A year ago, I moved into my salon with 300 skirts. I just counted, and I have 384.
We’ve increased manufacturing this year, the skirt orders are getting larger, and the fabric orders are becoming more consistent. Things are growing, which is why I had been planning a Black Friday event in my head. I was going to call it Blue Friday, because the skirts arriving soon from India are natural indigo, a stunning blue. It was going to be small and easy: unlock the doors, and there are the new skirts.
Except the shipment is packed and ready to go, and if we can add a few more pounds, we can save almost $1,000 in shipping. (That’s not tariffs, just shipping. These costs are wild!) So, no Blue Friday. We’ll wait another week to stitch more and add to the boxes.
Which brings up the larger question of why shipping is so expensive. I suppose we expected it, with lots of factors driving transportation costs up, but it was only last summer that I decided to continue manufacturing, staring tariffs of over 60% in the face. I moved into my salon to grow my business, and the goal was to manufacture the same amount in 2026 as in 2025, even though it would cost me more, so that we could keep the workshop open, five women employed, and so I could keep designing!
It was a move towards bigger.
And here I am again, facing bigger. To keep shipping costs down, instead of shipping two skirts at a time, five should do it.
I did a fashion show in February, and it was more fun and more nerves than I expected. It took me seven months to do another one, and that show was even more fun, and more nerves. Now I’m looking at my calendar while messaging with Manju about the next batch of skirts after the indigo, which is scheduled to arrive in mid-February.
That’s later than I want for luscious Spring Corduroy, so let’s call in another set of hands to stitch. These are hands that stitched for us before but were let go when the workshop downsized because of tariffs. We can bring them back and get the skirts here by mid-January.
And what will I do with four or five new styles arriving all at once? I think we’ll have another Valentine’s fashion show. Just yesterday, I was listening to a song when my thoughts wandered to girls walking in skirts, serving looks on a runway. I could feelanother show. But today, looking at an actual date on the calendar, I feel small.
The biggening of the business has led to the ever-smallening of me.
I have less control over variables than ever, and I’m more aware of it than ever. But I’m less panicked about that sort of thing. Manufacturing is running more smoothly, and I'm more adaptable. It doesn't take quite so much effort for me to make each skirt, which means my attention is turning toward the other side of the business: sales.
I'm realizing how shy I've gotten.
There's something comfortable about working behind the scenes, making skirts, choosing fabrics, figuring out production, selling online. I've spent years waiting for the business to grow, and somewhere along the way, I got comfortable waiting. Now I'm turning outward, toward events and sales, and it's a different kind of work. Events feel big, and intimidating. I'm still learning how to do them, and there's something vulnerable about putting myself out there in this way.
Blue Friday was supposed to be small and manageable. But now, instead of a little shopping event, I'm imagining another fashion show. It's exciting, and exactly what I want. I just thought I would feel like I'm the girl for the job.
A year ago, I moved into my salon with 300 skirts. Today, I have 384. I know that, because I got up and counted them, before writing this to you. It was a moment of not knowing what to do, so counting seemed like the thing.
The shop is full of lovely skirts, and if you're local to Champaign, you can come visit me by appointment.