We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful ERICA PARR. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with ERICA below.

ERICA, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I have always loved accessories and color from a really young age. You could usually find me draped in what my parents lovingly referred to as ‘junk city’ – a collection of colorful plastic chain necklaces and bracelets with charms that I could clip on and off.

As I got older, I became drawn to beads of all kinds and started to amass my own small collection of bead boxes filled with all sizes and colors of glass and plastic beads. I would sit for hours stringing beads together to create any piece of jewelry I could imagine however I was never in love with any of the items I created, to wear them let alone tell others or sell them.

As other interests and school took a front seat. Upon graduating from Iowa State, I was hired at the largest privately held marketing agency in the US within their automotive division. I worked at that company for 11 years until I turned in my resignation in 2016… At that time I was going through a divorce, sold my house and decided to travel the US for a few months and see what happened (I jokingly refer to this as my Eat, Pray, Love moment – I am heavily in the pray part now). I moved to Pittsburgh shortly after my travels ended and quickly got to work finding the intersection of my purpose and passion to create a business I was excited about while bringing something new and different to the fashion world and Pittsburgh.

That love of accessories and creating is what initially drove my desire to start designing earrings at my kitchen table. I started selling on Poshmark, then added pop-up events that occurred all around the city. As the winter months quickly approached, myself and another gal partnered up to open a shared retail location in August of 2019. Since then I have been able to branch out on my own and opened my flagship location in the heart of Lawrenceville, the largest city neighborhood in Pittsburgh in late 2021.

Closet Rehab specializes in jewelry and acrylic accessories ranging from earrings, Apple Watch bands, hair accessories, mix and match bags and straps, and cuffs. I personally make and design the earrings in the shop as well as offer custom design services allowing individuals to create their own pair of earrings in under 30 minutes with no added price tag or design fees. The rest of the collection I hand select or have a hand in designing with our fabulous manufacturing partners.

Closet Rehab is so much more than accessories! It’s been a way for me to help women express their personal style and exude confidence through accessories.

ERICA, 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 loved jewelry and accessories, my first love being earrings, big and bold earrings! Accessorizing has always been a form of self expression for me paired with something as simple as matching sweats or a wildly textural and colorful outfit. Over the years my style has evolved as I have evolved personally and professionally but accessorizing remains at the forefront.

Where the journey really began with designing for Closet Rehab lies in a broken earring… I had newly moved to Pittsburgh, PA and was reselling items from my personal closet on Poshmark, Mercari and Facebook Marketplace. Once I had listed all the items I wanted to part ways with, I sought out other avenues of obtaining inventory. I started doing closet clean outs for people, selling items on their behalf and returning a percentage of each sale to them. At the same time I also started sourcing wholesale jewelry and accessories to sell, which predominantly consisted of earrings, purses, and necklaces of all types.

One day, I was opening an order of acrylic earrings and realized it was broken beyond repair. Rather than throw it out, I grabbed my drill and the biggest drill bit I had to see what would happen. To my delight, it made a perfect hole and didn’t crack. There is beauty and purpose in brokenness of all kinds, and from there my creativity went wild!

I have always loved acrylic for its range of colors, the fact that it’s lightweight and comes in all shapes and sizes. I felt like a little girl again with a whole world of possibilities ahead of her to create things she loved to wear and share with people. So, I immediately got to work sourcing DIY acrylic pieces to create my own earring designs and color combinations.

I kept my first designs very simple but with unique color combinations, experimenting with movement and maintaining the lightness and allowing the uniqueness of the acrylic to shine on its own. The moment of truth was when I shared those first designs on Instagram and began to sell them. The feedback was so positive, followed by sales for my new creations.

I have no formal training in design, no degree in color, and no fancy credentials from a design school but I know that I have a God given talent when it comes to color and design along with a deep passion coupled with love for every person who walks through our doors. I believe anything is possible when it’s back by determination, resourcefulness and faith.

I design jewelry for people that have a boldness about them, and posses an unapologetic confidence about who they were created to be.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I became a Christian in early 2022 and since that time, the biggest thing that has started to impact my life and business is reading, understanding and applying the Bible. I have specifically been using the John C. Maxwell Leadership Bible which draws on scripture and has hundreds of principles on leadership throughout.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

The top three things that are the most important when it comes to our reputation are customer service, consistency and niche. First, our customers are the life blood of our business and without them, none of this is possible. We pride ourselves on consistently meeting and exceeding our customers’ expectations. Second, consistency is the key to success and it starts with the smallest daily details and permeates throughout everything we do building trust with our customers in our brand, what we stand for and what we offer. Third, our niche, acrylic jewelry and accessories is what we do and our customers know what to expect when it comes to quality, lightweight nature of the product, complimentary repair, design, price and customization.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.getclosetrehab.com
• Instagram: @getclosetrehab
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/getclosetrehab
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/erica-parr
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/getclosetrehab

Image Credits
images 3-8 Kelley Bedoloto @kelleybedoloto