Have you ever searched a clothes rack and found nothing for your body type? For years, the fashion industry made clothes for women who looked a certain way, while every other kind of woman had to settle for clothes that barely looked good on them.
In this interview, Morenike Olusanya shares how she and her co-founder have taken it upon themselves to create fashion solutions for busty women with their clothing brand, Bawsty.
About Morenike
Morenike Olusanya is an award-winning artist, Co-founder & Chief Marketing Officer of Bawsty Clothing & Retail LTD, a busty women's wear company, by turning hot trendy styles into practical, flattering clothes. Along with her partner, the CEO, Damilola Onosowobo Marcus (an architect and brand identity designer), they are designing and producing beautiful, hot, elegant & chic outfits for busty women to wear and feel their best in.
How did you and your co-founder decide to start this business together?
My co-founder came up with the idea. We have always complained about being busty women who want to feel hot and not finding brands that make clothes for people like us. She called me one day and said we’re both target audiences of a shared problem, why don’t we create something that solves this problem?
What is the inspiration behind the brand name?
Growing up, I’m from a family of boys. My mother wasn’t very busty so I was alone. I didn’t know the correct bras to wear. It was difficult to navigate the entire thing. My mom bought clothes that she would buy for my brothers for me. I grew up not feeling confident in my body. I had self-esteem issues. Then I got to my twenties. I wanted to make more effort to not feel that way. You know I tried but something was lacking. There were no clothes for me in the market. People make clothes for smaller and hour-glass looking women.
My co-founder, Damilola Onosowobo. She thought about it. She is the design person for the brand while I take care of the marketing. Learning about what works for my body, I’m a soft-dramatic, meaning I have angular features. Realizing that the clothes that work for hourglass women aren't the same for busty women. It was a lot of research and finding out what works for our bodies and seeing if we can help ourselves and other busty women wear clothes that make them feel good.
When did the business officially launch?
The business launched in October.
I understand that the business is new but how do you and your co-founder handle your ideas clashing?
We haven’t experienced this before mostly because we have the same vision. There is a problem we want to solve. Then again because of our personalities, we don’t clash. We’re open to listening to each other’s ideas, we don’t dismiss one another. We just talk it out, we’re adults.
In the short period you’ve run your business, what are the challenges you’ve faced?
Right now, one of the challenges we’re having is setting our tone for marketing. What people like and what they don’t like. This is now at the execution phase. It’s a challenge knowing what busty women like and what they prefer to wear.
Starting the business, we had challenges looking for tailors because it’s made in Nigeria. Quality control was also an issue, many people in this line of business tend to do things hastily. We looked at professionals out of the country to compare the quality.
Looking for quality fabric that we can be consistent with was another challenge. You don’t want to pick a fabric that is difficult to find in case you want to continue a style. Thankfully, we had really good people around us, people who have been in the business giving us advice.
How do you determine your product pricing?
We are a fast-fashion brand. We try to look at how companies like Shein, Fashion Nova and our competitors in Nigeria set their pricing. We also look at the cost of fabric, cost of production, and we also consider errors and waste plus profit. At the moment we’re not yet making a profit. Everything we make goes back into the business and to pay salaries.
So the brand isn’t compromising on quality in order to make it more accessible and affordable?
No, we don't want to do that. Down the line, we plan to release more collections that would accommodate people that want more luxurious things. Now, our target audience is busty women in their early twenties up to their fifties that want to feel and look hot that can afford these things.
What is the most exciting part of running your business?
People are actually buying. We knew we were going to sell because we are solving a problem but people are actually buying them because we’re relatively new. Some of our designs are actually sold out and we just launched. It’s so exciting and wild. I really appreciate the support and the trust.
Another exciting thing is seeing people wear these clothes. It’s crazy because these were ideas that were just in our heads and now it has come to life. Also meeting people that have patronized the brand. I recently met someone who said they loved the brand. Thinking about the future is equal parts exciting and scary because we plan to be big. That’s also exciting, Seeing what the future holds for us.
Speaking of the future, where do you see your brand in the next couple of years?
We see ourselves competing with Shein and other big fast-fashion brands. It sounds quite ambitious at the moment cause we just started. We really want to cater to the problem where busty women cannot find clothes to wear. We want to be like the Shein or Zara for busty women.
What is Bawsty’s signature style?
I don’t know if we have a signature style, that is still something we’re still figuring out. One thing that is consistent with all our outfits, for now, is that they’re all stretchy and they would look hot on any busty woman.
Describe Bawsty in five words
Hot, reliable, classic, high-quality, and chic.
Knowing that the brand is still new, what are some annoying things customers have done?
First of all, we have had the best customers. I believe it’s because we communicate enough. Our terms and conditions and size guides are clear so there is no back and forth. This doesn’t really give us the ick but it stresses our assistant out - when customers ask questions that they can find the answers to. We would appreciate it if they do the necessary research before reaching out to us.
Also, people come to say they would like an outfit adjusted to fit them. It isn’t usually crazy and it’s always settled immediately.
How do you manage your business finances?
This isn’t really my area. We use Brass for our finances, payments and so on. We use Stripe for international clients. We have an accountant that manages the finances and tax.
Check out their social media accounts
https://mobile.twitter.com/shopbawsty
https://www.instagram.com/shopbawsty/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D
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