Christina Carbonell and Galyn Bernard, co-founders of Primary, share their journey in creating a groundbreaking children's clothing line focused on simplicity and gender neutrality. They discuss their initial struggles with branding and fundraising, navigating the challenges of the crowded apparel market. The duo emphasizes their commitment to timeless styles and affordability, and how customer feedback shaped their marketing strategy. With annual sales surpassing $50 million, they reflect on the delicate balance between hard work, luck, and their unconventional approach to kids' fashion.
Primary founders focused on offering high-quality, affordable, and timeless basics in solid colors.
Primary's customer feedback and engagement shaped their brand and marketing approach, leading to positive responses and growth.
Primary differentiated themselves by eliminating gender sections and providing a gender-neutral approach, along with implementing a four-day work week that improved employee satisfaction and productivity.
Deep dives
Creating a Radically Simple Idea
Primary founders, Christina Carbonell and Galen Bernard, decided to build a kids clothing brand that focused on basics in solid colors, with no logos, slogans, or over-embellishments. They aimed to provide high-quality, long-lasting clothing that was affordable and timeless.
Challenges in the Early Years
Primary faced inventory and marketing challenges in its first year, leading to a slower start. However, customer feedback and engagement helped shape their brand and marketing approach. They shifted their ad strategy to focus on their core offering of simple styles and received positive responses from customers.
Expanding the Brand and Staying Evergreen
As Primary grew, they started introducing new categories and designs, while maintaining their commitment to Evergreen styles. The founders believed in offering affordable, reliable, and beautiful-colored clothing without following every trend. Their focus on basics allowed them to serve a market looking for timeless and gender-neutral options.
Raising Capital and Overcoming Challenges
The founders initially aimed to raise $750,000 to launch their brand but underestimated the difficulty. They found it challenging to communicate their vision to potential investors and struggled with the sales aspect of fundraising. They faced skepticism from investors who suggested adding logos or distinctive features to the clothing. Ultimately, they raised $2.5 million. They also encountered setbacks in managing inventory and lead times, leading to supply shortages after successful initial sales.
Building the Brand and Work-Life Balance
The founders focused on crafting a brand that offers affordable and high-quality clothing in primary colors. They aimed to provide reliable basics for kids, as other brands often change their offerings frequently. They recognized the importance of comfort and familiarity in children's clothing. To differentiate themselves, they eliminated the boys and girls sections and offered a gender-neutral approach. Additionally, they implemented a four-day work week, providing their team with an extra day for personal time and recharging, which ultimately improved employee satisfaction and productivity.
The apparel industry - be it high fashion or everyday wear - is a crowded and noisy market to crack. Just think about the sheer number of athletic shoes or jeans available at both ends of the price spectrum! So conventional wisdom is: to stand out, branding is really important. But for Christina Carbonell and Galyn Bernard, the co-founders of the children's clothing line Primary, branding was the last thing they wanted on their designs. The two women bucked other industry conventions, too: they only sell basic building-block pieces, using bright colors, in styles that hardly change year after year. No glitter. No cartoons. No pithy sayings. And no gender differentiation: the clothes are categorized as either babies or kids. Despite early struggles, eight years after launching in 2015, Primary is now a profitable company with annual sales over $50 million.
This episode was produced by Casey Herman, with music by Ramtin Arablouei
Edited by Andrea Bruce, with research help from Chris Maccini.
