We were lucky to catch up with Desiree Ve’an recently and have shared our conversation below.

Desiree, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

The biggest risk I took was starting Casually Threads. Everyone who has known me for years has known that I’ve wanted to start a clothing line for years now. I was too afraid to take the risk and do it. I was afraid that I was going to fail and that my ideas weren’t going to be good enough. Then one day I woke up and decided to just take the risk. I didn’t want to be old and grey sitting on my front porch thinking about what I could’ve done. If it fails in the end at least I can say I tried instead of saying I never tried.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Desiree, but everyone calls me Rey. I’m 28 years old, and I am the proud owner of Casually Threads. Having a clothing line has always been a dream of mine since I was in middle school. I decided to take a leap of faith one day and start it instead of just saying one day. I decided to name my brand Casually Threads because casually is my favorite word. I always tell my friends I do everything casually. I also felt like that word represented what I wanted the brand to be perfectly. I want it to be casual wear and for it to be reasonably priced. On Casually Thread’s website, you will see that I offer shirts, mugs, sweaters, tote bags, and many other things. I also offer a variety of sizes because I want it to be as inclusive as possible. 90% of the designs are made by me personally which I’m really proud of. I’m happy that I can get my ideas down onto a canvas and share it with other people. For the other 10% of designs, my friends help me make so shout out to them. Love yall. I hope that my brand grows into a big name one day and can possibly be sold in stores and not just online. If you want to see the latest designs and keep up with updates then check out the socials for it @casuallythreads everywhere.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

For me, it has been wearing my merch. I had business cards made and I carry them with me everywhere. If someone compliments my shirt I thank them and hand them a business card and tell them that’s where they can find it if they want one too.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I use Shopify to tell my products. I was using Etsy and Shopify at one point in time, but I stopped using Etsy because I don’t really like all the fees that come along with using Etsy. I understand they’re a company and need to make money as well, but I had to make my prices based on their fees to make sure I make a decent profit and it doesn’t really sit right with me personally.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://casuallythreads.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/casuallythreads/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/casuasllythreads

Image Credits
Casually Threads