Connect
To Top

Life and Work with Cynthia and Michael Jamin

Avatar photo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cynthia and Michael Jamin.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Cynthia and Michael. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
CYNTHIA JAMIN: Designer/Co-Owner
I didn’t have a childhood. Seven years of abuse took that away. I felt ashamed, invisible, ugly, and unworthy of feeling joy. So, when my two daughters were little, I decided to give them something that I never had: a happy childhood memory.

My idea was to sew them a beautiful, super-comfortable twirly dress. Something that would make them twirl with joy. I enrolled in some sewing classes and came up with a design for a reversible dress. Fortunately, I live close to the Los Angeles Fashion district, so I was able to find some amazing fabrics. Everything about my creation was costly: the high-quality fabric, the four thread stitching, the way the itchy seams were sandwiched away from their bodies… but so what? This was a special gift, so no expense was spared.

My daughters absolutely loved their reversible twirly dresses (the Original Reversible Twirly Dress®) and wore them to school every day. Soon, other moms were asking me to sew dresses for their kids. I told them how much I’d have to charge, but they didn’t care. They immediately recognized the quality and the joy my dresses brought. A business was born. I called it “TwirlyGirl.”

It didn’t take long before a local boutique heard about my dresses and called to place an order. At first, I hand sewed them all on my dining room table. When demand took off, I found local sewers to do the work. Things were getting serious!

The first time the sewers delivered samples for my approval, I wasn’t too happy. Even though they were professionals who had sewn for major brands, I found their construction techniques to be a little shoddy. I told them how I wanted my dresses sewn with the same love and attention to detail I used on my daughters’ dresses, even though it would surely increase labor costs. They were shocked. Most brands look for ways to cut costs by creating disposable clothing. But I’m not most brands. I never set out to create a children’s clothing line. I set out to create a happy childhood memory.

Today, TwirlyGirl is worn by children all across the world. Even though I didn’t have a happy childhood, I get to experience that joy through the photos and videos that customers send us.

People sometimes say there’s no reason to buy quality clothes for their children because they’re just going to outgrow them. We use stretchy fabrics and design our styles with growing room. Most customers tell us their kids are able to wear our clothes for 2+ years. But yes, eventually, they will outgrow their TwirlyGirl dress. They’ll also outgrow fairies, cardboard rocket ships, and the magic of wearing a twirly dress. This thing called childhood is all too short. I say, let them enjoy the magic of their favorite dress while they still can.

I’m grateful that my daughters got to experience the joy of a TwirlyGirl dress, and I hope other children will too. I believe it will be THE dress of their childhood.

MICHAEL JAMIN: Director of Marketing/Co-Owner
As her husband, I really wanted to support Cynthia on her journey to create TwirlyGirl. But as a sitcom writer, I knew absolutely nothing about fashion, eCommerce, retail or business. Or math. Or good manners. Or anything that requires behaving like an adult. I was probably the least qualified person to help her, but I was willing to work for free. It was that one attribute that jumped me to the top of the list.

There’s an old saying: when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. My only tool were words, so I began writing for TwirlyGirl.

At the time, Cynthia had just introduced the Treasure Pocket Jacket. So, I wrote a little poem about it and suggested we include it with the jacket. When Cynthia read it, she started crying. I don’t know if she loved the poem, or just loved the fact that I made such an effort.

This got us talking about how Cynthia saw the TwirlyGirl brand. She wanted it to be joyful, creative, and magical. Basically, she wanted TwirlyGirl to be the Willy Wonka of girls dresses.

With that, I started writing stories for all of our styles. There were dozens of them, so it was a huge undertaking. Because I wanted to outdo myself, the stories became more and more outlandish. For inspiration, I imagined how Lewis Carol, Roald Dahl, Rudyard Kipling, Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein, and Dr. Seuss would’ve written for TwirlyGirl. I didn’t approach their level of genius, but I had fun trying.

We also wanted our customers to have a truly unique experience at every single touchpoint. So I tackled the less obvious aspects of our business: order confirmation notices, FAQ pages, shipping labels.

Then, I tried writing something even more ambitious: a commercial for TwirlyGirl. I don’t have a background in advertising or marketing, so the prospect was a little intimidating. I just kept picturing Cynthia as Willy Wonka, running her magical dress factory. I wrote a script, hired some super-talented high school kids to shoot it, and put the final video on Facebook. It went viral! Orders poured in, and more than a few people contacted us, asking if they could work in our magic dress factory! Maybe they were unemployed Oompa-Loompas, I don’t know. I probably should’ve asked.

