In this Q&A, the founder of Buckle Scrunchie shares how her mother’s influence and upcycling background shaped her journey in sustainable accessories.
Your Mom’s Influence: How did your family—especially your mom’s sewing and upcycling—help shape your passion for creating and customizing products?
My mom has been sewing and upcycling unwanted fabric for my entire life, so I grew up with a mentality that nothing goes to waste. She taught me to be creative and use my resources to make useful things for others. Because she does sewing alterations, using fabric as a medium for my product design has been the easiest starting point. She has thousands of pounds of leftover or discarded fabric ready to be made in Buckle Scrunchies, allowing my customers to have something practical, helpful, and genius while also sustainable.
Starting Out: Can you tell us a bit more about what inspired you to begin upcycling and how those first projects evolved into your current offerings?
I realized that a lot of people didn’t grow up with the concept of upcycling like I did. I just thought it was something people did with their resources ever since I was younger. There are photos of me wearing plastic bags I “designed” into “dresses.” and making the same for my dolls. Then when I remembered that my mom upcycled 2,000 face masks and donated them during the pandemic, I found out that thousands of other people are upcycling and wanted to make my own invention out of textile waste since there is so much of it in the world.
Attracting Fitness Partners: You mentioned you’re looking to collaborate within the fitness industry. Could you share more about how you plan to work with fitness partners?
My biggest goal is to partner with big brands like Nike or Lululemon and fitness companies like Equinox to customize their own Buckle Scrunchies for their customers.
Product Sales: I understand you sell your items online and through pop-ups. Could you tell me more about how that’s working for you and whether you’ve found these methods especially successful?
People love seeing my products in person at popups because they think “Wow, how have Buckle Scrunchies not been invented yet?” Then, when they realize each Buckle Scrunchie can cost less than their daily coffee, they purchase quickly. Online, we focus more on group or team orders for sports leagues, bridal parties, event merch, etc. but we also sell directly to consumers through bucklescrunchie.com.
Expansion Plans: What are your long-term growth plans for the company? Are there any upcoming partnerships, products, or events you’re particularly excited about?
We’re partnering with college athletes and their teams! They serve as our brand ambassadors and are organizing local group orders for their different games or seasons. Long term, I’d like to saturate the market enough so that retail stores, brands, and event groups reach out for custom merchandise designs.
Customer Engagement: With all the customizing you do, how do you plan on engaging and retaining your customers—especially those interested in sustainable or upcycled pieces?
We try to release a new Buckle Scrunchie twice a month. Because upcycled fabric is plenty yet unique and limited, customers understand that if they want a certain color, they should buy it soon before they run out.
