Some examples of Beldry's monochrome look
When middle school boys call out “Caitlin Clark” with the same enthusiasm they once called “Kobe” to a three-pointer, it's more than just a moment, it signals a movement in women's sports.
In golf, the world's No. 1 golfer Nelly Korda recently tied the LPGA's record for most consecutive wins, topping the leaderboard for the fifth time in a row this season.
“I have followed and admired Nelly Korda for a long time and she continues to crush it and continues to be a great role model for women in this sport,” said Blair, former program manager at Meta. Romer said.
Roemer has put golf at risk due to the coronavirus pandemic. While she was stuck at her house, her fiancé, already a wool player, was often hitting balls with her friends, when she had an epiphany that he had “hacked the pandemic.” Ta.
“I was sitting on the couch watching Netflix
Netflix
Romer, who is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, needed a new wardrobe once he started participating in games. The seeds of Beldry were born when she found that searching for looks to her taste was surprisingly arduous.
Of course there were super heavy brands like Nike.
Nike
“In my head, I remember a male designer getting a call from a marketing executive and saying, 'Right now, women are playing golf, so let's make this collar top fit women. You can do that. I had this vision,''' Romer explained.
Then there were existing female-led brands, but she felt most of them catered to a more traditional demographic. For example, consider “Lilly Pulitzer” with its large bright floral pattern.
“My vibe isn't great either. I thought there was an opportunity for a brand that catered to a more modern golfer who wants something minimalistic and functional, but still very high quality.”
She launched Verdry with the aim of making golf more accessible to women like herself by rocking a light and playful aesthetic.
“When I started playing, I was scared and I hated it. I've been playing sports all my life, and I've never been scared every time I started playing a sport and never felt that way. I hated being like that, and I didn't want anyone else to feel the same way.”
At the time, it was strictly a startup idea generation side project that took nights and weekends to figure out how to build a clothing brand from scratch. Fashion She had no background in design or manufacturing. Her early due diligence was by watching YouTube videos and reaching out to people in the industry to determine if it was an endeavor worth taking on. did.
Impostor syndrome crept in and the idea was put on hold for a year, but career fatigue reignited Romer's entrepreneurial fire. While she found her job at Beldry rewarding, she was beginning to feel dissatisfied with her day job at Meta.
“I felt so inspired, I went into a flow state, ideas just kept coming to me, and I loved what I was doing,” Romer explained.
Last June, during the final round of Facebook's round of layoffs, when Romer's position was no longer needed, she went all in with Beldry, using a generous severance package from Meta to open her own company. Raised funds.
“It’s an entrepreneur’s dream to start a business while getting paid, so I’ve been doing it ever since.”
Although Mehta ultimately wasn't the right fit, the experience there was invaluable in helping him realize he had what it takes to pursue his ideas. Despite the company's size, a start-up mentality prevailed, with employees encouraged to implement concepts in their free time if managers saw the benefit.
“There was no bureaucracy or bureaucracy. This experience taught me that the world is important to me and that with careful planning, I can pursue what I want. A lot of it. for Beldry,” Romer said.
Her confidence in learning new industries was built during her previous role as a management consultant at KPMG. There, she helped a customer in the telecommunications industry build a lease implementation accounting tool, despite her zero accounting experience. Romer fearlessly asked questions and scrutinized dense and difficult information to become an expert in his field.
Data-driven, Romer's first move after working full-time at Beldry was to work with a class at Northwestern's MBA school. They agreed to fund a research study on where the greatest opportunities lie to launch a women's golf brand to help her lay the foundations for her business plan. She reached out to her professors, pitched the idea, and started paying them.
“This created a very valuable piece of research to start a business with. We were very surprised at how many women are still dissatisfied with their golf clothing. 30% of the women we surveyed are currently were dissatisfied with the selection,” Romer explained.
Beldire is currently available for pre-order and will be fully available later this summer. Roemer's debut line aims to create golf-like athleisure that is functional, minimal, and highly appealing to women.
By focusing on grouping women together to determine what's most important to them, Romer creates clothing that fits and flares in the right places, that isn't too conservative, and that wearers can wear on the golf course. I discovered that this meant designing a skirt that wasn't so short that it didn't feel out of place.
“Sure, I could buy a Lululemon or Athleta skirt and wear it on the golf course, but there were no pockets, no place to put a tee, no place to put a golf ball or gloves.” Combining two key elements is what makes my product stand out from the crowd. ”
Monochromatic sets, popular in athleisure, are another Beldry differentiator.
“In golf, you can have a golf shirt from one brand and a skirt from another brand that mysteriously don't match. The goal is to be able to mix and match. Even if it's not your style, You don't have to wear everything in one color if everything goes together.
Roemer, a one-woman operation, credits Shopify's merchant solutions, especially its website builder, with making it easy to set up a D2C brand, and the company's B2b products and cross-border marketplace management. We believe that it is used to facilitate international shipping. She expands.
“I had a vision for this brand in my head and in my belly. I knew it could be done by hiring someone and paying them a few thousand dollars to build something, but I had to explain it to them and create a website. We didn't feel like we were at a point where we were confident that it would display correctly on the site.”
“Thanks to Shopify, I was able to bring that vision to life on my own. I don't think anyone else could have done it, and it's helped me realize other parts of my brand: my packaging. It reflected on how I think about marketing, social media, and my brand's story in general.”
Jessica Williams, Director of Brand Partnerships at Shopify, recalled: We have seen significant growth in the golf category thanks to new demos. ”
Williams is encouraged by the recent proliferation of women's golf brands. She is encouraging the industry to move beyond its previous negative mindset of “shrink and pink” and bring in more participants who may have previously been excluded.
Roemer rants that Shopify's vast app ecosystem (more than 8,000 apps are available in the store) can feel disjointed at times.
“It's a different experience for everyone. When I add this to my site, I feel like it slows down my site. In a perfect world, Shopify would bring them in-house, write them themselves, and have no issues.” I think they should invest more in making it work seamlessly with Shopify sites.
