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

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

Flannel Panels started back in 2019, during a difficult time such as the pandemic. I had just lost my job and with a career background of fashion and my MBA, I decided to get creative and start my business. We started selling flannels at local farmers markets in the Orlando area, and began venturing out towards festivals, pop up shops, and comic cons. Josh and I have always wondered, had we started years ago where would we be today. Our business has grown and succeeded so much in the past few months that if we would have started earlier we would already have opened up our own local store front and have built a team of employees. I would say that if we could change anything it would be not taking risk in the beginning, we were comfortable for a while where we stood with the business and we did not feel the need to try other vendor opportunities. Looking back I wish we would have applied for all opportunities and we probably would be a much more recognizable business through word of mouth. In all, we are extremely blessed to have been given so many opportunities and we look forward to what is yet to come in our future, we honestly couldn’t have done this without our customers and we are forever grateful.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Yilmaris Rivera and I am the owner/fashion designer of Flannel Panels. I started my business right before the pandemic in 2019 after losing my job and feeling as though it was a great time to pivot on a new adventure. My products are up cycled clothing wear with custom panel backs. All items are unisex and our sizing starts from new born kids to adult size 5XL. Our panels are a variety of Disney characters , Marvel, DC, comic book covers, vintage characters, album covers, and anime characters. What sets Flannel Panels apart from other clothing companies is that each item is unique in itself. We also allow our customers to be creative and send us images they personally want as a panel. I am mostly proud of the constant positive feedback from customers as well as the amazing support around me on this entrepreneurial journey. I would like to express that Flannel Panels will go above and beyond to meet your expectations, with every customer we ensure to give you a personable experience that ensures satisfaction every step of the way. Our goal is to make every customer light up with excitement on seeing their new apparel and feeling valued throughout the process.

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

On social media there are many ways to build presence and one of the ways that has worked really well for our business is by social media tags. For every purchase we ask all of our customers to follow us on social media and tag us as well wearing the product they have purchased. This allows us to get our brand recognized via social media through our clients, and in exchange we offer a discount of 15% off their next purchase.

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

Flannel Panels also sells on Etsy as well as our website. Both are great ways to get our business out there especially Etsy, where they promote via SEO. If you are familiar with the engine and it’s key words, we highly recommend opening up your shop on there. Our customers have expressed they feel comfortable shopping via Etsy for security reasons which also helps build trust with our customers. The only downfall with Etsy is that the fees are a bit higher than most platforms, however you maintain a loyal customer base via Etsy.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.flannelpanels.com
• Instagram: @flannelpanels
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/106807881183608/
• Other: Tik Tok: @Flannelpanels

Image Credits
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