Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa-Marie Blenman.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
At age 16 years old, I began working my first job in a retail store. After several years of that, I began to develop a love for fashion. I continued to work in the retail and fashion industry throughout high school and college. At age 20 I was promoted and accepted my first management position at a high-end boutique in Friendswood, Texas. There I worked very closely with ladies and to many become their personal shopper.
Putting outfits together for their everyday events or even special events was one of the highlights of my job. In 1999 I had the awesome privilege of clothing Miss Galveston and Miss Southeast Texas which were sisters. The year that I helped them, they both made the top 12, and that was the first time in history that two sisters made the finals. It was an experience I will never forget. I continued to work in the fashion industry and realized then that was my passion.
To make a long story short, I worked a couple of years in corp America as an administrative assistant and quickly discovered that was not where I was happy. I didn’t feel my talents and abilities were being used in the right field. I began to express to my wonderful husband that I wanted to own my own clothing store. While the dream seemed so far away the vision never left me. In 2008, we launched our brand called Jade Mackenzie Apparel. I designed, and factory produced my first round of denim skirts. It was a total of six styles. These were my brand.
Things took off fast in the right direction, and after about a year we began to manufacture a complete clothing line out of China. Sales took off, our customer base began to grow and grow. All this was operated out of our home for several years. In 2015, we moved into our first location. This location consisted of customer service and fulfillment center and a small boutique. We outgrew that location in less than a year. We moved to a large facility in 2016 that also included a Jade Mackenzie Apparel storefront.
We saw tremendous growth in 2015 & 2016 as we began to supply many boutiques across the world with our brand. My husband and I work closely together on building this dream that one day seemed so far away. Now in 2022 will still continue to grow despite the worldwide pandemic and now we own a manufacturing factory in Houston Texas where 90% of our brand is produced. It’s a great privilege and honor to work daily alongside my best friend, my husband, Kevin Blenman. As owners of Jade Mackenzie Apparel, we feel, and know the future is bright and look forward to the journey and expansion ahead.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Having not come from a business or design background, developing this business has required a tremendous amount of self education and perseverance, learning pattern pattern-making, book-keeping, production management, marketing, while being a mother and parent, with sole-responsibility of the development of designs whether produced overseas, domestically or in our own start-up factory. Guiding the direction and making business and financial decisions was also complicated along the way working with my husband who didn’t always share the same vision at times.
With the worldwide pandemic in 2020, we faced many challenges and obstacles as did many companies across the company. We saw a drastic decrease in sales in 2020 and decided to manufacture our own masks to help continue operations.
In 2021 things began to get much better but still a decrease in sales. Now in 2022 things are MUCH better and starting to normalize once again.
Through all this, we have remained positive worked hard to keep the business up and running. Challenges come to make us wiser and stronger.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Jade Mackenzie Apparel?
Jade Mackenzie Apparel is a company that focuses on modest apparel. We are known for our popular denim skirts in a variety of colors in ladies and girl sizes. We feel our dedication of fashion and class sets us apart from others. We believe there is more than one style to love. Our goal is to help ladies look and feel beautiful, classy and unique.
What’s next?
The future of Jade Mackenzie Apparel is bright. We have plans to open our 2nd manufacturing facility in California while continuing our one in Katy, Texas.
Contact Info:
- Email: customercare@jademackenzie.com
- Website: www.jademackenzie.com
- Instagram: @jademackenzieapparel
- Facebook: Jade Mackenzie Apparel
