A couple of weeks ago a friend shared with me that there was a vintage closet sale happening in Houston and although I couldn’t attend, I wanted to know what and who was behind this idea. I quickly began to google and discovered more about Mimi Irvin who has had a long history in fashion as well as being an electrical engineer. In my research I discovered the reason for the closet sale, Mimi is moving to Australia.
I reached out to Mimi and shared with her that I was hoping to interview her and share more about her life, future and fashion journey with my readers, she agreed to be interviewed. I learned so much about brand building from this expert, read on below to tap into to her Divine Excellence!
How Did You Get Started in Fashion?
I was always a lover of fashion since the age of 3, Diana Ross has always been an inspiration to me. That’s really where my love of vintage came from. I graduated from Southern University with a BS in Electrical engineering, and I like to describe myself as Fashion, Fitness, and STEM.
What Challenges or Hurdles Have You Had in Business?
I had been in The Netherlands for 14 months and I shopped a lot of the vintage shops there, so when I came back, I said to myself I would love to do that, sell vintage. I initially wanted a mobile vintage truck, but I ultimately decided on an online vintage store and pop-up shops. The challenge with that was true authentic vintage just runs small, I’m guessing back then women were just smaller, and clothes weren’t made with a lot of stretch. So, a lot of my clients couldn’t wear the clothes they wanted from what I was selling, and it just didn’t feel right not being able to give them what they were wanting.
As my life transitioned so did how I wanted to offer the world fashion, I was working out so much that I started with fitty wraps. I was able to tell women, OK you’re working out and sweating but you can put your hair up, don’t let the sweat stop you from getting your work out in. Since I was working out so much, I was wearing all of the other brands and I just thought, man I want to wear my own brand. I want to wear something that not only inspires me to go to the gym but does the same thing for others. I wanted to be able to show that you can be of a certain age and wear a cropped top to the gym and look good and feel comfortable, so that’s where fitty wear came in.
Vintage fashion under meyelabel will make a comeback but with inspired pieces that are designed for women of various shapes and sizes in the future.
What Can You Tell Us About Pivoting and Pausing in Business?
If you’re passionate about something it can be hard to take your hands off of it for a while and you may have the mindset of “failure” or think that if you do that then you fail. It does take a significant amount of faith, but you sometimes have to pause and it’s OK to just let things sit for a while.
I had initial feelings of failure when I paused meyelabel but being able to continue in fashion with Fittywear made me feel like the “detour” I took was truly in alignment with what I ultimately wanted to do. It took a lot of self-encouragement, but I’m still in it.
What Are Your Top 5 Business Tips?
- A Plan – business goals, target market, strategy, overall operational plan
- Mission vision – overall brand scheme, communication with audience
- Website – wix, developer or designer
- Social Media Management – making sure that business is business, personal stuff should be elsewhere.
- Financial Structure- QuickBooks, invoicing, and accounting.
What Are Your Tips for Business Boundaries?
Your price is your price, as much as you may want to give friends and family hook-ups, the answer is no. We’re also doing other businesses a disservice by asking them for discounts, so let’s pay the full price and respect people’s business boundaries.
What Are You Most Looking Forward to In Australia?
I hope to be able to make an impact and really thrive across the world, my work is taking me there and I’m looking forward to being able to leave my mark through Fashion, Fitness, and STEM.
Shop online at Fitty Wear – FittyWearOnline and follow Mimi on her various pages and stay up to date on her journey across the world here: Mimi Irvin (@fittywear) • Instagram photos and videos | Mimi Irvin (@mimi.irvin) • Instagram photos and videos
Are You Interested in Being Interviewed for Divine Society? Send an email to editor@diviniesociety.net
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