We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Molly Greenberg a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Molly, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I have always loved going to artist markets, and living in New Orleans there’s never a shortage. My love for these markets really grew when my friend Rachel moved to New Orleans early 2020. We would go to so many different markets in the city, felt like we were going to multiple every weekend at one point. During this time I really learned to love and appreciate handmade creations.

I became a preschool teacher in 2020 and by summer 2022 I was looking for something new to fill my break with. I think it was my love for artist markets that helped me make this decision. I knew sewing and had this awesome babydoll dress pattern that I made a few years back so thought, why not?

I came up with a name, Molly Rae Handmade, and started by purchasing business cards and clothing labels, and found a great fabric company in India to get my fabric from. These fabrics got my attention because they’re incredibly unique and 100% lightweight cotton. Some of them are hand block printed, some hand batiked, and so on. Once that all came in and I was out of school, I began sewing.

The dresses started off as single fabric pieces but that quickly changed when I started doing multi fabric garments. I was prepping for a market one day but finished my prep early so decided to make myself a dress. I thought I’d try something new so I grabbed a bunch of random fabrics and put them together to make what felt like a super chaotic babydoll doll dress. I wore it to the market the next day and got so many compliments. Thus, starting the Chaos Collection. The Chaos Collection is a collection of babydoll dresses that combine many different fabrics together to create a super fun and funky piece. What makes them special is that there is no one chaos dress the same as any other. Each is unique and one of a kind. I wear mine on repeat.

Molly, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was born and raised in New Orleans, so I’ve always been surrounded by art. I always knew I wanted to be an artist but never knew which medium I’d work in. I drew a lot as a kid and dabbled in sewing but I never dreamed I’d have my own business one day where I hand make each garment that I sell. My grandmother, Oma, was the fuel behind my sewing adventures as a kid. She would teach me things here and there on her machine at home and she and my mom would sign me up for sewing camps. I also altered a lot of my clothing as a kid, without my moms permission. She would find scraps of clothing under my bed, and for a while she was upset, until she saw the new and improved garments. Then she understood my vision and realized I was making these pieces more my style.

When I went to college, I had no idea what to study. After months of confusion, I settled on Apparel Design. Right out of college I made a babydoll dress pattern – the same one I use today – and began selling to friends and friends of friends. At that time, I called my business Rae’s of Sunshiine. I only did this for about a year or so off and on. I didn’t really enjoy it then. I think its’s because I hadn’t found my style yet.

I was a teacher for a few years while I was figuring out what I really wanted to do. Teaching wasn’t a passion for me, I enjoyed my time doing it but was excited when I found something that I could make my own.

My favorite way to sell my work is at artist markets. There is nothing better than seeing someone put a garment on, look in the mirror, and smile. It still excites me to the bone when someone buys something from me. Sometimes it’s not even a sale that gives me a smile, but just an interaction. I’ve had people come up to me and say ‘thank you for making beautiful things’ and that is enough to make my day. I love nothing more than being part of the artist community in New Orleans.

Right now I mainly focus on babydoll dress and flowy tops but would love to expand on this in the future. I’m still in the early stages of being a business owner. I still have a lot to learn and a lot to give. I have so many ideas but find that my mind moves way faster than my hands and machines.

I am most proud of my Chaos Collection. I feel like I found something that separates me from others by accident. This collection wasn’t a plan. I wore a dress and people liked it, so I went with it. I am also really proud of myself for making this whole thing happen. I’ve never been a huge risk taker but nothing has excited me like this before. I never thought I’d say this but I love the pressure of prepping for an event. Although I might be stressed out of my mind, that’s when I get the most work done. I work so incredibly well in these situations. There’s nothing like crunch time.

I have learned a lot since starting this business but one thing that I hope people can walk away from me with is valuing where you put your money. Something handmade with care and attention is going to last way longer than anything from any of the fast fashion giants. When you purchase from a small business you are literally making someones day. Support small businesses.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

I have a website that I sell my clothing on. I used Etsy many years ago, before I started Molly Rae Handmade, but felt I wanted something more customizable. I loved designing my website, the platform I used gave me a lot of creative freedom, I feel that it is a good representation of myself and my business.

I really like having a home base for of all my inventory. The back end of my website makes working markets easier too. I’m also able to use it as a portfolio. I have a lot of my older work on there to show when applying for markets or festivals.

It’s also nice to have an online store during market off season. New Orleans is pretty slow in the summers due to excessive heat and unpredictable rain, so markets aren’t the busiest. I’d like to take that time to post on my website more.

My biggest struggle with selling online is getting foot traffic. I find just about all of my foot traffic comes from Instagram and TikTok. But even that is challenging because I don’t have a super large following. You really have to be creative on these apps to get attention. I never was a photographer or videographer and I’m now realizing how important it is to show yourself and your product online in new and creative ways. It’s still something I’m getting used to.

To me, handmade clothing feels like a tough item to sell online, even though so many people love to online shop. When putting a piece online I take precise measurements of each garment and put those details on the product page. I make sure people know to take their measurements before purchasing from me for the first time. I don’t love the idea of something having to be returned through mail. Our planet sees enough CO2 emission from airplanes, I’d like to be able to avoid contributing to that as much as possible even if it is just by a minuscule percentage.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

I meet most of my clients at art markets. I find this is a great place to market your business and make new connections.

I also find that the artist community in New Orleans is very connected and supportive of one another. Little things like sharing one another posts on Instagram makes a big difference.

Word of mouth has also been a huge contributor to my success. I’m very lucky to say that what I make is a walking advertisement. I have met many people that say they saw someone wearing a dress or top and asked where it was from. I’ve had people support my business after seeing their friend wearing one of my pieces. It’s pretty cool.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mollyraehandmade.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mollyrae_handmade/
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mollyrae_handmade