Mallorie Dunn, founder, and designer of SmartGlamour knows a thing or two about pivoting.
The owner of the inclusive clothing company based in New York City had to (like many of us) deal with the reality of the COVID 19 pandemic while trying to find the best way to provide the public with something in high demand… so she pivoted to masks.
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Mallorie’s Pandemic Pivot
About that time, Mallorie tells me,” the conversation around masks started happening. I talked to my husband about making masks for us, and I was doing a bunch of research into the best kind and the patterns for them. And then I was like, ‘Well, I guess I’ll post it on my personal Facebook and see if anybody else wants them’. So I posted it, and it just blew up, and everybody wanted them. So I was like, well, okay, so I’m gonna have to like figure out how I’m doing this”.
And figure it out she did!
Mallorie wanted to make sure that the masks were accessible to anyone who needed them, so she set the price as “Pay What You Can” and refused to have a suggested price to keep things as fair as possible.
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Mallorie tells me of that time, “from the beginning of April until September 2020; I was only making masks. I wasn’t really promoting clothes at all, and I wasn’t making any new collections or doing any shoots or any of that-I was focusing on masks. I made 5000 masks during that time”.
With this pandemic pivot, she wanted to be sure to provide masks that were size-inclusive as well. “I had them in four adult sizes and three kids sizes because that was another thing I was seeing people were making one, maybe two if you’re lucky in adult sizes and like one maybe two in kids sizes. A lot of people were having problems with masks not fitting correctly”, Mallorie recalls.
With the success of her mask sales, she was also able to donate masks too. As a result, about 1000 of the 5000 masks made during this time were donated far and wide throughout the country and as far away as India.
Easing Back Into Clothing
Eventually, Mallorie noticed a considerable decrease in mask sales. Suffering from mask-making fatigue-Mallorie was grateful for the break and started to wonder… are people ready to shop for clothes again?! So, on a whim, she decided to pose the question to the brand’s 9,300+ Instagram followers, and the response was a resounding YES!
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But, with the pandemic still very present, she wanted to know exactly what her customers’ needs were. “I was like, Okay, well what do you [the customer] want? Because we’re in a totally different environment. What, what exactly do y’all want me to do? People were saying that they wanted cozy fall stuff that was cute, warm, and comfy.“
SmartGlamour’s Custom Approach To Creating A Collection
She continued asking questions for that Fall 2020 collection, utilizing Instagram stories and polls to gauge people’s interests in patterns, colors, designs, and more.
She involved SmartGlamours followers, even more, providing a behind-the-scenes look into making that Fall 2020 collection.
“I released the collection that last fall a year ago, and on the first day, it sold like three times better than anything else has ever sold in the history of SmartGlamour,” she tells me.
She realized that by involving SmartGlamour’s customer base in the collection process, they felt personally invested in the line. And, because she went straight to her customers for feedback, there was no guessing on her end on what people needed and wanted—a win/win.
Fast forward to this year’s 2021 Fall collection.
SmartGlamour’s Latest Collection
To create this year’s SmartGlamour fall collection, she utilized the same collaborative process to bring us this sustainable, size-inclusive collection that is available now via SmartGlamour.com!
I asked Mallorie to describe the fall collection and how she keeps it as sustainable as possible. She explains, “So in general, the way that SmartGlamour works (even pre COVID) Is that I’m always bringing back items that I’ve had forever. They’re like good fashion basics and staples. These are the things that you’re going to pull from your closet all the time and mix and match with other things. So I always bring them back and reshoot them in new colors. About half of the items are classic styles, and then a half-ish are new items. This latest collection is the same.”
Without Further Ado, SmartGlamour’s Latest Collection!
Items featured on model:
Items featured on model:
The Rosalind Button Down Shirt
Items featured on model:
The Laurel Fuzzy Pullover Sweater
The Sargent Button Front Circle Skirt
Items featured on model:
The Sharice Bell Sleeve Wrap Sweater
Items featured on model:
The Babe Cropped Pleather Moto Jacket
Items featured on model:
The Hallie Button Front Cable Knit Cardigan
Items featured on model:
The Ursula Dolman Cropped Sweatshirt
Items featured on model:
Items featured on model:
The Holly Loose Fit Sweater Dress
Shop SmartGlamour Now!
With the holidays literally right around the corner, be sure to support small business owners like Mallorie, who put their blood, sweat, and tears into their passion! As a result, the clothes are incredibly well made, will never go out of style, and in SmartGlamour’s case-are made-to-order ethically and sustainably and go up to a size 15X! That is nearly unheard of!
We love to highlight and support small indie designers and brands because they are the backbone of the plus size fashion industry. They are the true innovators and trendsetters yet rarely get the spotlight they deserve! So, if you don’t already… Please follow and support brands like SmartGlamour and let them know they are appreciated!
I wish I could say that SmartGlamour fulfills their promises; however, I do suggest you read the Yelp reviews, including my recent experience of an order taking (so far) double the promised time. I was very excited about my order, so when I did not hear about it, I reached out to Mallorie, who emailed that she is a one-woman business overwhelmed with orders and she will let me know when mine is ready. Her tone was condescending, as if she was offended that I would even ask about my order. I have asked for a refund as the item (a winter jacket) is too late for wear this season and the communication around the order was so poor that I do not want to do business with SmartGlamour or Mallorie anymore. Searching for reviews to see if this was a one-time experience, I read several reviews on Yelp in which clients’ orders were egregiously late, of poor quality, and communication was deceptive and condescending. If SG had a BBB website, I would be making a report. This is truly disappointing.
I’m so sorry you had this experience with SmartGlamour!