We were lucky to catch up with El Ryce recently and have shared our conversation below.

El, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

Initially Ownly was an acronym which stood for Owning the waves next level youth. This was derived from understanding that the youth are the future and are always owning and creating the next big wave of things. As our company grew the name still stands but with more purpose. Ownly Brand is now more focused on branding what you believe, whatever that may be. When you believe in something your owning it, stamping it and making your mark. That is the mission.. Ownly Brand What You Believe

El, 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 have always been a creator. Artistry has been instilled in me for as long as I can remember. I transitioned from doing physical drawings and artwork into clothing that I wanted for myself. That passion grew over the years which led me to create a clothing brand. I feel my brand instills a positive message along with trendy styles. I feel most proud because I have built this brand by myself from the ground up and love to see the following we continue to get behind the brand. Many brands are male dominated and Im happy to be one of many females to continue to make a pathway for other women.

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

One thing about me Im going to create something. So when I first started I made everything. All of my pieces were made in house. This allowed me to learn the backend of things and get my hands dirty if I ever needed to in the future. As business picked up and I wanted better quality I began to outsource. I have overseas vendors as well as a drop shipping warehouse here in the states. Outside of wanting better quality, sales began to pickup which also forced me to outsource. I wanted to get the product to our customers faster and scale the business.

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?

Majority of my marketing and following is through Instagram. When ads first started through the platform I was very hesitant. I only looked at is as something else that requires money that probably would never work. My most profitable season is during the summer and I had a design I felt really strong about. I took the risk to market this release by running ads in different cities I felt people would relate to the design. Little did I know I would sell out and go viral for this one design. That fueled me to keep going and take the risk going forward.

Contact Info:

• Website: creatorsownly.com
• Instagram: Ownlybrand
• Facebook: Facebook.com/ownlybrand
• Other: Threads @ownlybrand