Sramana: Are you still working with the same factory in the Dominican Republic? Amber Schaub: No. After all the mistakes that we had to deal with in the first order, we had to make a change. We worked with them for a short period of time. Over the years, we have developed relationships with manufacturers.
Sramana: How have you expanded your team from 2010 onward? What has your recruitment philosophy been? What positions have you hired for and how have those people helped you scale the business? Amber Schaub: Throughout the process, we have hired on a need basis. We are a family business and we did as much as
Sramana: Did you gain traction with the brick and mortar retail stores? Amber Schaub: We did get some good success early on. Nordstrom contacted us in late 2008. Sramana: How big was your first Nordstrom order? Amber Schaub: They did a 5 store trial order, which at the time, seemed huge to us since no
Sramana: How did you handle such a big event so early on? I imagine it was quite an ordeal to get ready for celebrity exposure. Amber Schaub: I only needed 300 pieces to be able to do the event, so I had the factory send the completed work out to the hotel in LA. I
Sramana: You said you designed the clothing yourself even though you did not have a background in design. Can you explain that process to us? Amber Schaub: I would draw things up and take my designs to a pattern maker. She would take my designs and convert them into a paper pattern. I sent those
Sramana: You had the intuition to react to something that a retail salesperson was giving you. What did you do next? How did you go about setting up your business? Amber Schaub: My first step was to go back to Mark and share my idea. I also had to get the trademark, which cost $400. I
RuffleButts is a perfect story on how to bootstrap with a paycheck. Amber Schaub started RuffleButts, a children’s apparel company, in March of 2007, backed by her husband’s full-time job. He later joined in 2010 as the COO after the company had gained traction. Sramana: Let’s start at the very beginning of each of your