When 16 year old me decided to start a clothing line, I simply thought this would be something fun for me to do on the weekends when I was bored. I had no intentions of this becoming my career or full time job! I vividly remember launching my first collection in July of 2019 and thought that would be the only collection I would ever make. It wasn't until a few weeks later, nearing the fall, when people were asking me about a Fall line- and I answered, "I guess I can make a Fall collection?"
I accidentally got Hey Friends into a local boutique (a story for another day) and this is when things started to quickly grow before my eyes. The store sold out of my collection in a week, I laded a front page newspaper article, and a few weeks after that I had received a letter from a United States Senator, Bob Casey, congratulating me on my business!
I was now in the middle of my Junior year of high school. I did not know what to think of my new business venture. I fell in love with creating and growing this little dream. A producer from The Drew Barrymore Show reached out to me the following year in the middle of my Senior Year, and with all of the exposure of being on national TV and gaining so much confidence, I decided to ditch the normal path to college and take this thing on full time.
I continued doing my thing everyday and Hey Friends was picked up by its first chain store this past January. I started to think about cut and sew production. This was a huge goal and dream I kept in the back of my head until I finally did some research and made it happen. My first original design from Hey Friends The Label, The Bonnie Dress, came out this past April. I am now in the works for my Fall line of original designs. This new ear of Hey Friends has been so incredibly eye opening to the world of clothing production.
So now, 4 years later, I am writing this with a smile so big it hurts. I am forever grateful 16 year old me decided to start this thing, and I am even more grateful to have all of your love and support.
Cheers to the next 4.
xoxo
Shaefer