We were lucky to catch up with Elorm Torkornoo recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Elorm, thanks for joining us today. What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry? Any stories or anecdotes that illustrate why this matters?

One size fits all is a myth. The idea that common clothing items and accessories can fit everyone ignores the uniqueness of each person. Some people may have larger necks, so they cannot fit into a necklace they were eyeing online or in a mall. Some people may have larger heads or a lot of hair and cannot fit into a cute hat they saw their favorite influencer wear on tiktok or Instagram. Everyone is so unique and different, we all come in different shapes and sizes and more brands in the fashion industry need to acknowledge that and make changes to be more inclusive. The inspiration for my company started because one size fit all hats did not fit me, and as I embraced my natural hair journey it became harder and harder to fit into a one size fits all hat. Facing this problem first hand, I became frustrated and started searching the web and asking family and friends if they had any recommendations. Everyone who I spoke to that experienced the same struggle, did not have any recommendations, the internet brought little resolution, every hat that I was able to find that may fit were for men and were very basic. I wanted fun and fashionable hats that I can wear with nice outfit from my closest. I wanted to wear a bucket hat without it looking like a top hat on my head. I eventually gave up and decided to make the hats I wanted to see on the market myself and include a satin lining in every hat because I wanted to protect my hair, retain its moisture, and prevent breakage while wearing a hat. If I was going to create hats, I was going to make sure it was done right, and I experienced a lot of hair loss and breakage from contact with rough fabrics and surface, so adding satin lining to my products was a no-brainer.

Elorm, 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?

1. Can you please tell our readers about yourself: I am Ghanaian, my parents and I came to the US when I was 3 , since then they had my two sisters. Around the age of 12 or 13 my parents divorced and my mom became a single mother. She raised my sisters and I. As a child I always dreamt of becoming a fashion designer but I quickly realized it was not a career path that was easy to break into, so I opted for accounting. I attend a 4 year college and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting with minors in Information Systems and Computer Science. In 2020 I graduated with my Masters in Information Systems. I currently work full time as a Financial System Analyst while building my business from the ground up. I started building the foundation and working on product development for my business back in 2020 while I saved money to purchase inventory. My family and friends played a huge role in helping me test out products, pick fabrics, and designs. And when I launched my business on September 9th , 2022 they have continued to support me and give advice as I navigate life as a business owner of a growing company.

2. how you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc, what type of products/services/creative works you provide : I never planned on becoming a business owner, it happened by chance. Like most business owners I experienced a problem that brought enough frustration for me to just create what was missing in the market. I had some money saved up and knew that if I aggressively saved I would be able to actually launch my business and help people feel seen when they wear my products. As someone who is plus size I know the struggle of trying to find fashionable clothing and as someone with a naturally larger head and natural hair I experienced the same problem with finding hats that fit, let alone protected my hair. Because of this struggle I decided to create satin lined hats that were fashionable and size inclusive. Finding a stylish hat that is not one size fits all in a store is almost impossible, and definitely will not have a satin lining. Most hats do not have a lining, as a result the fabric of the interior of the hat is exactly the same as the exterior, which is often cotton, nylon, or some other fabric that contain rough fabrics which cause friction and damage to the hair strand and follicles. Satin is a smooth texture that allows the hair to glide and not break. With the dilemma I was facing and my experience with shopping for stylish clothes, I knew that a product like this may never enter the market. Knowing that my own family and friends experienced similar issues, whether it was they had a larger head, a lot of hair, or simply just wanted a fashionable hat that protected their hair, I knew that creating products that solved this issue was a path set by God that I had to take….so I took the path. It has been challenging but also so rewarding to know that I am making customers happy when they are able to leave the house in one of my hats knowing they are making a fashion statement, protecting their hair, or actually being able to wear a hat for once in their life.

3. what problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others: There are many hat companies and companies that create protective hats which is great, but I found that most if not all were missing one or more of the three things my company was offering, whether it may be size inclusivity, fashion, or satin lining for hair protection.

4. What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc.: I am most proud of the fact that I was able to develop and create each and every product from scratch. Each product went through multiple phases of product development to ensure the sizing was right, and that the satin lining was top quality charmeuse satin. The moment I received the final samples in my size (x-large in all our hats) I cried because I accomplished something that started out as an idea and I was finally able to wear fashionable hats. The statement outfits I could create with the products are endless. Knowing that I felt so seen from my own product reassured me that others who have experienced the same problems, would feel even the smallest inkling of what I felt was a big accomplishment for me. As my business continues to grow, I hope I can make more and more customers feel this way and break the one size fits all industry standard. I will continue to listen to my customers and implement the things they want to see in everything related to hair accessories and headwear. There is so much more to come from Satined, I can’t wait to continue creating and making my customers feel seen and heard through our products.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Social media has been my number one source, if not my only source for attracting new customers. Instagram has been the best source for me as a new business owner who is just learning how to be on the content creation side of instagram. In addition to creating content for instagram and tik tok, I run ads on instagram which allows me to target new customers who are similar to my current instagram following. The response has been great so far, we are barely four months into business and are close to 1k followers on instagram. It may not seem like a lot to people but for a small business that started from 0 followers, its a huge deal to us and big indication that market for our products is there, we just need to work on brand awareness and reach a larger audience, which requires a lot of patience or a ton of advertising money. I have opted for patience and a very small ad budget since funds are limited as a brand new small business.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I first launched my business in September and started sharing and posting about my products, I expected to get sales instantly. I did not understand why the only sales I was getting were from friends and family. I expected social media to do its thing and automatically reach my future customers. I was wrong! I went almost three weeks without a single sale and I was quickly discouraged and honestly believed I wasted 2 years of product development and savings on a business idea that people did not want. But I refused to give up because I already put so much hard work into the company, there was no point in giving up a few weeks in. One lesson I remembered from a small and successful business owner sharing online was to fail fast and fail forward, fail hard and get up fast meaning that success comes from failure and the lessons we learn from that failure. If we spend more time just sitting in the failure feeling bad about it instead of quickly finding the lessons in the failure you will never grow and evolve and neither will your business. Now I kind of enjoy some failures in my business, even the ones that just suck because it gives me an opportunity to learn something someone might pay thousands of dollars for in a course and still not get because experience is the best teacher. Now almost four months in my business has gained a steady monument from simply failing fast and failing forward.

Contact Info:

• Website: satinedlined.com
• Other: instagram: @satinedlined tik tok: @satined_lined

Image Credits
Lina Simpsonn