HOLDETTE: 2020 YEAR IN REVIEW
First Trade Show
We attended our first trade show in New York City to search for fabric and materials for our first suit. While we ultimately ended up sourcing fabric from a different supplier, attending this trade show gave us a more holistic picture of the manufacturing and materials sourcing world.
Launched Back Pocket
In April we launched Back Pocket, our community for college-aged and recent-grad women to share life, advice, and sometimes a drink. We have since grown to 400+ members and hosted workshops, events, and happy hours together.
Ran our Crowdfunding Campaign
https://ifundwomen.com/projects/holdette
Thanks to your help we successfully raised 114% of our $25k goal from 300 donors. This funding enabled us to produce our first run of women's suits!
Participated in Envision
This summer we were accepted to the first cohort of the Envision Accelerator. This accelerator is focused on supporting women and people of color who are getting their ventures off the ground. We met so many inspiring founders and learned so much!
Participated in the Her Campus Aussie Business Plan Competition
In addition to the Envision accelerator we were selected as one of 20 teams to participate in the Her Campus Aussie Business Plan Competition. Throughout the program we met with our mentor Lillian, the founder of PackUp and Go and navigated several business milestones. At the end of the summer we were named winners in the competition along with nine other teams.
First Job Match
We were so excited when we found out Back Pocket member Ashley had gotten a job at IFundWomen where her mentor Olivia works as a co-founder and general manager for IFundWomen of Color. Congrats Ashley!
Public event with over 1000 Attendees
In August we started hosting public workshops and were blown away when our first workshop had 1000+ attendees! We've continued to partner with awesome panelists from Tesla, Facebook, Google, Rent the Runway, and Hulu among others!
First Brand Photoshoot
We received our first sample suit and hosted our very first brand photoshoot! Thank you to Gloria and Katie for serving as incredible models! It was super surreal to get to hold the suit for the first time and we can't wait to share it with all of you in a few short weeks!
Started production
At the beginning of December we finally kicked off production! We cannot wait to bring the suits to you in the new year. While the process getting to this point was difficult, we have learned so much and are so grateful for everyone's continued support.
