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News 12 Staff

bowtiepart2_2023-07-29-13-42-01

We are back with Robin Williams, who's the owner of bow tie behavior, which is based in the Bronx. But this girl has Jersey Ties. Of course, you know, that people let us talk about where the bow ties are made, what's involved and all of that good stuff. So I make about 90% of the bow ties at home at home. Yes, by hand. Um, I, in the past year I ventured out with hiring local seamstresses to help me with bulk orders. And when I get, you know, massive amount of orders I have people help me out. But this is probably the first year that I've started doing that. But for the most part, about 90% of them are made by me. When you make them at home yourself. What process is involved from, I guess, a pattern to, you know, cutting it out and stitching and by hand. Yes, by hand. I mean, I use a sewing machine, but the first part, you pick the fabric and then I bring it home, I cut out the pattern, the bow tie pattern. Um, and then I sew it together on the sewing machine, make sure all the measurements are right. Some of them, um, you need like a lining for them if the fabric is a little thinner. Um, and then I attach the bow tie hardware and attach my label and ship it out and then I iron it out so that it looks nice and neat. And I package it up and you ship it on out. Where do you ship it out? Where are the orders coming from all over? I would say the majority of my, my customers do come from like the tri-state area in New York, New Jersey. But then I also get a lot of customers from California, which is a really big bow tie market. Seriously. Yes. Did you find that out when the order started coming in or did you do your research? It was kind of both because it was back in when the, when the company just started and I was in a business course and they were like, ok, do some market research to see where you, you know, the bow tie markets are. And at the same time, I was still getting like California, California, California. So then when I looked up the market research and it showed California as a, as a big bow tie market, it just was went hand in hand. You learn something new every day. Are you surprised at how well your company is doing? Because I'm assuming it's doing very well. Yeah. And I've been getting recent publicity and people have been, you know, the word of mouth have, has been really, really great for the business and I've been doing pretty well in terms, as long as I'm like, staying true to bow tie behaviors, mission and the message and the vibrancy people are, are flocking to, to bow ties. And so I, I love it. What is the mission? So the mission is to take the intimidation out of bow ties because bow ties are, are considered very like stuffy and formal. And so what I do with bow tie behavior is I pair formal wear with street wear to make it seem more accessible to make it seem, you know, like something that you could wear every day because it, it really is, you know, and I also one of my missions is also to make bow ties genderless because when people think of bow ties or any sort of neck wear, they think of men's wear. Exactly. And so I wanna make it that anyone, no matter how you identify how you dress, you can wear a bow tie, you can have it as a part of your wardrobe. And as you can see here, Meteorologist Scott Skoff is a big fan of wearing bow ties. He emailed me this picture so that I could share it here on air. Coming up at noon. Robin talks about the challenges of getting a small business off the ground.

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bowtiepart3_2023-07-29-13-41-55

We are putting the spotlight on bow tie behavior, which is based in the Bronx. But the owner Robin Williams, she has family here in New Jersey and I had to bring her on to talk about this product. You know, it's hard getting a small business off the ground. What are the challenges you faced in doing? So, um, I would say the number one challenge is financing, like finding the start up money to buy fabric, to buy supplies, a sewing machine, things like that. So, um, the way I started was a lot of crowd funding family has given me, uh, money for fabric and things like that. Um, so finance, finances or getting the financing to start the business has been a challenge and then also staying the course because it'll be nine, well, maybe nine years in July both have behavior. So, congratulations. Thank you. So, um, it's been hard just staying the course and not getting discouraged because there have been times where maybe sales aren't doing the best. So I don't feel inspired or financially, I can't find, you know, the means to keep it going and it's, it's like staying the course and believing in the mission. And also having the family support behind me has been really, really like, impactful and helping me continue my business because there's been many times in the early years where I was just like, I can't do this anymore because I don't feel like, you know, it's getting anywhere people aren't buying all those things. So definitely staying encouraged has been a, a challenge until now. Do you have any outside investors? I do not. It's been my own money. I'm now in the process of applying for grants. So we'll see, you know how that goes, but it's, it's been all of my money. Maybe this interview will help bring in those investors. If you're watching, let's talk about your marketing. What do you do to get the word out about these lovely Botox? Yes. So a lot of my money marketing is on social media. Um I heavily rely on Instagram, tiktok, Facebook, um and word of mouth marketing as well. Just customers who are really satisfied with their product. They tell people I get a lot of media write ups as well. So people will see me either on uh Instagram post or they'll see me on like an interview and they'll reach out to, to do a write up about me and then people will find out uh through there. Um And, but mainly I would say uh word of mouth has been my, my biggest, like, biggest supporter and my biggest customers have come from um hearing from other folks or seeing me on television. But I also like to do ad campaigns that speak to um the mission so being genderless, so everyone can wear my, my motto is every day is a fly day. And so I wanna encourage people to really just be comfortable whether you're wearing a bow tie or not just be comfortable with what you're wearing. And here are some tips or ways that you can feel fly every day. Do you find that it's appealing to all genders? Yes. Yeah. My customer base is all genders. Uh, non binary folks, men, women, I have customers all over who just buy either for themselves for another person or I've had, I have a lot of customers who have never worn a bow tie before but in seeing uh my advertisement or seeing a model that I have um, in my ad with a bow tie, they're like, oh, this person looks like me. So I can, I also wear a bow tie because you know, they, they're styled like I am or they look like me or whatever the case is. So, um, yeah, I have people from all over who identify in all different ways who, who buy bow ties tomorrow at 6 a.m. Robin talks about the top selling markets for her bow ties.

