by Tony Engelhart
Anthony Starr knows fashion. As the owner of the upscale brand Grrly Grrls, he must because his company grossed over $20,000 in the first 3 months of this quarter and is poised to earn even more for the 58-year-old Starr. However, getting to this point was no easy task, and the brand has undergone many changes since its inception a little over 4 years ago.
Anthony Starr has been involved in the fashion industry for over 30 years. He holds a degree in Fashion Merchandising and worked for Nordstrom for several years, “That is where the fashion bug bit me,” said Anthony, “although I worked behind the scenes, just being exposed to the whole fashion scene was very sexy to me.”
Anthony has been living with a condition called Dystonia for most of his life, and it has limited his ability to speak clearly or walk without some type of support, “it started as a writer’s cramp at 13 years old and has been progressing slowly over the years,” said Starr. However, Anthony refused to give up. While working for Nordstrom, he developed and gave training on disability awareness, endorsed by the company’s president Pete Nordstrom, whom Anthony is still friends with nearly 35 years after he left the company.
Tragedy struck when Anthony Starr fell and broke his neck in 2013, “Suddenly I couldn’t hold a job outside my home and fell into a deep depression,” said Starr. Though he went through rehab with a lot of progress and even learned how to walk and drive again, he had no sense of purpose. Enter Chance Fashion, a community of fashion-obsessed people who would put on a monthly show. Although Anthony held several positions at the non-profit, it wasn’t earning him any money.
Anthony began dating a woman trying to make a quick buck by any means possible, and one of her ideas was to open a store on the platform Shopify. She and YouTube made it sound so easy, but as I came to find out, it was far from a cakewalk and would end up costing me thousands of more dollars than the $29.99 Shopify was charging me for hosting my website” says Starr.
Among a sea of fashion stores online, Grrly Grrls stands apart from the rest by only offering high fashion at low prices, “Because not everyone can afford a Dolce & Gabbana handbag or a Chanel scarf, we like to think we are a great alternative to brand name merchandise,” said Starr.
The brand began as a generic clothing store with little imagination, “We were selling everything: from makeup, activewear, boho dresses, and perfume, we had no target market,” said Starr. Though he tried for nearly 4 years to make it work, it wasn’t paying off for him, and he was going broke in the process of running Facebook and Google ads, “At one point, I changed the entire website to the color pink, just to stand out, it didn’t work,” said Starr.
He began to question his career path and almost shut down the entire operation, “I had already invested so much time and money in the business that I couldn’t walk away,” says Starr, “I had sold some stuff, and that’s what kept me going.” Besides this, Anthony enjoyed what he was doing and couldn’t imagine doing anything else, “While earning money is always nice, it wasn’t my main motivation. I had always wanted to have my fashion shop, and now that I was doing it, it seemed rather pointless to stop.”
As Anthony explains, if you’re passionate about what you are doing and not concerned about the money, it does not even work, “I worked for free for 4 years because I loved what I was doing,” said Starr. Never working for the money is something Anthony learned while working for Nordstrom, “it felt good to say that I worked for Nordstrom, but the day to grind of waking up at 5 am, taking the bus there and back wasn’t gratifying at all. I wasn’t put on the earth to be a pencil pusher.”
That was what Anthony loved about owning his shop; he had complete artistic freedom, from how the website looked to what products were featured in the ad copy. Of course, now that it’s proving successful, Anthony has hired some professionals to recraft his vision and do his ads. However, he still maintains control over everything, “We just brought on a webmaster to redesign the website and an advertising manager to create and run the ads. It has been a load off my shoulders,” said Starr.
Anthony has never been shy regarding his love of fashion and has dodged his fair share of slings and arrows since his high school days,” I can remember walking through the cafeteria and hearing the words faggot and queer. Still, it didn’t phase me, and only made me dress more outrageously,” said Starr. For Anthony, it was always just part of who he was, and he wasn’t going to conform to anyone.
Educating yourself is a big part of Anthony’s success. He’s watched thousands of videos on e-commerce, “I stopped watching all those guys who were saying that you should be making millions within a week and found some more trustworthy people who explained the business,” said Starr, because knowledge is the key to success, you must educate yourself explains Starr,” I’m not saying you need a college degree to be successful, but it doesn’t hurt. I’m using every skill I learned from my 2-year stint in college.” Between this and self-education. Anthony is living his dream of being a successful entrepreneur.
Anthony is obsessed with his business because if you aren’t, you will flounder. He works at it every day.” Whether it’s just posting a product on Instagram or sending out an email newsletter to past customers, he works at it seven days a week.” And it pays off as Grrly Grrls’ now has over 11 thousand followers, and the average post gets at least 50 to 1200 likes.
In late 2021 Anthony decided to change everything and deleted his activewear, blouse, and pant sections, adding handmade gowns and only high fashion ready-to-wear. His goal was to create the boutique experience online, “I was excited again and thought, ‘if this doesn’t work, I will close down,” said Starr.
Much to his delight and surprise, within a month of launching his new concept, Grrly Grrls sold 3 handmade gowns. And that was just the start. In November, Grrly Grrls grossed a little over $2000. December was even better as the shop made close to $5000, “it has been a steady growth, and I’m thankful for my success,” said Starr.
Anthony has some competition, but the other formal wear shops charge up to $10,000 for a handmade dress. In contrast, Grrly Grrls’ handmade gowns start at $500 and don’t surpass $2000, “Our dresses are made in East Asia, and we keep our prices low by only marking our products up by 10%,” says Starr, “We’ve had very few complaints about the quality and the shipping times, everyone else has been delighted with their handmade dresses.” You can’t please everyone, so you get used to it. Some people will never be satisfied; this is just the nature of retail.
That’s not to say it’s been all wine and roses; Anthony has learned to under-promise and over-deliver. “Once, a customer wanted a handmade gown by a certain date. I asked the tailor if they could do it. They said they could, so she placed her order,” said Starr. The dress arrived late, and Anthony had to refund the customer nearly $600. ‘And that’s the thing about running your own business, never over-promise, but, when possible, over-deliver.”
As a relatively unknown shop, Grrly Grrls has been called a scam website on more than one occasion,” You need to expect some negativity when you’re first starting out because you’re not Nordstrøm or Saks,” said Starr, “Plus, you are just one of the thousands of clothing shops on the internet and so being met with a degree of skepticism is just human nature.”
Today, Anthony Starr employs 4 people, an accountant, a webmaster, a blogger, and an advertising agent, “it feels good to be in the position to help others pursue their passions and get paid to do so,” says Starr.
If Anthony has any words of advice, they would be, stay true to who you are, never back away from a challenge, always follow your passion, never settle for mediocre, and stay positive no matter what life throws you, “this has been my philosophy for years, and I’ve always accomplished every goal I ever met,” says Starr, “you have to believe in yourself before you can expect anyone else to.”
I believe that nutrition science is a wonderful helper both for the preventive improvement of health and adjunctive therapy in treatment. My goal is to help people improve their health and well-being without torturing themselves with unnecessary dietary restrictions. I am a supporter of a healthy lifestyle – I play sports, cycle, and swim in the lake all year round. With my work, I have been featured in Vice, Country Living, Harrods magazine, Daily Telegraph, Grazia, Women's Health, and other media outlets.
- Bell Peppers 101: Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits - April 19, 2024
- Products That Assist with Stress Relief - September 21, 2023
- TRÈFLE – THE ROAD TO THE 15TH - July 29, 2023
