Today we’d like to introduce you to Julia Brown.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Fashion has always been a major passion of mine. Growing up in a small northern Russian town, there was no such thing as “designer clothes”, no chain retailers (American or European), no local production companies. All we had was one shopping mall with some local boutiques (which were far from being contemporary), and a huge desire to dress nice. I still remember being a kid, going to school in -30-degree weather, wearing completely out-of-place bright orange cargo pants (which I thrifted with my mom), and my best friend in her god-knows-where-she-got-them cowboy boots, in the middle of a Siberian looking winter. We wanted to express ourselves and dress cool but had very limited resources to do so. The only savior for me was my school’s sewing classes, where I understood how pattern making works, made a couple of pieces, and pretty sure I ended up making the shortest handmade mini dress my town had ever seen.
Luckily, around this time we passed the dial-up stage, and Internet became unlimitedly accessible. I was spending nights with my eyes never leaving the monitor checking listings on eBay, reading about designers and Korean fashion. There was no Pinterest/Instagram influencers at the time, so all I knew was what people were buying and selling around the world, early YouTube, and what the girls in Mean Girls and Legally Blonde were wearing. In contrast with Y2K, Korean minimalism especially impressed me. It blew my socks off. I guess it’s how my fashion approach was formed: a lot of American mainstream, Korean minimalism and Eastern European fashion. So now I say, it doesn’t matter where you come from: online resources are invaluable.
At some point, the idea of starting my own fashion business started to keep me up at night. Long story short, by the time I was senior in school, with my mom’s and best friends’ help, I was running a full-time online store with mass market Korean clothing. I was 15 years old and a buyer with no funds, who learned Korean hieroglyphs, social media and was aimed to dress my entire little town up. Every day my room was packed with orders. I was giving away packages after school in parallel with doing bookkeeping. Pretty sure our only competition was an old-fashioned magazine printed German clothing catalog. It was early 2010-2011. Later, the business was sold, and the decision was made to go to college and study something that could bring a more stable income and lifestyle, like a responsible adult.
To this day, someone will hit me up on Instagram, and tell me they still remember how crazy I was at 15 and that they bought something from us. It’s the best feeling ever.
After completing my Master’s degree in Video Production, tons of social media work, and about a decade later, I moved to Ann Arbor. Videography was my primary job up until the pandemic hit. Funny, but around this time I had way too much time on my hands and started online shopping like never before. I started to get the same feeling I had many-many years ago: No matter where I look, I can’t find what I want to wear. Not locally in Ann Arbor. Not online. And I watched 10 seasons of Shark Tank. It’s true what researchers say, the pandemic changed lives, a lot of people were losing jobs or were unhappy with their 9-5 and started doing what they dreamed about. Either by letting hobbies back into their lives. Or by being challenged to learn something new and adapt. It’s exactly what happened to my husband and I.
I put myself together and all the energy I had into one design, saved $500, and found a factory who could bring it to life. I challenged myself to do what I did the best a long time ago. When the production was done, we posted it on Etsy, hoping to get at least some exposure. We didn’t wait long for the first order to come. I was sitting in a Home Depot parking lot and screaming, I just couldn’t believe it. It was what would be the beginning of the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life – Eastern European and Detroit-inspired streetwear and loungewear brand ArtcareShop, started in Ann Arbor. Art – for all the people who want to express themselves and because we are also an art gallery, care – because we love and take care of all our supporters, and shop – because it was started as a shop on Etsy.
Up to today, we have over a two-year history (2 years fully operating online) and one year in our physical location in Briarwood mall. Besides being a fully functioning retail store, we are also art gallery. We are displaying Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti artists artwork in our physical space (we have about 10 artists now), and all the proceeds from each sale go directly to the artists. Every month we sell about 3 pieces of art and are trying to support the local art community as much as we can.
I feel so grateful to all the supporters around the world, the local community who became our friends, and my husband, who retrained from an engineer to a fashion guru and sales representative.
Years of fashion theory and practice, years of video production and photography skills, years of social media and marketing experience came together and allowed us to create something new. Hopefully, it will grow and keep helping people feel comfortable, special, and edgy.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s always a struggle to start something new. Somebody said that progress can happen only when you allow yourself to step outside of your comfort zone. So, I can say I have been outside of my comfort zone for the past 2 years. There is always something new to learn, something to solve, something to move, to build, or somebody to invite to help.
