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

Hi Rachel, thanks for joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

If I could go back in time I definitely would have started my slow fashion brand years before I actually started. I wouldn’t have changed my experience at all and I have no regrets for when I did start the brand, but for years friends and family told me I should start my own brand. I never really listened or took into consideration actually doing this for myself until the pandemic hit and I finally took a leap of faith to pursue it. I have loved all things retro since high school and had been wearing vintage for years and years. I collected vintage clothing for myself and even sold vintage on the side. People who knew me knew how special it was to me and would express to me for years I should start something for myself and design clothing! Looking back it’s funny to think of all the excuses I made to myself and to others. I always said it seemed very expensive and a lot of work. It definitely is both, but it’s been such a rewarding experience that I wish I had taken that leap of faith and started designing sooner. However, truth is it took me longer to get to a secure point in life where I knew I could take that risk and start a business. When the pandemic hit in 2020 I took the year off from my career that I was pursuing and really started thinking about what I wanted next in life. When I went back to work in 2021 my motivation and determination for what I was pursuing at the time really diminished and I felt I needed to do something for myself. So I finally took the advice and started my journey in 2021 to launching my own fashion brand. I’m so happy I did it and I thank others for supporting me! I only wished I would have taken the advice of others sooner and believed in myself, like they believed in me.

Rachel, 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?

My name is Rachel Antone, I am the owner, designer and creator of the small slow fashion brand in Los Angeles, GIMMICK. In 2021 I launched my retro inspired woman’s clothing line with a goal to remain as sustainable as possible by using deadstock fabric to manufacture the garments. Before launching my own brand I have been a vintage enthusiast for years and years. I have a real love for vintage fashion and when things in my life changed in 2021, coming out of the pandemic, I decided to do something for myself and start my small business. I have always had an entrepreneurial side to myself, but never stepped out of my comfort zone enough to pursue something. During college and the years following I pursued costume design for theatre, film, and tv. That was the main reason I moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles. And while I enjoyed my time, and will always have a love for costuming, my path ended at the start of 2021.

For decades people told me to take my love for retro clothing and turn it into a clothing line. But it wasn’t until I really didn’t know where life was taking me that I stepped outside my comfort zone to start a business. Up to that point I really had no knowledge of the fashion industry, how manufacturing worked, or how to even launch a website. I’ve always enjoyed having challenges in my life and so this was a challenge I was excited about.

My brand is very niche in the vintage inspired, retro enthusiast community of individuals; but a community I love and am very familiar with! But anyone who is looking for groovy, cute everyday dresses; then you’ll have to check us out online! We manufacture and source all our deadstock fabric here in Los Angeles, which I consider to be a great privilege to do! What I am excited about to share with everyone is that I am working hard towards being able to expand what we offer and design more!

This brand has been a huge passion of mine, and getting close to being two years in business is pretty unbelievable for me! I want to encourage everyone to keep supporting small brands, as it means so much to us!

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

Building your audience on social media can be very challenging and crucial to launching a brand. You want to make sure you are catering to the right audience for your product and understand what it is that your customers want to see from you. When I first started I really didn’t have a lot of experience with instagram. I had a personal account, but rarely posted and felt very insecure about how to start a brand profile. Before I dove into my social media presence I took a really amazing instagram course that taught me the ins and outs of how to showcase your brand through social media. I learned what was necessary, what makes your brand stand out, and how to have the right type of engagement with your followers. I built my entire following 100% organically by really focusing on what made my brand unique, identifying my brand community, and introducing myself and my story with starting the brand.

It took me a long time to want to show my face on social media, but the more that I engaged and shared my personal story with my followers the more following and engagement I saw! So if there’s any advice I can give to someone who is just starting to build their presence it’s to:
1. Identify who your customer is and hone in on what content they want to see
2. Share more background about yourself and your journey with starting the business
3. Engage with your followers and customers frequently
4. Focus on what makes your brand different and unique

I also recommend taking an instagram/social media course that helps break down key things you can do to help build your presence.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

If there’s anything that I feel proud of most when it comes to my business is how I started funding it and how I have been able to continue to fund it by myself, solely. Nowadays there are various ways to fund your own business, but when I started the business I really felt it was special and important to me to fund it myself. I didn’t ask family or friends to help out in any way, I quite literally used all my savings to start. And before starting the business I worked in film/tv and have always been very good at saving money. I have never been the type to spend money on unnecessary things in my life because I strongly believe in having a budget. So in 2021 when I launched my business I sat down and looked at my savings and came up with a plan. I researched a lot of ins and outs of the fashion industry to understand how much things would cost and what I felt would or wouldn’t be necessary expenses for my brand. So I was able to take all my life savings and pour it into the brand. And of course I made mistakes and learned I could have cut costs along the way; I have no regrets. And of course I made mistakes and learned I could have cut costs along the way, but I have no regrets. While I did make the difficult decision to go back to work to continue to fund my business, I knew it was the right move to make so I could continue to rely on myself and learn! I’ve taken a lot of pride in my financial journey with my business and has been one of the things I feel most proud of.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shopgimmickclothing.com
• Instagram: @gimmick.clothing
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/gimmickbyrachel