Modern Fashion: Ashley McPherson of Macoma Boutique On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Good Products: When it comes to the product itself you need to make sure you are producing and distributing good quality products. My team and I travel once a month to shows to source out our clothing. Over the last few years, we have uncovered that it’s important to source our products for our customers in person as we’ve seen some orders online that don’t meet the quality standards of our business. We are truly dedicated to visiting key markets, like Los Angeles, to bring in the best designs for our customers.
Many in the fashion industry have been making huge pivots in their business models. Many have turned away from the fast fashion trend. Many have been focusing on fashion that also makes a social impact. Many have turned to sustainable and ethical sourcing. Many have turned to hi tech manufacturing. Many have turned to subscription models. What are the other trends that we will see in the fashion industry? What does it take to lead a successful fashion brand today?
In our series called, “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today” we are talking to successful leaders of fashion brands who can talk about the Future of Fashion and the 5 things it takes to lead a successful fashion brand in our “new normal.”
As a part of this series I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Ashley McPherson.
As a stay-at-home mom, Tampa, Florida-based entrepreneur Ashley McPherson was in search of an inspirational opportunity that would support her family, which also focused on her passion for fashion. After spending 2 ½ years with her friend selling the popular online brand, LuLaRoe, Ashley decided it was time to launch her own online retail sales brand, and in 2018 Macoma Boutique opened its doors. Macoma Boutique based in Tarpon Springs, Florida is a woman-owned and operated online store offering more than 50 brands of fashionable and reasonably priced clothing for everyday women of all sizes. When the online retail brand first opened it was solely operated by Ashley and over the last 3 years she has grown her team to 12 people.
Since opening her virtual doors, McPherson has also created her own fashion line, Phierce Fashions, featuring 15 clothing styles ranging from t-shirts, bottoms, to dresses, jumpsuits, and more. In October 2021, Phierce Fashions debuted their newest product, Brami, a shirt complete with bra support designed to help women break up with their bra in ribbed and cami styles with four different colors ranging from sizes XS to 3X.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?
As a child, I grew up watching my dad serve as an entrepreneur when he turned his love for cars into a successful business. He used to tell me that if you do what you love then you’ll never work a day in your life. I think watching him always work so hard, but continue to be a great father putting his family first — always stuck with me. I always loved going to work — even as a teenager — and even daydreamed about one day having a business doing something I really loved having a strong set of employees.
Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?
At 27 years old, I found myself as a stay-at-home mom. My husband had just gotten out of the military and we had two young children. While I loved being a mom, I always had the drive to do more to help my family. Due to daycare costs being so high, I needed to find something that I could make work during the time while I was at home with my kids. I was inspired to start selling clothing online after seeing other women become successful paired with my constant love for clothing.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
When I first started my boutique, I had ordered from a smaller brand online and had a small mistake on my order. I reached out to the company (not something I typically did) and was happy to reach the owner. During our call, she had shared she had let go of her assistant who typically took the company calls — we chatted for a bit and instantly hit it off. During our conversation, she shared how she had recently left working for other companies; and was starting her own line. I had been praying to find someone to be able to make my own pieces and it turned out that she had been praying to find a customer to collaborate with. What first began as a collaboration has now transformed into supporting the manufacturing process for our brand. To top it off, we have become amazing friends, I travel frequently to work with her on projects every couple of mothers, and it’s a fantastic collaboration, where we have mutual respect for each other and want to see each other’s businesses thrive and grow!
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Anytime someone asks me about the character traits that were most instrumental in my success — the first thing that comes to mind is purpose. This is because I feel that in order to have a successful business you must first have a purpose. My purpose was to create a way to make money for myself and my family while always keeping in mind the high and lows of our business as we know they will always come.
The next trait to my success is dedication; because you must be dedicated to the purpose. When I first started, I had no employees and handled the entire process from selling to packing and shipping the clothing to my customers. If I wasn’t truly dedicated to my business by getting the items shipped in a timely manner I could’ve potentially lost many customers.
The final trait that’s most important is confidence. When you make your own business, no one tells you what decisions to make and when the right times are to make them. You have to be confident in yourself and know how to make those key decisions. Most importantly, you have to be okay with sometimes making the wrong choice and learning how to grow from them.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
What truly makes Macoma Boutique stand out from other companies in the community that we have created with our customers. In addition to selling clothes on our website, we also go the extra mile through live selling, which really promotes community within our customer group. We’ve even seen our customers get together from different parts of the country and become friends — it’s pretty incredible to see.
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life?
