Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ilene Glickstein. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ilene, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I had worked at different screen printing and embroidery shops doing sales for them. Because I am a social butterfly I decided to join a lot a different networking groups in the Santa Clarita area. I would promote what we did to the members of the group so they would come use the company I was a rep for to use their services. I loved the business and was very passionate about what I did. At every job, I worked as hard as I could to prove to the owners I was a valuable asset and would love to be business partners. I always wore apparel that was made at the shop to brand the company. With that being said, I would come home and my husband would see how exhausted I was every night and came up with my company name “People Wear Me Out” A play on words…….with that name, I then started my own business and became incorporated.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I quit my TV industry job to be a stay at home mom when my daughter was 5 yrs. old. The way I got into screen printing and embroidery was because of my daughters Karate teacher. She did embroidery out of her house and she asked if I would like to team up with her and learn how to put a custom design into a vector file, then load the vinyl cutter with the color vinyl needed, weed the image that was cut in the vinyl and then heat press it on to all different types of apparel. I then I wanted to learn even more, so I went on to work for other custom apparel companies to be like a sponge and take it all in. I was invited to attend trade shows to learn what was the up and coming apparel for that year and the latest equipment. Started subscribing to all the magazines in my trade. When I started my own company I decided to make sure I had the BEST customer service in town. I am so proud of all the play on word sayings that my graphic artist has made come to life, which can all be put on any type of apparel. Long and short sleeve tees, Hoodies, Crew sweatshirts, hats, beanies, aprons, and bags. I have play on word sayings for all types of gym apparel. Men and Women workout sayings, like Am I Fit Yet? Yoga, I do yoga to relax, just kiddin’ I drink wine in yoga pants, pilates, Pilates, I thought you said Pie and Lattes, barre, Barre-bie and dance, Better when I’m dancing. All of these and more can all be purchased on my website.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I was asked by so many different screen printing and embroidery companies to work for them. They told me that they would give me a desk and computer so that they would be able to help my business grow. Sounded perfect, but when I was there for a while, they said you either work for my company or leave. I always stayed thinking that I was not ready to be on my own. I would always forfeit my company name and get business cards with their company name with my first and last name being a sales rep. I treated each company I worked for as if it was my own. Long hours, weekends, being a vendor at holiday boutiques. I never let the negativity put me down. I would turn a negative into a positive. So I decided to become incorporated. I am now People Wear Me Out, Inc. I never gave up because I knew one day it would be my turn to shine. I thought I would never find people to work with that I vibe with, but I did. It just took time.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

People were not taking me seriously with my custom apparel business that I started 15 years ago; since I worked for so many different shops… So, I decided that it was time to get my own shop and be able to share it with my screen printer. Then COVID hit and I had to give up my shop. I then started working remotely from home. Out of something bad something good came out of all this. I found my DREAM TEAM! Since I source everything out, I kept my graphic artist and screen printer and I was introduced to the perfect embroiderer, and promotional products people.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.peoplewearmeout.net
• Instagram: @peoplewearmeoutinc
• Facebook: People Wear Me Out
• Linkedin: Ilene Glickstein
• Other: TikTok: @peoplewearmeout