BRHS Grad Co-Owns Blazer Business

She is a sophomore at Parsons School of Design, a graduate of —and now a co-business owner.

Tessa Lewis, of Bridgewater, co-owns Madison Maxey Blazers, a business started by her freshman year college roommate, Madison Maxey, who wanted to help business women find something appropriate to wear to work and at play.

“She always wears blazers, and likes to look nice, but shopping for blazers is always an issue,” Lewis said. “They’re either really expensive or not made of quality materials.”

“Finding something in between is difficult, and there’s a huge market for women who need to look nice, either to work or running their daily lives,” she added. “And they want something stylish too.”

Lewis said she met Maxey, of California, through the housing lottery at the school, and they hit it off right away. A little while after, Lewis said, they started talking about this business.

“My roommate decided to drop out of Parsons, and take the money she was using for tuition and put it toward starting her own business,” Lewis said. “I am currently majoring in design and management, and my major is a little more business-oriented, and she was doing fashion.”

And now, the two are putting together their business knowledge, and hoping to have the company take off within a short period of time.

“[Madison] is on a gap year, so she needs to make it in the gap year, which is her agreement with her parents,” Lewis said. “She needs to make a profit, or she will have to go back to school and pick a major of their choice.”

So the two are hoping to turn a profit and sell these blazers soon.

“She has some connections in the fashion industry, and she took some leftover fabrics that would otherwise go in the garbage,” Lewis said. “We use them for collars and lapels, and they come out in different patterns. We focus on flowers now.”

“We both have very creative minds, but she’s more knowledgeable in the fashion arena,” she added. “Through the things we are learning in class, sometimes I have a separate notebook for jotting down ideas for the business.”

Lewis said there have been great reviews on the blazers, and they even contacted a producer from the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

“He emailed back, and he’s waiting to pass on our name to a stylist they use,” she said. “He had a great reaction to the blazers.”

With the making of the blazers, Lewis said, they strive to use all natural fibers and silk lining, and they fit well on people.

“As good as your product is, you’re only as good as the name you put out there and the effort you put out,” she said. “We have Twitter and Facebook, and we are trying to get as much attention as we possibly can.”

In addition, Lewis said, the business has a Kickstarter, a website that allows people to upload information about whatever small businesses they want to create. Those who are interested in the businesses can send in money and support them by becoming a backer.

“We have a $3,000 goal on Kickstarter, and right now we only have about $760, which is the place where we would like to see us moving a little quicker,” she said. “June 10 is our final date on the site.”

“People can donate $1 to $200, in which case they get a blazer in return for their support,” she added. “We already had two people decide to back us there. When time ends, hopefully we’ll have reached our final goal, and if not we think there is a wait period to regroup and restart, which hopefully we won’t have to do.”

Aside from the work they are doing to promote the business itself, Lewis said, they are also working to put together blazers to sell. She said Maxey’s mother is a flight attendant, and they’ve been able to fly to Shanghai for free to work with a factory there that is helping make the blazers.

“They can do a low capacity there,” Lewis said. “We have gotten samples from them and we love them.”

“We also have other supporters, and we’re trying to connect with others and get feedback,” she added. “That’s been a big undertaking, and very eye-opening to see how the industry works.”

Lewis said that part of their work has been to make sure the factory is fair, and that there are no issues concerning human rights.

“It is important to have the factory and be able to converse with them,” she said.

According to Lewis, the blazers are handmade, and it’s important to establish relationships with the factories to be able to grow.

And in the future, Lewis said, they are hoping to bring the business to a United States factory.

“The thing is, bringing business back here is really important,” she said. “If we need to grow, we are definitely interested in bringing production back to America.”

For Lewis, she said she is loving the work, but never imagined she would get involved in a fashion business.

“I always loved getting dressed up, but I never imagined starting a business that had anything to do with fashion,” she said. “But the opportunity fell into my lap, and I thought it would be interesting for the business model, seeing how to make it grow and be profitable.”

“I think a lot of teenagers should try to start a business in any way,” she said. “I think it is really important for us as we continue to learn, and it is a really good thing to have under my belt, whether or not we succeed.”

Lewis said she would love to stay with this business with Maxey, even as she continues at Parsons, entering her sophomore year in September.

“Maddie and I work really well together,” she said. “And I would love to start up other companies, work for other places. I like taking on lots of different projects.”

As a student at BRHS, Lewis said, she knows she did not get experience that is as professional as what she is getting now, but she did have teachers who pushed her.

“I know I had teachers who pushed us to do projects as if we were in the real world,” she said. “They inspired me and gave me the work ethic that I try to put to use in my everyday work.”

Still, Lewis said, it does feel like the business is growing fast, after they began it in December. By January, she said, they had the Twitter feed set up, and in the past two months they’ve been kicking the business into high gear, waiting to hear back from a New York City boutique and continuing to sell.

“Sometimes it can be really intimidating, taking on a project that is growing,” she said. “But it is important to take the time and do things right.”

“I do feel like we’re moving at an appropriate pace for a small business start-up,” she added.

For more information on the business, visit the website.