The ladies of Wildfang are badasses. They're standing up for women's reproductive rights (they recently did a promotion where they donated 10% of purchases to Planned Parenthood), and their blog is filled with cool, informative, bad ass info on how to be an empowered, strong, cool chick in today's strange times. We just instantly related to what they're doing and knew that a partnership was a no brainer.
We wanted to find out more about how Wildfang came to be, how they keep a chill head while running a business, and a few other things...So we reached out to Taralyn Thuot, their Creative Director, and got the low down.
WILDFANG: WELCOME TO THE FAMILY from WILDFANG on Vimeo.
You worked at Nike before taking the leap to start Wildfang. How did the brand come to be? What was the inspiration & motivation behind starting this business?
We built Wildfang to be the home for modern bold bad ass women. We saw that there was a void in our consumer’s landscape. They share common values, common influences, and common attitudes, but there wasn’t a brand that was catering to them. So Wildfang was born.
Launching a brand and successfully running a business don’t always go hand in hand. You’ve inspired us with your relentless vision and message, as staying the course must not always be easy. What is the guiding value behind Wildfang that keeps you on this unique path?
Our consumer is truly at the heart of everything we do. We built this brand to fill a void in her life and all the great consumer feedback and engagement keeps us inspired and energized. We have people reroute flights to come to our store. Women ask us to style them for weddings, graduations, first dates…some of the most important days in their lives. We even had one bad ass babe build a custom guitar with our logo on it, record her album using it, then send it “to it’s rightful home,” Wildfang.
We recently read a quote that said something to the effect of ‘entrepreneurs are the only people who will work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40.’ What are some of the things you do to keep your mental & physical well-being in check?
I can definitely relate to that! Being highly invested in my work does often translate to an 80 hr work week, but it also means that I am constantly empowered as well as challenged creatively. That goes a long way to fuel me mentally and physically. But I also try to maintain balance with exercise (I run 6 days a week) and, let’s just be honest, a whiskey at the end of the day.
What are the best words of wisdom you’ve been given?
Fail better. As a young brand, we are constantly forging into uncharted territory which means a lot of going with your gut, learning from your mistakes and determining how to make your next decision better.
We talk a lot about a fighting mindset in this journal. Do you consider yourself a fighter? What does it mean to be a fighter?
We have this saying at Wildfang…punch above your weight. So …yeah…we have the fighting mindset.