We recently connected with Payton Reed and have shared our conversation below.

Payton, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

VERGE is the perfect name for my women’s clothing store because every item is intended to be on the verge of casual and classy. It is my goal to provide easy, wearable outfits that can elevate my customers’ everyday outfits.

Payton, 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?

My name is Payton Reed and I am a 28-year-old mom, wife, and new business owner. Since graduating from Mississippi State University in 2017, I have worked as Copywriter and Content Marketing Specialist. For my full time job I was writing for tire companies, fast food chains, and technology giants. It was a great gig and I enjoyed writing, but I found myself wanting to write about things that I love: fashion, fitness, faith, food and more. This inspired me to start a fashion and lifestyle blog. What seemed like a fun hobby quickly turned into a huge part of my life and (little did I know!) would become a business in and of itself. Through blogging over the past 5 years, I discovered my passion for buying, styling, and connecting with other women online.
In 2022 I decided to leave my full time job to pursue fashion and retail by creating my own online store. VERGE is a casualwear shop that caters to women of all ages who want a relaxed yet polished look that can keep up with their busy lives. Featuring closet staples, essential basics, athleisure, and lounge, VERGE helps women of all ages elevate their every day.
I am excited to bring a unique sense of style to the boutique market and continue doing what I love: helping women feel confident in their clothes through thoughtful styling of attainable luxuries.

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

When I first starting blogging, I had around 3,000 followers on Instagram. I saw other creators quickly rise to 30k, 50k, 100k, and my little 3k felt very limiting. I loved what I was doing so I decided not to pay attention to the numbers. I created content that I liked, that resonated with normal girls. It wasn’t fancy, it wasn’t aesthetic, but it was relatable and it was consistent. When I decided to post the unfiltered, unedited, everyday things from my life my following started to grow.

It was slow but steady, and now I have over 21k organic followers who trust me to style them. Lots of these faithful followers shop with VERGE and feel like they’re shopping from their best friend’s closet.

If I would have quit because I didn’t think that my life or my content was glamorous enough, I would never have met so many wonderful women online. I learned that quality beats quantity every time and I am so thankful that I didn’t quit before I ever really got started. This platform gave me the confidence to start VERGE and showed me that social media can be a powerful business tool.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

My customers are my number one priority. When I go to market, I am thinking of them with every piece that I hand-select. There are a few ways that I foster brand loyalty and keep my customers engaged and excited at VERGE. I have a VIP Email List that gets exclusive access to launches, announcements, and new arrivals. I host live video sales once a week where my customers can shop with me in real-time. My live sales are like a virtual dressing room. Customers can ask me questions, get styling advice, see products in action, and connect with other shoppers during the live sales. My favorite way to engage my shoppers is with my mobile app. The Shop at VERGE app is free and makes the shopping process simple and fun. I am able to send push notifications to my app users and create specific app-only collections that allow them to feel like insiders. The customer experience is everything to me, and I hope that VERGE shoppers feel that when shopping online.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shop-verge.com/store
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shop_verge/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopatverge
• Other: TikTok: @shop_verge

Image Credits
Photos of Payton Reed, Briana Morrow, and Carleigh Bounds.