Q & A With Dynamic Duo Behind Indie Clothing Line Revelationbyme

Hi,

Ladies thanks for taking the time out of your busy scheduled to have a little Q&A fun with our readers.

How/where did you guys meet?

MM: We met at another local bay area design company. We became friends and noticed that we have a shared talent in fashion design and from there came the beginnings of us teaming up and creating RbME

When did you decide to collaborate?

MM: We were both changing in a bathroom stall after work for our night out and while we were banging about we decided that I would be great if we had one dress that can be worn several different ways and from that moment on we started planning out Revelation by ME.

How did you come up with the RBME dress concept?

ES: After we giggled and laughed in the public stall we thought more and more about the dress concept. We brained storms ways of making day to night clothing and came up with our first reversible looks. We both are trained in pattern making and understand garment construction and as we put our minds together we kept coming up with great day to night designs and we moved on to the next steps of starting a small business.

Who are your biggest influencers?

MM: My biggest influencers were our friends and family who supported our decision to create a clothing company during a national depression.

ES: My On a personal level my friends and family are a big influence their support always keeps me moving forward. On a business level I have made contacts with great business owners and other entrepreneurs that have helped us get to where we are now. Our friends at the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center have supplied us with great tools and put us in contact with experts that have been very influential.

Whats your fav style/designer.

MM: My favorite style is Comfortable City Chic. I like to wear leggings, boots and long tunics or dresses and a cover up. SF has very fickle weather, so I always tend to layer my clothing just incase the sun wants to pop out at certain times of the day. My fav designers are Malandrino, Donna Karen and Micheal Kors. For couture, Dior and Elie Saab.

ES: My styles changes from one day to the next one day Ill be wearing jeans and chucks and the next you will see me in a Revelation by ME day to night Dress with my favorite wedges! When it comes to inspiration from other designers that also changes Im inspired by a variety of designers like DKNYs classic silhouettes with cutting edge details, Rachel Roys feminine and flirty collections, and I also like the darkness and complexity of Ann Demeulemeesters lines.

You are unique in that you do everything In-house, why?

MM: We do everything in-house because its more time and cost efficient for us to do it that way. We actually do everything from accounting, to grading and beyond. The only thing we dont do is sew up production.

ES: This is the fun part of being entrepreneurs, right? We get to wear many hats every day! Myrda and I have been trained and have the skills needed to design, develop and produce a garment so we use these skills not only to be able to provide our customer will great prices but also to control the quality of each garment. By grading our garments in-house we ensure that the fit to every style is consistent.

Why do you manufacture in US?

MM: We manufacture in the US because we support our country! Why outsource jobs when there are plenty of hardworking people right here that can do it, plus it gives back to the community and to the economy.

ES: When it comes to out sourcing the sewing for our productions we work with local factories which also ensure good sewing, which equals great quality! The closer the manufactures are to us the more hands on we can be with quality control and this is important and a must especially when selling products online. Not only do we want to create jobs in our economy but we also want to produce good quality garments for our customers and this has proven effective for us as our return rate is extremely low for being an online retailer, let me knock on wood first, but we are proud to say that since Revelation by ME launched their first collection we have had one (1) return, thats right just one (1) return!

What is one of the biggest challenges for new designers?

MM: Getting capital! Designers are never short on designs and ideas, but raising money to fund your dream is another story. I think that if you keep an open mind and use your creativity to acquire much needed seed money, than can slowly, but surely do it. I am so ecstatic that there are hosting websites now like www.ustrendy.com and www.senseoffashion.com, that will host your products for a small fee. New designers should definitely check out websites like that because building your own can get costly.

I know you dont have much free time but how do you relax?

MM: I am a huge movie junkie! I love watching movies and I am very much enamored with Hollywood and all of its glitzy facets! I also love to read whether its fictional novel series, like Harry Potter (yes, I am a nerd!) or magazines like Cosmo and Vouge, I always try and get my read on when I can.

ES: RELAX? Thats a foreign word to me now a days! Often times there is the misconception that owning your own business opens up all this free time, HA! Wrong, especially with a start up company work is never ending and its challenging to balance all the work at times but when I do get a chance to relax I also watch movies, read fashion and entrepreneur magazines, and whenever the weather is good I rev up my harley and go for a nice ride.

Whats your fav food/cocktail.

MM: Wow! Favorite food, thats kind of hard. I feel differently every day on what I want to nosh on, but one staple that remains after my whirlwind attacks of different foods that I like is Mexican food, burritos especially! My favorite cocktail is a no muss no fuss Bacardi & Diet.

ES: I really enjoy cooking, another thing I do to relax, its hard to narrow a favorite food down but I tend to always want to have fresh sea food like ceviche or shashimi. Yet I also love pizza and burgers covered in cheese, avocado and bacon!

Im a beer gal and if Im not in the mood for beer I will have a dirty martini or tequila shots!

What should we expect next season from RBME?

MM: More separates, we are known for our reversible dresses, so we decided to also give ample attention to separates and the fact that our separates do the same thing as our dresses do- they too can be worn many different ways and we would love to finesse that quality until our customers not only look to us for dresses, but tops and bottoms as well.