My favorite “Life Lesson Quote” is “There is enough success in this world for anyone that is willing to work for it.” This is a quote I often refer back to in order to remind me to focus on myself and not company my business to others. It’s very easy to wrapped up in someone else being more successful than you are, but if you keep yourself focused on your business you’ll find yourself more successful and happy.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Do you see any fascinating developments emerging over the next few years in the fashion industry that you are excited about? Can you tell us about that?
One of the most fascinating developments I’m currently seeing and excited about in our industry is the size-inclusive fashion trend. I think we will continue to see more and more of it in the coming years. I think we will also see more brands embracing different size models, and it will become more of the standard to offer items in full-size runs! When I first started in the boutique industry finding items in a full-size range was very difficult, but over the past couple of years, we’ve seen many brands offer size inclusivity!
Can you share how your brand is helping to bring goodness to the world?
For my clothing brand, Phierce Fashions, I originally started creating the built-in bra tops (Brami) stemming from my dislike of regular and strapless bras, but something I didn’t anticipate was the people these products would help. I have a customer that has a specific illness that caused her so much pain that wearing a bra was impossible for her most days. These tops have allowed her to be comfortable, and look like she is wearing a bra. She told me in a message that they have had such a huge impact on her life. It is such a great gift to me to be able to impact someone’s life like that.
Can you share with our readers about the ethical standards you use when you choose where to source materials?
Over the years, we have developed great relationships with our vendors and we have confidence in their standards because we visit a lot of the companies in person. We are also able to see the culture of the companies. As for my clothing line, Phierce Fashions, have confidence that the line is produced ethically; because we produce them here in the USA.
Fast fashion has an advantage, that it is affordable for most people, but it also has the drawback that it does not last very long and is therefore not very sustainable. What are your thoughts about this? How does your company address this question?
I work exceptionally hard to find a happy medium with this that goes back to sourcing products in person. We know that working with brands we know, they will use quality fabrics and create pieces that will last, but not break the bank — that is truly what we look for!
Thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand”. Please share a story or example for each.
I believe the 5 things you need to lead a successful fashion brand are: good products, positive customer service, fast shipping, being able to think outside the box, and most importantly establishing the brand itself.
Good Products: When it comes to the product itself you need to make sure you are producing and distributing good quality products. My team and I travel once a month to shows to source out our clothing. Over the last few years, we have uncovered that it’s important to source our products for our customers in person as we’ve seen some orders online that don’t meet the quality standards of our business. We are truly dedicated to visiting key markets, like Los Angeles, to bring in the best designs for our customers.
Positive Customer Services: It’s not enough just to have and produce quality items, but you must also provide positive customer service to develop a great customer base that will ensure they return to your business to stop.
Fast Shipping: We always put shipping as a top priority and make sure to ship our items within a 24 to 48-hour time period. We’ve discovered that when our customers receive their products quickly it provides a positive experience leading them to want to order again. If we couldn’t keep up with our shipping process, I would quickly identify a slow down in overall sales. I believe that in order to continue our growth we need to take care of our existing customers while also keeping our new ones happy as well!
Be Able to Think Outside the Box: We all have our own “personal” style and sometimes when I’m shopping for clothes it’s hard for me to look outside my look. I tend to always gravitate towards items I love and would wear a lot, but it’s pivotal for me to find other styles that cater to a wide range of current and potential customers. In order to create a diverse look, I make it a priority to take staff members with me to the markets to guarantee a second opinion on items we purchase and make sure it appeals to a wider audience.
Establish a Brand Itself: While we do have our own clothing brand, I’ve also created a brand within Macoma Boutique as well. It’s really important to me that our customers see our brand as personal shopping with their best friend experience and not just some stock photo posted on our website. We personally take all of our photos and participate in several live sessions on social media throughout the week. We’ve identified that by following this dedication to our brand that our customers have become more loyal.
Every industry constantly evolves and seeks improvement. How do you think the fashion industry can improve itself? Can you give an example?
Over the next couple of years, I would love to see more “Made in the USA” brands in the fashion industry. When I started my own fashion line it was extremely important for me to be able to produce it in the USA. This also helps create more jobs here in the United States and abides by a strong set of ethical production standards.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
If I could start any movement it would be to spread body positivity to women across the world. By creating a fashion line that includes size inclusivity we are enabling all women to enjoy wearing clothes they want to wear. My mission in life is to make women feel good and enable them to compliment each other — if I could only do this then I’d truly feel grateful about my journey.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
We are on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, as @MacomaBoutique. We also have our website and mobile shopping app (AppStore & Google Play)!
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Modern Fashion: Ashley McPherson of Macoma Boutique On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.