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bowtiepart4_2023-07-30-11-09-17

Robin Williams is my guest here on spotlight New Jersey. She is the owner of bow tie behavior based in the Bronx. But of course, people from all over can buy this product from her. Let's talk about your top selling markets. Yes. So my um, top selling markets for the customers that I get bow tie behavior are California, Texas and New York, New Jersey area. Does that surprise you? It, it does a little bit. I did uh some market research early on, but even before I did market research, those were where my customers were coming from. And so, yeah, California, Texas, New York, New Jersey area are like my top selling um, areas. It definitely is not a dying art. That's for sure. What about the reaction you get from female clients? Because as a woman, you look beautiful with that bow tie. Yes. Yeah. And so that's, that's what I wanna do is make people feel like they can also wear a bow tie. And so when I um encounter female customers, even people who haven't worn a bow tie ever before they see my advertisement. So they see me wearing a bow tie and they're like, you know, I never even thought about wearing a bow tie. I never wanted to wear a bow tie, but seeing you or seeing your ad now, I want to, I wanna at least try it. And so that makes me feel really good because that's what I want to do is encourage people to not be intimidated. Like bow ties are for everyone you can wear it no matter what, um, how you identify how you dress. And so I really like, like getting that reaction from, from, um, female clients about, um, them being more confident or even just curious about wearing a bow tie. You said you do a lot of work from home? Yes. Now, what about brick and stores or other places where you sell it or would like to start selling it? Yeah. So right now you can find all bow tie behavior, um, merchandise or select styles in all TJ Maxx and Marshalls locations in New York. Um, and I've been in, uh, some other small boutiques throughout my career, but right now TJ Maxx and Marshalls is the only place in person where you can shop. But, uh, the major party of the shopping can be done online at behavior dot com. I would love to get into Target Macy's Nordstroms. Like I'm putting it out all out in the universe. Um, so I'm working on that and making connections that way. Ok. Are you major department stores and chains listening, she just put the word out. So manifest and help her. Ok. What are your future plans for the company? So I would really love, I see myself in the next 5 to 10 years. Um, having a brick and mortar store, um, and, and just selling, having my dream is to have a brick and mortar store where one half you can buy the premade bow tie behavior stuff that's on the website. And then the other half of the store you can sort of build your own bow tie where you can go in and you can pick out your fabric, your threads, your all of that and then we can ship it to you later on. So I wanna have that experience. So people feel more engaged in the customization of their bow ties. So that's really the dream 5, 10 years ago. Would you ever have imagined this would be your business? No, absolutely not. In fact, when I first started bow tie behavior, I was a college basketball coach. You were what? Yes. Yes. I was a college basketball coach at my alma mater, the University of DC. So that's what I was doing before this. See, life offers funny opportunities for you. You never know. And that is so true. So never give up on your dreams. We have much more of our conversation coming up at nine this morning, so stay with us.

