We were lucky to catch up with Tamara Thomas recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tamara, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later

At the beginning of 2020, like the rest of the world, I made my plans for the new year. I just purchased a home, but my 20 year long career in fashion, was stagnant. I was entering a season of revolution.

2020 was supposed to be the year I made a shift, or, at the least, find a new job.

Then there was the quarantine.

I found myself working from home, and soon after, I found myself without a job. For the first time in over 10 years, I was free.

Having a career for that long, doing something you really love, there’s a grieving process. Luckily, because I was home, I was able to invest in my mental health and rediscover passions.

For the first time, in a long time, I wanted to create. No, I needed to create. I was compelled to.

Now that my career was on hold, I had something that I didn’t have for over a decade, time.

An alumnus of Fashion Industries High School in NYC, I studied illustration and merchandising as a teen, but without the confidence in my talent, I chose product development as a career.

I do think often if I had the confidence I do now in my talent, if I would’ve had the guts in my ability to succeed.

Would I have the connections I have to bring the brand to life in under a year like I did?

Would I have the freedom allowed me because I am an industry veteran and can work less hours?

I thought of my grandmother, Geraldine and my mother, Clarice, and how hard they worked.

They were both seamstresses, making their own garments for themselves, family, and friends.

I thought of how much of a blessing it is for me, their daughter/ granddaughter, to not only live their dream professionally, but to do so, while embracing and uplifting the necessity of rest.

So, I started to create.

I started to create, and all that inspiration flooded back.

I was able to dive into my design talent but also all I’ve learned in my career in development, but moreover all the friends and colleagues in the industry that helped me develop and encouraged me to launch.

My dreams of being a designer realized.

Now, in the 4th decade of my life, with nearly 20 years’ experience in the fashion industry, I’m realizing my dream.

And I’m doing it in my hometown of the Bronx, New York with local artisans, and local sourcing, and it feels damn good!

Although I wish I started earlier, the more I think of it, no, this was the time. This time is divine. I’m ready now.

Tamara, 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?

Creating is what I do. It’s a family legacy I was born into. Sadly, for all but a few of my family members, it’s a side hobby.

Entrepreneurship isn’t in our blood.

However, with 20 years under my belt developing product for great brands that stand the test of time, I knew I could do this.

I’ve developed all types of products, from apparel, to accessories, to footwear. I focused on sleepwear and loungewear mainly because where I am in my life. I am increasingly becoming anti-grind culture. The world is. We are taking more and more stock in what matters. I want my brand, Je Mérite to be a part of that journey.

I not only make high quality goods, but they are accessible. Where I produce and with whom, matters.

My goods are designed by me specifically for women and femmes with real bodies. I fit everything on myself and my closest friends – all millennial and xennial women and femmes.

All fabric is sourced through a Black owned, family owned fabric company here in New York, and all garments are produced at an immigrant family owned luxury factory.

What you are receiving from Je Mérite, you won’t receive from any other sleepwear/loungewear company. You are supporting a community of artisans and receiving the highest quality garments made specifically for the comfort of women and femmes.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

Manufacturing is the most challenging part of my journey to date. I design my product myself and source all of the materials. When it came down to creating patterns, scaling, and producing samples and production, I was lost.

Working for larger brands, all of that is done in-house, smaller brands, you are responsible for out-sourcing/ sub-contracting all of that work. I was completely caught off guard and unprepared.

As always, I depended on my friends and colleagues. I expressed my wants and needs through text and on LinkedIn and was immediately connected with a fantastic technical designer.

She wasn’t my first however, I found a tech designer on Fiverr originally. That was an experience. We had amazing meetings, several of them. She showed me her work, it was fantastic. She delivered the most useless unprofessional patterns to me, and late, and expensive, and the sample I sent her for details, she wore it, and returned it soiled. It was terrible. I lost weeks.

Luckily that didn’t stop me. It taught me a valuable lesson. Use the people you know and the connections you have. I found my amazing team through my friends, colleagues, and trusted LinkedIn connections.

What I must stress the most, what I learned as a product developer, problems will arise, mistakes will happen. You must stay on top of every step of your sourcing, development, and production.

You must visit the factory, in person, and throughout the process. They must know you. They must trust you. They must be on your side and in your corner.

If this is your first venture into manufacturing, go slow, manufacture the simplest straight forward way, and trust your gut.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

Je Mérite is DTC. I do not sell on Etsy or Amazon but I am considering selling on Amazon platforms now that I have established myself on my own website. That’s what my goal was in my first year, to sell direct. A pro of selling DTC is you can create your own brand identity. There is no competition. When customers are visiting your site, they are visiting specifically to purchase from you. You control the sales and there is no commission. The downside is that Amazon has the traffic and the cache. Customers come to Amazon ready to shop and their fashion offering has increased. I really love selling on my site over META which I also sell on. I can control and monitor the shipments through shipstation and it words great. Amazon, here we come!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jemerite.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopjemerite/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopjemerite/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/72729490/admin/
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/shopjemerite
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7NcVjus-Hm9gfVwJXB5ifA