Today we’d like to introduce you to Meghan Russell.
Hi Meghan, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
After years of working towards my dream job, I finally attained my goal of working in sustainable fashion last year and was utterly thrilled to see all of my hard work finally pay off. However, my enthusiasm was quickly cut short by the realities of the recent pandemic. Like many people around the world, I was laid off after only two weeks of achieving this huge milestone in my life. I felt completely lost. After a few months of feeling depressed and stuck, I began to pull myself out of this slump by reflecting on my core values. I’ve been interested in women’s rights for as long as I can remember, which is why I had studied Global Health in college. And after learning about the all too common infringement on human rights in the fashion industry, I became determined to be a part of creating a more sustainable and ethical fashion world. I started to brainstorm.
During my time in the fashion industry, I saw that influencers often have more clothes than they can handle. They constantly have to keep up with new trends, buying an abundance of clothes that they wear once, post about online, and which quickly end up in the back of their closet or in the trash. I thought to myself: “what if people could buy the cute clothes they want secondhand, right from the influencer they see it on, instead of buying the item brand-new?” By giving these influencer clothes a second life, we could create the most curated secondhand store on the planet, giving influencers a new way to monetize their closets and, most importantly, keep hundreds of thousands of items out of landfills.
So from my living room, I compiled a list of 100 Los Angeles based influencers and emailed them, offering free clothing pick up just to test the waters. When my inbox started to get excited responses from influencers saying they loved the idea and asking when I could pick up their clothes, I knew this was something. I drove all around Los Angeles, picking up bags full of clothing – then brought them back to my apartment to photograph and list on the website I quickly made on Shopify. When I put my first influencers closet up for sale, I was a nervous wreck. Would anybody buy anything from my tiny website? What am I going to do with all these clothes if this doesn’t work?
The orders started flooding in. And Detoure was founded: America’s First Influencer Thrift Store.
Over time my small apartment became filled with clothes as new influencers started reaching out wanting to work with us. I even had to move to a two-bedroom apartment to keep my husband from killing me over the mess! Now we’re five months in and growing more than ever. I have a team of interns to help me and I’m so excited to see where we go from here. I still get nervous, wondering if this idea will continue to work, but every new customer or influencer saying they love the idea and mission gives me hope!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I think the biggest challenge I face is fear. Taking the leap to start a business can be terrifying and imposter syndrome starts to creep in. You wonder if the idea will work if customers will continue to come in if you are experienced enough or smart enough to be a CEO. And you carry all of the burden on yourself. It’s easy to get caught up and base your own self-worth off of your business and even business follower count, obsessively refreshing Instagram whenever you post a new IG Reel for your business Instagram. So I’m learning to be confident in myself and my abilities, regardless of the daily situation, and to stop letting my emotions ride every up and down. This gets exhausting and doesn’t help anything at the end of day.
Built into our company model, time and manual labor is another challenge we face: our company photographs, lists and ships influencers clothing so they do not have to put any work into selling their clothing! It is great for the influencer, however, this means that I end up working 80 hours a week doing these tasks, with my amazing interns coming in part-time to help when they can. I’m excited to grow our team and start hiring full-time to help with the load!
Lastly, there’s also learning how to run a company that doesn’t have a clearcut model for it! We’ve had to learn the hard way which influencers will be likely to sell out and which won’t sell much at all. Follower count doesn’t mean everything, and it has been an interesting challenge we’re learning to tackle.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are America’s First Influencer Thrift Store! There isn’t another store like us, we sell the cutest second-hand clothing directly from influencer’s closets!
We give customers the opportunity to dress like the influencers they follow and in the current styles they want, but in a more sustainable way through secondhand shopping!
Additionally, we’re giving influencers an outlet to easily capitalize on their most valuable asset (their closet), as we do all the work to help them sell their clothes: photographing, listing, and shipping their clothes for them! It’s a win-win.
I am most proud of our company values:
I founded Detoure on three principles: diversity and inclusion, women’s empowerment, and sustainability.
Diversity and inclusion: After speaking to other thrifters in my social media community, I heard multiple women feeling excluded because there were not a lot of cute plus-size clothing in their size. That’s why I immediately started reaching out to influencers in this space, we carry sizes up to 4X. We want women to see influencers who represent them, in both ethnicity and sizing, so they can feel beautiful in their own skin!
Women’s empowerment: Besides empowering influencers and their followers to feel seen, we donate the clothing that does not sell within two months to the Downtown Women’s Center! My first job in LA was working to find employment for people experiencing homelessness, so this is an issue close to my heart.
Sustainability: Every year, the US throws away 11 million tons of clothing, 95% of it could be reused! That’s why we founded this company, to combat fast fashion and do our small part of creating a cleaner planet.
To shop, head to detoure.co or follow us on IG @detoureshop! If you are influencer and want to sell, we do free clothing pick up in Los Angeles or we can provide a shipping label to anyone outside of LA!
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
One of the best things about Los Angeles is the sheer number of young creatives. You don’t have to look very hard to find amazing people to partner with and learn from – you’ll meet them everywhere you go. The culture here encourages people to pursue their creative ideas and you can really feel it!
The one downfall is traffic. Cliché I know, but it’s true.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: detoure.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/detoureshop/
- Other: tiktok.com/@detoure
Image Credits:
Photos are of me and my Intern Erika Soto, UCLA student
