We were lucky to catch up with Tara Sahi recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tara, 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.

Well my husband and I had both lost our regular jobs in 2019/2020. I already had started a business making wire wrapped jewelry but when 2020 happened, my events got cancelled and no one seemed to be buying jewelry at that time. I’ve known how to sew since I was 18, so I thought I’d put my skills to good use and start making face masks out of t-shirts since they were hard to come by. I didn’t realize how much work it was going to be for me. Hundreds of orders were coming in every day and it became overwhelming. Thankfully, it died down after a couple of weeks once more people started making them. When orders stopped, I thought “What am I going to make next?”

At that time, my husband had been working as a full-time eBay reseller, selling mostly vintage clothes. I would go with him to the thrift occasionally and help him find cool pieces to resell. While thrifting, I realized there were so many modern pieces that had holes or stains that would probably be passed up on and eventually end up in a landfill. So I came up with the idea of tie-dying, bleach dying and distressing these tees to cover up the stains and give them a second life. At that time, TikTok DIY’s were blowing up and apparently bleach dying t-shirts was super on trend and I had no idea. I came up with the idea of basing our store on 80’s/90’s nostalgia. I wanted to remind people of their favorite artists, cartoons etc. from childhood and make them take a walk down memory lane. I wanted to give everyone something they can relate to.

Tara, 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?

I have been crafty ever since I was a kid. All I wanted to do was paint, draw, make things etc. I took art and drama classes when I was in middle and high school. I thought “I want to be an actress when I grow up!” When I got to college, I had talent grants and really enjoyed acting with my friends. but when I transferred to a university, I realized real quick it wasn’t my passion. While I was at the university, one of my classes was “Costume Construction”. I already had a sewing machine and had spent my free time making things off Pinterest since the age of 18. Sewing wasn’t new to me, but that class taught me how to read patterns and use special machines for different things. It was exciting and the only class I looked forward to going to. I didn’t continue any classes after that semester because I knew college wasn’t for me.

I came back to my home town and started a corporate job again. Not really happy with where I was, I told myself: “I want to be my own boss by 30.” While trying to come up with business ideas, my husband and I frequently went to music festivals. While being there, I realized festival goers where into crystals and I decided to make wire wrapped jewelry. It went well for 2 years as a side business but shortly after I was let go from my regular job due to covid. That pushed me into finding other outlets to make money which involved sewing face masked and eventually turned into upcycling used clothing. I had a realization that not all people wear jewelry but everyone wears clothes.

Markets started to open back up in fall of 2020 and when I brought my new product to them, patrons flocked to my racks and bought them up. Not only did they love the idea of helping save the planet, they also knew us small business owners needed support more than ever. Ever since then, we’ve expanded our line of upcycled clothes to sweaters, sweatpants, flannels, skirts and jackets. We also have gone from vending local markets to vending big music festivals around the US. Our goal is to spread the word about upcycled fashion and hope that one day reworked clothing will widely be sold in stores across the world.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Building an online presence can be very hard. I first started out by telling all my friends and family to like, follow, share my posts in hopes that their friends and family would follow. I also started selling on Etsy and would always send business cards with my social media on it. Additionally, I would support and follow other small businesses and would share their items in hopes that they would repost/share my items. What I would say has worked the best for me is giving away a free item (i.e. a sticker) for a follow. Yes, sometimes people unfollow you shortly after but most of them wont. Frequent giveaways help as well!

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Traveling. Expanding our brand to new places we’ve never been. We are constantly trying to get accepted into music festivals across the US. Most of these events have anywhere from 5k-400k people there. I always tell people that we make custom pieces as well. I want to accommodate people who are interested in our brand and make their vision come to life.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shop-cosmic.com
• Instagram: cosmic.creations.co
• Facebook: CosmicCreationsByCT
• Other: TikTok: @cosmiccreationsco