We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elaine Vinikoor a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Elaine, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
In the Mid 1980’s my mother, Nina, and I had the idea to start Elana, a high-end clothing brand. I started with a basic home knitting machine and wanted to create unique designs for dresses, suits and more. In May of 1987 we took my first designs to a trade show at the Javistz Center in New York City. At the first show we had several orders placed, and an overall positive reaction. After the show, we used our personal savings and invested into professional machines, a boiler, presses and more to fulfil the orders taken from the show. On September, 11th 1987 we officially created Elana Collection Inc.
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
I was born and raised in Ukraine with a strong interest in art, music and fashion. As a young child I was pianist but that was never real my passion. Watching my mother, whom at the time was a home economics knitting teacher, I slowly started to learn the technical aspects of clothing design. In 1978 our family moved to the United States. Soon after my mother opened a knitting shop using her knowledge to sell yarn and teach knitting classes. As a young adult I wanted to follow my dreams of becoming a designer but has no interest in pursuing college. I soon learned that, to become the best designer I could be I still had a lot to learn. I decided to seek specialized training on aspects of production and machinery that was essential to creating my designs. By investing in the specialized education, I would never have to outsource the production and always maintain the highest quality in everything we did. I am proud to be a fully Made in USA fashion brand for over 35 years.
How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.
Over the years it has always been a hot topic to sell online or not in my industry. The root of my business is in high end boutiques and bridal shops across the country. They are mostly small family owned business just like mine. If I sold online I would be under cutting my own business partners whose stores represent my collection with a personal touch. I have a unique customer service process that can not be replaced or replicated by ecommerce. Aside from that, I also believe in the experience that a women gets when visiting a store, getting the right recommendations, and a custom fit/service, is not something that can be done online.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
We have always prided ourselves on quality over quantity and great customer service. Having full control over our manufacturing process, the stores that we sell to have peace of mind that when a customer orders a something from our collection they will have it in a reasonable amount of time, the correct measurements and always with exceptional quality.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.elanacollection.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elanacollection/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elanacollection87