Meet Rell Ellis

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We recently connected with Rell Ellis and have shared our conversation below.

Rell, appreciate you joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

My focus from the start was to stay direct to consumer. Most designers look to get their product placed in stores via wholesale accounts, but I approached it a little different. I like touching the people and getting real time feedback on the product. Its just something about being the point of contact for all my customers and having them come directly thru me to get something they love.

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 started A.V.E. 6 years ago after running another brand for a few years. The concept is to provide clothing that will make you feel like you can accomplish any goal you set. To inspire people to be great on. a daily basis. I started off as a graphic designer, doing flyers, logos, etc.. Then I discovered streetwear and really fell in love with the culture. I decided to start my own brand and bring my own flavor to the game. In an effort to cut costs, I taught myself how to screen print, watching hours of youtube videos. I Built my e commerce website, applied a few marketing tactics and took my shot. I went from making 1 design in my guest bedroom to over 60 designs currently from my 2700 sq ft warehouse and showroom. My brand has been featured in GQ and Vanity Fair, as well as seen on the backs of celebrities like Rick Ross, Angela Yee, Ryan Hurst, and MiMi Faust.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I googled everything I could to get more get more followers. Ran contests, ran sales, tried influencer marketing. All of that worked to a certain extent but I wasn’t getting the traction I wanted. My audience really started to spike once I started running ads on facebook and IG. They kept putting me in front of more people that were interested in my type of products. People from all over the world were getting to see my brand and follow the movement.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

I built this off an initial investment of about $300. That was spent on a one color screen printing press and some supplies. From there I mocked up my designs and put them on my site for purchase. Because I was doing the printing, I was able to print them once the order came in this cut down on my production costs significantly. I took all the money from my sales and reinvested in more equipment, had to build it 1 piece at a time. I kept reinvesting for years until it became profitable enough to live off of.