and instead of cleaning it up, you sweep it under the couch or rug only as a temporary fix, rather than actually going to the problem itself to fix it. This is why I stand so strongly with HeartGlass because we went to the root issue itself with fitting issues, the size to innovate, rather than market something that isn’t a real solution or innovation.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m from Minnesota, lived in the Suburbs of Minneapolis in Savage and then moved to Orono near Lake Minnetonka where I began high school at. When time hit to go to college, I went in with an open mind. I really had no idea what I wanted to do, who I wanted to be and what value I wanted to add in this world. I ended up getting into the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. I ended up living in Phoenix in 2015 and lived in Tempe from 2016-2019. It wasn’t long into the first semester where I fell in love with finding niches in markets. I decided to add a Certificate in Entrepreneurship & Innovation through the W.P. Carey School of Business. As I was waiting for approval to get accepted into the certificate program, I went to the books myself in 2016. I checked out every intellectual property book and every entrepreneurial book that appealed to my interests. I also studied up on other successful entrepreneurs as well as the industry as a whole. I even started to attend some of my first seminars regarding entrepreneurship and starting companies. From there out, any and all of my ideas that I’ve had for the media industry I created prototypes.
I was working in retail in Scottsdale in 2016 while taking time for myself to study by the pool. I was obsessed with trying to find a perfect fit, but there was still nothing that had truly fit me and so many women shopping due to the sizing chart issue. If we had larger cup size, still a smaller waist and or a larger derriere size (that of which are the top body trends), we couldn’t find the right size anywhere. It was not a thing. So, I started doing a ton of market research.
It seemed very challenging at first to create over 40 different top sizes for all of the cup sizes and in sync with all of the different bottom sizes. I had an AHA moment where I discovered that I needed to do larger or smaller on the top or bottom and to create one size symbol. It would be shaded on the top or bottom if you’re larger or smaller top or bottom size. From there, I ended up working on commercializing the product and getting it to a level and quality where it could be sold in stores. I came to realize that I need to go big and need to work with the top teams in manufacturing and innovation. I made the decision to ignore all the calls on my phone, not tell anyone where I’m going, drop my things and drive from Phoenix to Los Angeles, California to get into manufacturing and development facilities. I ended up securing a few relationships in Los Angeles and that’s how I was able to get my line development really going in 2019. I not only found my brand, I found myself along the ride.
I went into an Industry where it was lenient to change and did things differently because the way that it has always been done is the only way it has been done. And I used innovation and I went to Los Angeles and I held my ground and broke the barriers for the commercialization of a revolutionary product that has never been done before – a one piece swimsuit that fits different top and bottom sizes and bases off of female features.
I didn’t just make a new style, I made a new size for all shapes to wear the same style. I invented a new size symbol that allows womanswear to emulate a woman’s female features and true body shapes. After traction in my brand grew, I was recognized in the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal as a Top 10 Innovator 25 and Under and made the Inno Under 25 list.
I was becoming recognized by others in the industry to work with their businesses by advising them and providing services. I am a designer that helps other designers and businesses. Many top retailers, designers and startups seek me for business innovations services.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
After having HeartGlass on the runway during Miami Swim Week, I wanted to take things to a new city and have the line on the runway during New York Fashion Week. I was offered a complimentary Times Square Billboard for having my line be part of the show. I’m from the Midwest and I’ve never been to New York City. There were at least eight people that flew in to come support HeartGlass in New York City to model for HeartGlass. I even had one of my clients attend the show as an assistant for HeartGlass because I knew I would need one if I somehow couldn’t get into the show due to Covid related regulations. One of them even flew in from a different country from Columbia just to come model and support HeartGlass. It felt amazing to have a free Times Square Billboard the first time I ever was in New York City that ran the first 48 hours that I was in town. My line was up there in the heart of Times Square, and having that support of a few of the models come with me to the billboard reveal exceeded my dreams. I looked over to my right, I saw where the ball drops for New Years Eve. I look in front of me, and I see HeartGlass, and I look to my left and I see the hotel I stayed at.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson that I had to unlearn was what I call the “midwest mindset” and limiting beliefs. There is a lot of self-doubt and self-worth issues and grew up thinking that you have to be born with it to be successful, but typically the opposite is the case. Success is the amount of value that you can add and provide into this world. The more value that you provide in this world, the more successful you will be and can be correlated with financial benefits as well. Give value to help benefit the world and your community. Use your talents for a bigger and brighter purpose in this world. Do bigger things, don’t limit your potential to doing one thing. You can do a lot more than you believe you can, and it is a mindset problem. Keep doing more and more, and achieving higher goals. Sometimes, you need to be your biggest motivation and inspiration in a limiting setting and during transitional times where you are re-evaluating relationships in your life that can make or break your success.
Contact Info:
- Website: shopheartglass.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopheartglass/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShopHeartGlass
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/demitriamary/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/shopheartglass
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@demigeorge/featured
- Other: https://twitter.com/demitriageorge
Image Credits
First Photo Portrait of Demi (@savvyphotage, savvyphotage.com)