So, why go through all this effort? Because even though we sell children’s dresses, we’re not in the children’s dress business. We’re in the “Happy Childhood Memories” business… and the smile from a happy childhood memory can be worn for a lifetime.

Cynthia and I are both proud of what we have built together. TwirlyGirl is now a multi-million dollar business, manufactured entirely in Los Angeles and completely family owned and run.

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?
When has anything in life been a smooth road? Anything worth doing is going to come with a struggle. But I have to say, choosing to do something that is on my own terms is what makes all the challenges worth it. My top struggle was this:

Selling Wholesale vs. Retail or doing Both: I started out selling retail online and in little pop-up events at local schools. I know my end customer, and I know how to speak to them. As TwirlyGirl grew, I thought that selling to stores would be a great way to get TwirlyGirl out there faster. Soon, it became obvious that I either had to focus on Wholesale or Retail. Both require resources and time. I chose to focus on Wholesale – doing trade shows, getting Reps, etc. We were working hard but not seeing a huge profit. Nordstroms, boutiques, etc, they all came with their own set of requirements and demands. I lost touch with my customer; it was now all about pleasing the middleman, the buyer.

About three years ago, we decided to turn the business model around and face the other direction. We let go of our Reps, stopped going to trade shows and took a huge risk. We invested all that money into advertising to potential customers on Facebook. And we haven’t looked back; it was clearly the right decision as things got easier and we finally felt like we were on solid ground – taking control over our own destiny. We still sell wholesale – but boutiques come to us, we won’t sell to department stores. And we are more profitable than we ever were before. And happier. You have to go where the love is, and if something is feeling too hard and laborious, then it’s probably not the right direction to be putting your attention and resources. Struggles should be met with hard work and perseverance. If there still isn’t any payoff after all that – switch course.

Please tell us about TwirlyGirl.
My focus is to create the most memorable and thrilling design I can make. I don’t care if it’s easy to make, it has to fit that criteria or I won’t make it. We specialize in creating joyful childhood memories. So, it’s not just a piece of clothing, it must be an experience. Michael and I keep our attention on every interaction TwirlyGirl has with a customer and potential customer. From the minute they are exposed to our product to always keeping in touch with them in fun and engaging ways. We are known for our special twirly dresses, and for our whimsical approach to our customers as well as stellar customer service. What sets us apart is the way we do what we do. There are thousands of girls clothing manufacturers, and I still believe that no one is doing what we are doing the way we are doing it. Why? Because they are not Michael and they are not me. As long as we stay true to ourselves, I’m not concerned about competition. I’m most proud of our effect on our customers and the children wearing our clothing. We get fan mail every day and have thousands of 5-star reviews, so I know that impact is profound.

There’s a wealth of academic research that suggests that lack of mentors and networking opportunities for women has materially affected the number of women in leadership roles. Smart organizations and industry leaders are working to change this, but in the meantime, do you have any advice for finding a mentor and building a network?
MICHAEL: Several years ago, I discovered a private eCommerce forum called eCommerceFuel. That’s turned out to be a tremendous resource for us. If we have questions in any number of a variety of areas, we can get them answered by other forum members in a matter of minutes. I’ve befriended a number of members, and we now have a weekly mastermind group where we discuss new challenges in the world of eCommerce. Several of us meet-up in person on a regular basis. It’s been enormously helpful to have friends that I can turn to for advice.

CYNTHIA: Unfortunately, I didn’t find a ton of support from other women who were willing to share their experience in this space. I’m not sure why that is, and frankly, it was very disappointing to me when I was starting out. I choose to believe we live in world of abundance and I’m not afraid to share support with others who need some advice or contacts. I’m not in competition with anyone really. I do what I do to the best of my abilities and encourage others to do the same. I do my part in helping others when they approach me. I’ve had to seek out those people that were willing to work with me in the beginning when we were so much smaller. It was something that took a lot of determination and people skills. Forging those relationships really taught me to appreciate those who were willing to take a chance on TwirlyGirl and me as a business person. I rose to that occasion and learned along the way. The people I have met and work with currently have helped me tremendously. And I’m grateful for those enduring relationships. I do think the more we share with each other, the stronger we all become.

Make sure you price your products for growth. You may not have a lot of overhead if you are starting off small. But you will eventually need to account for that. It’s much easier to lower prices than raise them. Give yourself the benefit of growth, it will happen, and you will be in a better position to be profitable with those costs worked into your bottom line.

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Louis Felix: https://www.louisfelix.com/

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.

Related Items

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in