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

Sasha, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

Although I would describe myself as an innovator in the Y2K Slogan Tee market (jokes), there are many, MANY, brands similar to mine. Your immediate thought might be that I’m about to name competition as the biggest challenge to profitability in my niche industry, but the reality is that in a world full of billions of people, there are enough customers for everyone. I make some pretty niche t-shirt designs such as “I love motorcycle boys” or “sexy individual seeking accomplished lawyer” which appeal to a very specific group of the population, and other Y2K t-shirt brands making different graphics don’t get in the way of that. The real issue, and one that has caused me great profit losses, is art theft. I would say, 95% of my products have been ripped by one website or another. The Shein defenders immediately fight me by saying “your designs are basic and not hard to come up with, how do you know they’re copying you?” but when I say my products are ripped, they even take my photos! The photos I take on my warehouse floor, the photos of me WEARING the shirts… they don’t care! But worst of all, these websites (Amazon, Aliexpress, Shein, Temu to name a few) are able to produce these shirts for pennies using unethical forms of production and sell them for a quarter of the price that I sell mine. They also have a much bigger bank than I do for running advertisements and are able to get a lot more eyes on their versions of my shirts than I am on mine. This has been devastating for the brand. The first week I release a new product, sales skyrocket, but as soon as some other website posts and promotes it, they plummet. This cycle has been continuing on for some time now, and it does not just happen to me. I would say that I do not know a single small business who this has not happened to, and these big companies face absolutely no repercussions. I am unable to afford a lawyer to strike these listings and if I do, they’ll likely just pop them right back up again. The ability to protect every single one of my graphics with a copyright trademark is unrealistic as well, as the process takes up to two years to complete and anywhere from $400-800 per single design. There is no winning, the only way things would change is if these major retailers would offer protections for small businesses and creators like us!

Essentially, as a consumer and customer, I implore you to pay the extra $4 and support the original creator of the garments. Not only will it likely be higher quality and more sustainable, you’ll be supporting their work which allows for their creations to continue to be made!

Sasha, 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 Sasha, and I run a clothing company called Hoes For Clothes. We are a small team of 5 people and create all sorts of fun garments from t-shirts to socks to towels! Our main speciality is a “baby tee” which is NOT a t-shirt for babies but just a type of 2000s style fitted t-shirt with a slight crop to it. Every single piece is handmade from start to finish in Southern California using ethical labor, and most graphics are actually printed by me! We create fun clothing for hot people (and you’re all hot so) in sizes XS-3XL and we make custom pieces by demand as well.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I went to college for political science, interested in a career in law. I did all the things I was supposed to do to succeed: interned at the public defender’s office the entire summer, volunteered at non-profits, collected letters of recommendations, worked one-on-one doing research for incredible professors, got straight As, studied for the LSAT… I was on track to apply a few month after graduation, which I was doing early, just two and a half years after starting at UCSB. I graduated at the end of winter quarter in March, and about one month later, my first TikTok video for the brand blew up. Out of nowhere, we went from making 2-5 sales a day to 200-400 a month, and growing every day. Since the products we sell are handmade to order, I spent virtually all my time frantically making pieces, and the time I allocated to studying for the LSAT slowly started to shorter and shorter. When I finally took the exam, my scores came back just OK. I remember sitting down with my mom, who as an immigrant from Russia ALWAYS put education first, telling her I felt lost on what to do, what to chose. We had an amazing conversation, after which my life thus far essentially took a 180 degree pivot. Everything I had ever done has been about getting good grades, bettering my resume, meeting the right people… She told me that law school isn’t going anywhere, but an opportunity like the one I had before me does not strike twice. Two years later, I can not image my life right now without the brand. Although I am still extremely passionate about politics and law, as I believe they’re the best way to make a lasting impact on the world, this career pivot paid off. Not only do I love what I do, but I think I opened up a whole new side of myself that I never would have known otherwise.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

One popular style of marketing that I see other brand’s utilize has been influencer marketing, but I never found too much success with it. Maybe I have been reaching out to the wrong people, but anytime I’ve had major influencers wear the brand, it’ll give me a small, temporary bump in sales, at the very most, and not much long term success. The only real pro I have found with influencer marketing has been the clout that comes with getting to say “Tana Mongeau wore my stuff”. For me, what has been the MOST effective for growing my clientele, is that I’ve created a community with my followers, where customers are excited to share their purchases with their friends and on their social media themselves! I am not paying them to post anything, and in fact they’re the ones paying by buying the items, and yet they’re still willing to post on my behalf and promote me to their friends! The reason this works is because it is an authentic review, these people are GENUINELY excited about their items and want to share, and their followers see it! I’ve also had customers tell me that they’ve heard about the brand by word of mouth from their friends as well, or because they saw them wearing it, and felt inspired to check it out.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hoesforclothes.com
• Instagram: @hoesforclothes
• Other: My main Tiktok got banned (sad… 200k gone!!) but my new one is @hoesforclothes.v2