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bowtiepart5_2023-07-30-11-09-22

Robin Williams is my guest this weekend. She is the owner of bow tie behavior based in the Bronx. But you can buy her product online as well. And again, remind people in the stores where they can get it. Yes. So you can shop bow tie behavior at TJ Maxx and Marshalls. This product is very important to you and you also use it as part of a greater cause. Yeah, tell me about that. Yes. So, um, 10% of all bow behavior sales go towards supporting organizations that support uh gender affirming surgeries. And why is that so dear to your heart? And it's so important to me because, um, as being uh a queer woman and speaking to other queer people in the community, um, we feel underrepresented. Um We don't feel supported, especially in the current like and past and the, and the social political climate. There's so much telling us that we shouldn't be comfortable in our own skin. There's so much telling us that we should go back into the closet or whatever the case is, hide ourselves, not feel good about ourselves. And I have so many conversations with people who within that journey, they also feel um unsupported in terms of their clothing choices or what they can wear or how they feel comfortable presenting outwardly. And so, um my mission is to support people even um outside of the LGBT Q plus community, but mainly people within the community to help them feel comfortable whenever they walk out the door, whether it's me helping them style themselves, whether it's me giving them advice of what to wear to an interview or a party, just helping people feel good about themselves because there's so much out there that's telling us not to. And we know this journey for people starts at a tender age for a lot of young kids. So what do they tell you when they wear your bow ties about what, how it makes them feel? They tell me that it makes them feel so good powerful, it makes them feel confident, it helps them to walk into spaces, feeling more confident like they can show up for themselves like they, you know, nothing can stop them. And when you feel good, when you look good, you feel good. And so I just want people to feel, feel good, feel powerful. And if that means that what you're wearing and you wearing a bow tie behavior, bow tie means you can step into that job interview and feel confident by asking for that $30 an hour or whatever you want. Then so be it, then my job is done. And the meaning behind your slogan, every day is a fly day. Yes. Yes. Every day is a fly day. Every day. It doesn't, since I was young, it's always been like a joke that I love to dress up. Whether it's like doing my makeup or nails or just like, people ask, where are you going? Like, and nowhere I'm going to target. I don't know. So, and I think I, I stay true to that like every day is a fly day. You don't need an excuse to dress up. You don't need an excuse to put on a bow tie. You don't have to be going to a wedding or a prom to wear a bow tie. You can wear a bow tie any, any day, you can wear tied, you could wear it untied every day can be a fly day, whether you're wearing a bow tie, whether you're wearing your favorite pair of jeans, you don't have to have an occasion or a place to go to next at noon. Robin talks about the challenges of trying to expand her small business.

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bowtiepart6_2023-07-30-13-01-58

This weekend, we put the spotlight on bow tie behavior based in the Bronx. But New Jersey is one of the top markets where this merchandise is very popular. Robin Williams is the owner, she says they just celebrated nine years of hard work. Robin talks about the challenges of trying to expand. So, um, one thing that I've always wanted was to expand bow tie behavior to have sales to sell out. But in, in recent weeks, I've sold out a product and it's been like anxiety inducing almost to make sure that you're keeping the customer happy. People aren't waiting a long time to, for their product. The product is still good quality. But one thing with being a business owner is like, you want to succeed, you want to be open, like launching is like the big milestone, but then expanding is also very tough because you're either going to stick with it and go through the growing pains or you're gonna fold and then you're gonna have to close your business. So that's the point where I'm at right now where it's like you're expanding, you're growing. But there are, um, critical decisions that have to be made and you really have to get serious about the business side of it and the numbers and investors and all those types of things that can be really discouraging, especially when you're a small business. So, like getting the financing to, um, to re up on your inventory or hiring or getting an assistant, all those decisions that have to be made with expansion, that it's no longer a hobby anymore. It's like an actual growing business and you have to make very tough decisions. And so that's just a part of being a business owner. And, um, yeah, that's where I'm at right now. You can see all of my segments about bow tie behavior on news 12 dot com and my Facebook page.

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Robin Williams, a business owner in the Bronx with many “ties” to New Jersey, spoke to Della Crews about her company Bowtie Behavior – founded in 2014.

Spotlight New Jersey: Bowtie Behavior

Robin Williams, a business owner in the Bronx with many “ties” to New Jersey, spoke to Della Crews about her company Bowtie Behavior – founded in 2014.

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