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After manufacturing a unique clothing line out of her home-based workspace in LA, Jillian Maddocks has been building a name for herself in the fashion industry — one pair of oversized denim overalls at a time. With a focus on supporting her local women’s shelter and a unique feminist symbol as part of her clothing, her company is growing slowly but surely.
Jillian spoke with us about where she’s found surprising successes and why keeping her workspace organized is what keeps her sane.
Name: Jillian Maddocks
Business: 323
Started: June 2015
How did you create your awesome job?
323 is a women’s oversized clothing brand, made mostly from denim. I sell everything from dresses to t-shirts and have created a bit of a following with this feminist logo I designed called the ‘infinite boobs’ symbol. I also donate 3% of all my sales to the Downtown Women's Center in Los Angeles, which provides safe, permanent and supportive housing for local homeless women.
My old job was with a t-shirt company, which I got straight out of design school and really didn’t like. I didn’t enjoy the work or the environment, and I realized I just really wanted to be making clothes.
I saved up a little and started creating things like crazy in what little free time I had. After a while, I was able to quit my job and live off of the money I put aside. I was really just trying to sell my things as fast as I could in order to keep the business going at first. I sold my work to small stores in the LA and Portland areas and just worked as hard as I could.
Who was your very first customer?
My first sale was actually through a store called Otherwild. I don’t know who purchased the item, but I believe it was a pair of denim overalls I still make.
A lot of my friends also bought things from me at first. It was definitely great to have that support.
When did you know your business was going to work?
You know, from the beginning I got a lot of really positive responses to my products. I think part of it was that I hit the market at a really good time for oversized denim. Also, my designs weren’t so outrageous that people wouldn’t consider buying or wearing what I was selling, which made a big difference.
The company really started doing well when I came up with the ‘infinite boobs’ symbol. I originally designed it to be a part of a collection, but I got such a positive response that most of the money I make now is from products that use it.
It really became my brand identity, which is funny because I hadn’t intended it to be. When I came up with it, I had been trying to think of a unique feminist symbol that I hadn’t seen before. I spent months sketching and trying to think of something that was different yet still meaningful to me, and I just loved it so much I painted it directly on one of my sweatshirts. Now I make it in all different ways and colors, and it’s used throughout my clothing line.
What has been the biggest surprise so far after starting your own business?
I didn’t understand how much I would be working at first and how organized I'd have to be in order to do it all. I found that when I’m feeling even a little bit unorganized, I can’t focus properly and nothing gets done. I didn’t realize how on top of everything I needed to be as a small business owner, from making the product to marketing it and managing the finances! It requires me to be super organized to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.
To help with staying organized, I keep my workspace really clean. I have folders for everything and I don’t let things collect unnecessarily. Everything gets thrown out or recycled if I don’t need it, and I make sure that at the end of the work day I have a clean desk.
Since my home office is actually in my bedroom, I have to keep everything simple and well organized, otherwise I’d go crazy.
How do you price your products?
My pricing is pretty normal for a clothing manufacturer. I take the cost of the yardage fabric I use and add the cost of materials to the cost of labor, then I multiply that by two to get my wholesale price and add a little more for retail.
The only real issue I’ve had with pricing — and I think this is something a lot of small business owners come across — is that it’s very hard to pay myself for labor. I don’t want my prices to be so high that no one wants to invest in my product, but at the same time I want to show that my pieces do have real value.
When I’m competing with other clothing manufacturers who are working with really cheap labor, it can be tough. So, at least for now, I tend to pay myself only after pieces have sold.
If you could go back in time, what’s the one thing you would do differently when starting your business?
To be totally honest, I may have done better to wait a little longer before diving in. It would have helped to have just a little more money saved up. It was very difficult to keep up with just the cost of having a business in that first year. Between the price of fabric and making sure the bills got paid, it was really hard for me to start up by myself.
I had to learn a lot of things the difficult way, like trademarking my ‘infinite boobs’ symbol and figuring out the licensing process. It all takes time and money. If entrepreneurs find a business partner, that can really help, but for those of us who are on our own, having a little extra buffer in terms of financing can be a real boon.
What would you like to learn today from a community of other small business owners and self-employed professionals?
I would be really interested to know how people balance their personal lives with owning their own business. I feel like when people are entrepreneurs — especially those who work from home — it’s so hard to separate from it. I would love to hear about how other people maintain that balance.
I’d also like to learn more about how other small businesses deal with pricing their products in a fair way.
Got a tip for Jillian based on *your* own experiences?
Do you have tips for Jillian for balancing life and work when both are happening simultaneously?
How do you manage pricing your products competitively, while still paying yourself a fair wage?
Share your tips with Jillian (and all of us here!) in the comments below. :-)
