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

Jessica, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

My business idea was inspired by a fashion trend I was seeing all over social media. Women were tucking their shirts into their bras to create crop tops out of their full length tops. It was genius! It was a great way to stay trendy and be resourceful which really spoke to me! But there was one major dilemma I faced in order to participate in this trend and that dilemma was that I do not wear a bra, I haven’t worn one in years. Maybe a little TMI but it is this single problem that would motivate me to create the crop top band™.

Were you solving a problem that no one else was solving?

How was I going to turn my cute shirts into crop tops without using a bra or permanently altering them? I thought a solution would be easy to find but turns out I was wrong. I searched the internet, I searched retail stores, I asked friends for styling tips but every inquiry came up short. There was nothing.

After my failed searches, I began to wonder how many other women were also struggling to find crop top hack substitutes. I bet there were plenty. And that’s when I realized I may be onto something here. We have a problem without any reasonable solutions. So I made it my mission to fix that and after 4 exciting months, the crop top band™ was for finally sale!

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?

Hi, Im Jess! I am the owner and creator of the crop top band™ a comfortable and clasp free clothing hack accessory. I like to say the crop top band™ is your wardrobe’s best friend for all your styling needs. Want to crop your favorite band-tee but don’t want to cut it – try the crop top band™. Want to layer a cute sweater over your summer dress- try the crop top band™. Want to create some shape out of a slouchy blouse – try the crop top band™. It truly is an outfit game changer!

Currently, I am a 1 lady show! I wear all the hats from marketing & customer service to inventory & fulfillment. The epitome of a small business and I absolutely love it!

My journey into the industry has be an exciting and informative one! Before launching my brand I had no idea how to run a business or manufacture a product. My background is actually in interior designI. So developing a clothing accessory wasn’t even on my radar! But I can thank social media as the catalyst for the crop top band™ by opening my eyes to a problem that needed a good solution.

Over the past year, owning and building this brand has been one of the most rewarding experiences. I am so grateful for every single person that I have met along the way, to every single person that has purchased a crop top band™and to platforms like Canvas Rebel for giving me the opportunity to share my product & story! I can’t wait to see what the next year holds!

xo 
Jess

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I’ll start out by saying I’ve had plenty of ideas for products and businesses in the past. But I never pursued any of them because I didn’t have the slightest idea how to get investors or the means to fund them myself.

I think that is why the crop top band™ was so exciting to me. It was a low risk product that I could fund completely by myself. With elastic being fairly inexpensive and the simplicity of my clasp free design, my initial investment needed for the crop top band™ was only going to be $3,000.

But I wanted to take my proposition a step further and not use any of my savings or salary from my full time job to initially invest. I wanted my capital to come from money I didn’t have yet. Essentially, I wanted to create a side hustle that was going to fund the crop top band™ side hustle!

So I devised a financial plan in that first month which if all went according to plan I would be able to have my initial investment in the next 2 months. The plan was to get some interior design consultations and refurbish a good amount of thrifted furniture for resale. Luckily, I had one interior design project snowball into a very large project. So that project along with some newly painted nightstands would get me to my $3,000 goal in less that 4 weeks!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social Media is such a great business tool and I highly recommend every business having a social media presence. At the moment, social media (TikTok & instagram) is my main source of sales. With that said, I wouldn’t say I am a social media expert. But after building a brand from nothing to what the crop top band™ is now, there is one specific tip/advice that I believe has helped me the most.

Being authentic. I am sure you have heard this time and time again but it is so true when building your brand! There are so many products available for consumers to purchase, you want to make sure your product stands out. One of the best ways to do that is just by being you, being real, and being authentic. Because at the end of the day, they really didn’t buy “the product” they bought you.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thecroptopband.com
• Instagram: @thecroptopband
• Facebook: @thecroptopband
• Other: TikTok: @thecroptopband

Image Credits
photographer: Katie Baechler, the crop top band™