My biggest struggle from the beginning was that English is my second language. It took me a while to adapt, get used to talking to about hundred people a day, and get comfortable with it. Partially language issue, partially just, in general, the business struggle is to learn business terms, learn how to open a business, business structures, get all the licenses, find out how the trademark process works, hiring process, tax system, and so on. Especially if you are a young entrepreneur and doing everything yourself without lawyers or even someone within the family with business expertise. It turns out nothing is impossible. A lot of research, local resources (like Washtenaw Community College, local business support centers like Spark, and networking with other business owners) really help. And I noticed that people genuinely want you to succeed, and they will support, just don’t be afraid to start
It’s always a struggle to find an honest manufacturer, find the right place to rent, packaging, coming up with the interior design of the space and the most important is making your product not only excellent quality but helpful, special, and unique. We go through a rigorous sampling process, fabric choices, design, and often it’s unsuccessful. But that’s okay. When it is successful, it lifts you up so high, that all the struggles and challenges you faced are suddenly not as important and it’s all worth it. What is important, is when it does get hard, to remember the high points of the roller coaster and all the people who love your product or service.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
ArtcareShop is a family-owned clothing brand established in 2020 in Ann Arbor. The roots of the company is combining streetwear and loungewear, creating edgy but comfortable clothing. It’s kind of the bottom line: you can’t stop wearing it because not only is it comfy but edgy current and out of the box. Next era loungewear.
As I mentioned, we are online (we ship locally, mostly to California and New York, and worldwide, mostly to Canada and Norway) and we opened our first brick and mortar store at Briarwood mall a year ago. ArtcareShop is famous for its tracksuits, hoodies, and joggers, and its staple pieces like balaclavas.
We have three major differentiators: we are making almost all the clothing as sets, meaning we pre-make outfits, and the top and bottom come together. It’s a stress-free way to shop (top and the bottom are matched to get the perfect fit for each size), and a stress-free way to dress (they are color-matched and styled to go together, so no more devastation on how to combine things or the classic statement “I’ve got nothing to wear”).
The next differentiator is our fabric choices. We are a fabric-forward company and we are obsessed with the quality. We are sourcing the best available fabrics (our company’s fabric sample library includes thousands of pieces), making sure to get the perfect fit and best fabric behavior so you feel good. It’s breathable, soft, and thick. Besides cotton, we also work with wool, hemp, recycled polyester, and fabrics made of corn and wood. The main fabric we use is a sweatsuit cotton fabric. We consider tracksuit as a modern-day suit, and we are using this fabric to create edgy pieces that have never was made before or rarely made. We are producing hoodie-cardigan, hoodie-turtleneck, sweatpants-wide trousers, hoodie-dresses and so on.
And the last is our designer approach. I bring my Eastern European streetwear heritage (tracksuits, oversized tees, and crazy 90s) and combine it with Detroit and Michigan local style from street to seam. With a focus on Northern climate loungewear, it inspired by the streets of Detroit’s and European eclectic, it nuanced, and we want it to be a fresh take on self-confidence.
Probably one of the coolest things we offer and what has really helped us grow – our photo studio. My husband and I come from a videography background, so we built out a studio right in the store and we started offering free studio pictures with every purchase. So, everyone can get this experience – find something they like clothing-wise and get professional pictures done. We’ve done some dope Instagram photoshoots, maternity shoots, birthday shoots, LinkedIn headshots, modeling shoots – all kinds of stuff, and it’s all about what our guests want. The pictures are for them not us.
We work directly with our manufacturer, and it really helps to not only be in control of the production (they can tweak sizing, switch the fabric, and so on) but also involve our customers in the designing process. We have a markerboard where all out guests can vote on the color, write a design recommendation or just draw something. We were making a joke, that ArtcareShop is becoming a communal project at this point.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I absolutely love Ann Arbor. I love how progressive it is. It’s very interesting, that we are shipping mostly to LA and New York, but the store was founded in Ann Arbor – a city much smaller. So, turns out we got to enjoy both: small-town comfort with such amazing, progressive, and intelligent people around who know what’s up.
I love the youth of the city and the amount of crazy talents this city attracts. The majority of our physical store visitors are current students or graduates. It’s keeping us in creative shape and bringing these awesome people with such a unique vibe. And we never know who they are! And let me tell you, ArtcareShop is getting an amazing crowd: we met so many local athletes, musicians, videographers, gamers, animators, all kinds of business owners, designers, composers, nurses, models the list goes on and on. I think it can happen only in Ann Arbor.
We had so many local artists coming in, that we even started to display Ann Arbor and Ypsi area artists artwork of on the walls above the clothing racks. It gives locals an opportunity to buy local original art right here in the mall while running errands, and it turned out to be really successful. If we sell a painting, all the proceeds go straight to the artist, we don’t take any commission. The emotions of supporting someone who didn’t expect any help are forever in my heart, and as a business owner, it’s probably one of the things I’m very proud of and we will go on with it.
Talking about business owners, I’ve never seen such a strong supporting network of local businesses. For the past year, we got introduced to many many people, and even got a letter from a local coffee shop owner, that she is so happy to see us growing and wants us to know, that someone in the city is cheering for us. It was so cool.
And last but not least – the weather. I really enjoy experiencing all four seasons and making clothing for all the seasons gives such a creative freedom. Also, winters here are so cold, that we actually got really good at making northern climate loungewear – our warmest tracksuits. Basically, we were starting to make them for ourselves to be cozy and warm but as it turns out people really like it as well. So, the city really helped us to figure out what we are good at.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@artcareshop.com
- Website: artcareshop.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artcareshop/
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtcareShop?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
Image Credits
ArtCareShop store
