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After years of searching for the perfect beach bag, friends Lara Cross and Theresa Waterlow decided to combine their talents and hone the skills they'd learned from their former careers to create the perfect summer accessory. 300 bags and 1,500 pompoms later, Crosslow is riding on a wave of success.
We caught up with the duo to talk about how they came up with idea for their business and lessons learned along the way.
Take it away, ladies!
Name: Lara Cross and Theresa Waterlow
Business: Crosslow
Started: 2016
How did you two decide to create a business together?
We went on vacation together, and ended up discussing the perfect beach bag. When we got home, we had a proper creative brainstorm and decided to just create our own!
We met up at one of our homes and pulled out all the baskets we own. We decided what we liked and what we didn’t about each one — the shapes, the handles, the size. There was one style we kept coming back to.
There is no one, original design or blueprint out there for beach bags. Most designers look at what they like and try to make it better. We realized the bags wouldn’t work if they were generic — they had to be personalized, which has been our unique feature, along with our bespoke pompoms.
Both of us are crafty and have run businesses that reflect that. Theresa creates intricately decorated cakes and Lara owns a high-end cushion company. If we didn’t have anything else to do, we’d both just start making something! We’re also completely self-taught — queens of the “wing it and see!”
We both had pompom makers at home and, although you can buy them ready made, they’re not as nice. Ours are the softest, fanciest pompoms. There are so many out there and we are yet to see ones as good as ours. While we can’t control the bags — right now they're imported from Vietnam — we can control the finish. We've also tested many different types of paints, and eventually we settled on graffiti spray paints.
Who was your very first customer? How did you find them?
Theresa’s hairdresser was our first customer. We asked her to try the bag out and let us know how it would wear. Then, influential friends bought some and posted them on Instagram. Through word of mouth and people carrying them around, the product started to spread!
When did you know your business was going to work?
Our original intention was to create a range of bags in different colors to sell at fairs, with personalized initials as an extra add-on service. However, we became worried that we could end up with unwanted stock if there were unpopular colors that didn’t sell.
So, we realized that making the product bespoke was key. We gave three personalized bags to friends at a birthday lunch and posted a photo of them on Instagram. During that lunch we got eight orders! Every bag we make is photographed and Instagrammed. It encourages our customers to look back over the feed and leave requests, which inspires us.
What has been the biggest surprise so far after starting your own business?
We weren’t surprised by how well people reacted to the product, as we love it — so we knew other people would too!
But working so well together has been a good surprise. We are in constant contact on WhatsApp all day long and we’re in the same headspace, so we can trust each other to make a decision if the other can’t be there.
We have separate roles, too. Lara does all the social media and is the voice and tone of the brand, communicating with clients via email and Instagram. Theresa is the creative director, in charge of monogramming, painting and pompoms.
How do you price your products? What has been your biggest lesson learned in pricing thus far?
We look at similar products to get an idea for how we should price our bags. Then, we take the overall cost of all our materials and multiply by 2.5, which is typical retail markup.
We're happy with the price we charge, as we think we’d pay that ourselves and no one has ever questioned it. Our postage and packing is expensive because of the size of the bags, but now we’re able to ship to people further away. Initially we didn’t, as the bags had to be collected.
We haven’t factored in paying ourselves yet. No one can do that in this kind of business until they’ve scaled it.
What does a typical day look like for you?
We work for 4 to 5 hours a day, ideally together. We start the day liaising with clients and going through all the orders that need to be completed, including which bags need pompoms or monogramming once they’ve been sprayed. Then, we send out the bags that are ready. We've spent a long time working out the best ways to keep our shipping costs down.
If you could go back in time, what’s the one thing you would do differently when starting your business?
We’d have started sooner! We were scared of committing to the idea out of fear that it wouldn't work, but we learned that you just have to do it.
Enthusiasm got the better of us in the early days — excitement ruled over logic — but we also believe you need to leap in to get stuff done!
Initially, moving money between the UK and Vietnam presented problems, but we now understand there are delays and we take precautions, such as using a credit card so that we’re covered. We lost production time after a mix up at the start and, although it was the supplier who made the mistake, it was a steep learning curve. It cost us time rather than money, but since we were keen on having a full range of products ready for the summertime, it was definitely stressful!
What would you like to learn today from a community of other small business owners and self-employed professionals?
We would like to know more about the mechanics of business — for example, what is a good software option for invoicing?
We'd also like to understand more about the benefits of being a solo venture vs. a company, and the most tax efficient ways of structuring our business as we grow.
Do *you* have tips you can share?
Are you an expert in invoicing software, or do you have tips and best practices you can share on the topic of taxes?
Share your own experiences with Lara and Theresa in the comments below! We can't wait to hear your stories. :-)
