Today we’d like to introduce you to Taylor Theisen.
Hi Taylor, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been into fashion all my life, my mom loves to tell the story of when I was two years old my dad called her at work, panicking because I refused to wear what my mom had laid out for me that day, I wanted to pick my own outfit. I think that’s where it started.
Come college, I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, so I took general classes until I figured life out a bit more. I don’t know where the idea started exactly, but at some point, I decided I would love to open a boutique, so I took a business class, and it didn’t go well. We had to create this whole business plan that included applying for a business loan among other things, and I think it was all just too overwhelming and formal to my 18-year-old self. I ended up dropping the class in the middle of the semester and kind of gave up on my dream to own my own store. I started taking classes that I thought were more practical and earned a completely different degree.
10 years down the road; here I am, owning my own store. It’s crazy to think how things have changed in the sense of how easily accessible things are to us now. I have my own business that I didn’t need to get a business loan for, I didn’t need to convince other people that I would be able to run a successful business or that I knew exactly what it was that I was doing, thank goodness, because I really didn’t. I’m not brick and mortar (yet) so all I needed to start was a business license, retail license, money that I had saved, and the courage to take the first step, which was probably the hardest part.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has been very long and bumpy. I moved here from North Dakota about two years prior to when I opened my boutique, so it was difficult figuring out exactly what I needed in order to obtain this business legally in the state of South Carolina. It was hard for me to figure out where or who to go to in order to find correct information, it was intimidating because I didn’t want to do anything incorrectly and have it bite me in the end.
As you know, we’re big fans of thread&butter. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
thread&butter is a size-inclusive online boutique for ALL body types because we are not all one and the same, one size does not fit all. We all have different butts, boobs, bellies, lumps, bumps, curves, or lack thereof. AND THAT’S OKAY. We celebrate bodies. All of them. And the ladies that love the clothes that flaunt them.
My overall goal for this boutique was to be size-inclusive because so many boutiques that I’ve been to don’t have the mid-size clothes that fit me. So, no matter what size you are, petite. midsize, or more, there will be an article of clothing in the shop for you to wear and feel fabulous in.
Not only does t&b carry various sizes. but the website also lists whether that particular piece of clothing runs smaller, larger, oversized, etc. because no two sizes are the same in the clothing industry. Sometimes shopping online can be a struggle because you don’t know how something will fit. I try to be as detailed as I can while writing clothing descriptions so that customers are confident that what they order will fit.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Even though I mentioned taking, and dropping out of, a business course in college, all of my business knowledge has been from either trial and error, questions to people who may know, or reading and researching information online. I have a degree in Strategic Communications with a minor in Graphic Design. Not a whole lot of that screams “I’ve studied how to run a successful online clothing business” so I kind of surprised myself when deciding that I’m really going to do this.
Contact Info:
- Email: shopthreadandbutter@gmail.com
- Website: https://shopthreadandbutter.com
- Instagram: shop.threadandbutter
- Facebook: shop.threadandbutter
