Introducing…

First off, Happy New Year!  2020…the year of doing big, scary ish.

Let me start by telling you a little story.  I’ve been blogging since 2010.  For pretty much the entire last decade.  I took a brief 6 month break in 2014 but then realized I loved it and missed it, so I started again.  I’ve always loved fitness and working out and sharing motivation with you all, and I’ve also been very transparent that I equally love to chill real hard by cozying up on the couch and enjoying a glass (or two) of wine.  I also share my style, which I’d describe as casual and comfortable with easy basics on a daily basis.  Comfort is very important to me and I dress accordingly, but when comfort is at the top of your priority list when it comes to clothes, it’s very easy to end up in your husband’s sweatpants.  And that’s okay every now and then but I try to find styles where I can look good AND feel good at the same time.

But backing up just a tad to when I started my blog back up after my little hiatus.  I infused more style into it and remember thinking how cool it would be if I ever got to work with an activewear brand to create a collection with them.  I live in athleisure and so it was sort of one of my “back of my mind” goals I hoped I’d achieve “one day” if I got to be a big enough blogger to get that attention from brands.

And then last year I realized it had been close to 6 years that I was just sort of waiting around hoping a brand would come knocking on my door to work with me so I could create this dream.

My dream.

Why put my dream in the hands of someone else?

I decided that if I wanted it to happen, that I was going to be the one to make it happen.  No more waiting around for someone else to magically appear and do it for me.  It has been the better part of the last decade that I have made one of my dreams come true of turning blogging into my full time job.

And now we are starting a new decade. And I’m ready to chase down another dream and make it a reality.

So without further ado, let me introduce to you what it is that I’ve been working on:

Introducing…goldbraid!  My new athleisure line!  It is pretty damn scary and also so exciting to put this out there.  I’ve been scared to really “announce” it for fear of failure or some other inexplicable reason, but I’ve been working on it and bringing it to life all the same, so why wait?  The ball is rolling and I want to be able to share the process of it all with you.  Keeping it a “secret” doesn’t allow me to do what I’ve always done, which is be open and share my life with you.

After wearing so many different activewear brands over the years, I found that it was really, REALLY hard to find something that I felt like was strong enough to wear for workouts, soft enough to lounge in on the couch, and stylish enough to wear as a real outfit.  Oh, and that don’t completely make your wallet want to cry.  I want it to do and be all of those things.  So that is my primary objective with goldbraid.  To have the three pillars of softness, strength, & style all interwoven (kinda like a braid, get it?) to make up the pieces you want to live your entire life in…from workouts to wine and everything in between.

All of the goldbraid pieces will be made from recycled materials or otherwise sustainable fabrics.

I don’t have a date just yet on when the items will launch.  I’m testing out the fabrics and styles to make sure they’re just right before bringing them to you.  I’ve learned so much about designing clothes and sourcing fabrics and ordering samples and all these things I didn’t even know went into this process.  It has been both super fun and super challenging.  And of course, scary as hell, because I’m putting my own money into getting goldbraid off the ground with no guarantee I’ll ever see any of that money come back.  But such is a reality of being an entrepreneur and no one ever said it was going to be easy, right?  I asked myself before going all in on this…”what would I regret more?  Never trying to achieve this dream or losing some money if it didn’t work out?”  Ultimately I think I’d regret never trying more…so here we are.  Besides, I feel very confident that you will love the pieces I am creating 🙂  I’ve already taken so much of your insights and opinions into the creation process (many of you have answered on Instagram polls about your preferences!)

Up next I will be creating the website and finalizing the pieces I have been working on so far.  I will keep you all posted on the progress…I have a meeting this Friday to select another fabric for a top.  Then will be testing out the sample leggings to make sure they’re perfect.  In the meantime…feel free to follow goldbraid on Instagram (it’s a little bare right now…nothing to post quite yet!) and me of course to stay in the know!

One last thing about why I decided to chase this dream:  because I know I have an amazing community of women that find support and motivation by coming to my blog or Instagram.  You all motivate me in return, even if you don’t know it!  I feel a duty to go out on these limbs and do the big, scary shit to show women that they can, too.  If I can play some small part in your realizing and going after a dream you have for your life, then all of this will be worth it.

Let’s make 2020 our year and our decade for making it happen…for ourselves.  No more waiting around for someone else.  We can do this.  We will do this.  And if you need a cheerleader, I’m here.

Thank you so much for your support, it means everything to me.  I love you more than you know!!

xo,

Bess