Today, we’d like to introduce you to Blythe Rodgers. Blythe was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Alexis Turner.
Blythe, thank you so much for joining us today. We’d love for you to bring our readers up to speed – can you introduce yourself and share your story?
I studied fashion merchandising at UGA, I always knew that I wanted to have a career in fashion. I graduated in May of 2020, The country was basically shut down, it the absolute worst time to try to find a job. So throughout that summer of 2020, I spent my time working full time at the restaurant I had worked in throughout college. I was making good money, saving a lot it, I was still applying to fashion-industry jobs in my free time. As the summer came to an end, and I still hadn’t found a job I was getting very frustrated. My resume wasn’t competitive enough, I didn’t have a portfolio of work to show, I needed to come up with a plan. That was when I decided to start working on BLYTHE Label. I knew that starting a small business would do one of things for me: if it succeeded then it would become a stream of income for me, or if it failed it would build a great portfolio of what I can do. I kept bartending, and waitressing throughout that year, I saved $8,000 specifically to put into the business. I was watching YouTube videos every day, reading books, taking notes, making plans, making vision boards. And I loved every minute of it. I felt like I finally had something good to focus my creative energy on, and that had been missing from life for a long time. I was able to launch my debut collection in May 2021. I dropped it as a two-part collection – one in May and one in July. Then I took everything I learned from those drops and went back to the drawing board. I improved what needed to be improved, and rebranded, then when I dropped my 2022 collection, it ended up doing over 3x the sales that I did in 2021. I can credit a lot of that success to AKT Fits, and how Alexis helped me with my rebrand.
Please tell us more about your brand, Blythe Label
BLYTHE Label is a swimwear line that I started in 2021. This past Fall/Winter, I expanded beyond swimsuits, and did a small line of dresses, which I’m very proud of. I started my business as mostly a creative outlet for myself, and I think that focus on creativity is what sets it apart as a brand. Each collection that I drop has a theme. Each one tells a story – through the photoshoots, the packaging, the website. Everything is constantly evolving. You’re never going to see the same thing twice.
Alexis Turner and AKT Fits have been great to us and I know you’ve got a great relationship with them as well. Maybe you can tell our audience a bit about Alexis Turner and AKT Fits and your experience with them.
I’ve known Alexis for a very long time. We both grew up in the same small town. In high school we were a couple grades apart, so we didn’t really get close until college. We both went to UGA, and she had reached out to me when I first started freshman year – just offering to help me find my way on campus, and figure everything out. So, one day early on my freshman year, I was checking my mail in my dorm mailbox, and there was a letter inside addressed to “Alexis K. Turner”. So, I texted her a picture, and said something like, “I don’t know how this ended up in my dorm mailroom, but I think it might be yours?” Long story short, we found out that she had lived in that exact same dorm room three years before me. Mind you, there are 22 dorms at UGA, with hundreds of rooms in each, so the odds of this happening were like a million-to-one. We’ve been great friends ever since. We always say the Universe was telling us our paths were supposed to cross. AKT is like a Jack-of-all-trades. She does a little bit of everything, and she does it well. Her drive is insane. Although we’ve been friends for years, we started working together business-wise in 2022. Last year, I knew that I needed to level up my photoshoots, so I reached out to Alexis. She had recently started AKT Fits at the time, so I thought this collaboration would be good for both of us. I gave her a call and told her about my vision for the shoot, and she immediately understood it perfectly. It’s rare to find a stylist who knows how to fit your personal brand as well as Alexis can. She helped me put together the MOST AMAZING team of models. Literally exactly what I wanted + more. Then she was there every step of the way, helping with behind-the-scenes planning and styling. Her vibes on set are unmatched. She just brings so much good energy to the shoots. Once the shoot was over, she assisted me in combing through hundreds of raw images to choose to best ones to use for the campaign. The end results were crazy. That collection ended up being my first ever sold-out drop. I owe so much of that success to AKT Fits. She quickly became an integral part of the team. And at every photoshoot since that day, she’s been my right hand.
Website: blythelabel.com
Instagram: @blythelabel
Image Credits
Dr8nn photography
