How do we get from A to B?

We are 50 years old. We are women, wives, mothers, and entrepreneurs. We have a brilliant product, an unwavering work ethic, and years of experience in our fields and in life. We have cultivated a deep appreciation for the finest in design and have spent decades educating ourselves about the fashion and home interiors industries. We have (combined) worked for Sotheby’s New York, Kate Spade, Henri Bendel, Prada and Dakota Jackson, Inc. We have collected art, designed our homes (and those of our friends), closely watched the fashion industry, and built wardrobes of value and style. We have been personal shoppers, style guides and homework helpers. We’ve cooked a million meals, made a million beds, dried a million tears and taken uncountable photos. We are driven, hard working, motivated and determined. We never give up and we will never give in! 

As Gen X’ers we came of age before the dot.com revolution. We navigated through our teen years without cell phones or google, and embraced flip phones in our early 20’s. We learnt to text by clicking the raised buttons on our cell phones, and we remember fax machines and the early days of email and AOL. We navigated the world wide web in our first pregnancies looking for baby bedding and nursery decor, and we took the first precious photos of our babies using actual cameras (sometimes digital but not always), and camcorders… 

WE’VE COME A LONG WAY BABY!

Over the course of the last 2.5 years, we have created a spectacular online business - DUXSTYLE. Seeking to stand out in a saturated market, we found our niche uncovering emerging international artists and artisans and delivering a curated offering of best in class designer home and fashion collections. We draw upon our International upbringing and passion for finding rare and undiscovered objects of beauty and craftsmanship.  

Our collection of over 50 designers and artists represents all five continents and 25 countries. We promote craftsmanship and quality, sustainable and responsible design, appreciation for artistry, and elevating independent designers. We are committed to building a platform for a global community of designers and artists, whose work is discerning, sophisticated, fun, flirty and essentially beautiful.

We have learned and adapted and joined the robust online workforce. We are now experts in Shopify and the ins and outs of our website. We have updated alt text and meta fields, and we pay close attention to SEO. We watch our google business account daily, tracking numbers and progress. We keep detailed spreadsheets on our daily spend, and analyze our shopify spreadsheets. We monitor inventory, maintain our banking and stay on top of all legal concerns. We’ve learned to register a business, get insurance, and move palettes of product from Europe to the USA. We’ve negotiated discounts and built incredible relationships with our vendors.  We’ve learned to package and ship and provide outstanding customer service. We’ve become graphic designers, creating logos and ad campaigns. We’ve schlepped our extensive product offering from one trade show to the next, in rain and gusty winds and sweltering heat. We’ve worked with sick children at home, through home renovations and a changing world. And we WILL continue… to grow and learn and get better and more accomplished. We are determined to build a thriving business that is a household name. 

But we have hit a roadblock. How do we get from where we are (limited brand awareness and slow sales) with little disposal budget, no employees, and marginal knowledge of the intricacies of influencer marketing and an ever changing landscape of new media, social media and WEB 3.0, to where we want to be? We don’t have the invaluable knowledge or coding at our disposal, or the expertise and funding required to help us “explode”. We’d love to follow in the footsteps of our dream companies, like FarFetch, All Modern, Houzz and Net-a-Porter. We’d love to collaborate with cutting edge companies in fashion and home design. We’d love some love from the influencers who can make all the difference to a small, but amazing company. We would love to continue to grow and expand (and bring in some income quite frankly)...

But the question remains: can a couple of 50 year old women living in Suburban America, with little budget, break through the clutter and make an impact? 

If hard work and determination, talent and drive are indeed determining factors in success, surely we should be able to achieve our goals.