Today we’d like to introduce you to Jodie Dolan.
Jodie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Right out of college, I wasn’t sure what exactly to do with my art history degree.. so while I was trying to figure it out, I tried a stint in interior design while painting on t-shirts at night. In a serendipitous moment, my tees fell into the hands of a buyer at Saks… this was the moment it felt like it went from an art project in my garage to a real company. From hand-painted tees to a full-fledged design and production house with partners all over the world – its been incredibly exciting. By following where my curiosity leads me, it has helped shape the company we are today, what we design, how and where we produce everything and who we work with. That’s probably why I fell in love with fashion – it’s really unlimited creativity and freedom.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like any small business, I have had lots of twists and turns and a few bumps for sure! At the beginning, it was difficult to figure out how to be a one-woman show, juggle a zillion things (design, costing, sales, production, cash flow, customer service, shipping) while learning ‘on the job.’ Thankfully I survived that part! Another big challenge was hiring the right team. It took me longer than I wish, but I now have the most amazing team… If you can survive the very beginning & you figure out who is your dream team… you can make anything happen!
Dolan Clothing – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We take so much pride and care in our quality and our service and we make miracles happen every day for our customers and buyers! We seriously do love our customers and will do whatever we can to make them smile! We have really amazing loyal customers who love Dolan because we use beautiful fabrics & design beautiful clothes. We work really hard to make sure everything feels effortless, comfortable and cool.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Having a fashion brand for 14 years does feel already like an accomplishment, but so much has changed since I started and it doesn’t feel possible anymore to just care about clothes. As a company, we founded a non-profit in 2017 – I couldn’t be more proud of The Laundry Truck LA and everyone on our team that helped makes it a reality. I’m from LA, we are an LA brand, we love our city and want to feel proud of it as well. Digging into the issues around us – namely homelessness – is certainly something much bigger than us. It connects us to our local community in a way that I don’t think we could have if we were only making clothes… I can say we now feel like we are part of the fabric of the city.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://shopdolan.com/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @shopdolan
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopdolan/
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
