Ten years ago, Grace Na launched her L.A.-based denim brand Pistola after seeing a white space in the market. “At the time, a lot of the premium labels were owned and run by men, and the premium price point was really expensive,” Na said on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. “There was a miss for an opening-premium-price-point denim line that was still super high quality, and that had amazing fits and of-the-moment style.” In getting the brand off the ground, it helped that she had great experience in the fashion industry as a buyer and a planner. She also had support from her husband’s family, which had spent 30 years running a denim business. Pistola started as a wholesale-only business, eventually selling through 1,000 retail doors. It also ran a private-label business on the side. But today, it’s focused on ramping up its direct sales, among other growth opportunities. For example, soon, it will launch a mommy-and-me capsule collection. And within the next few years, it will embark on international expansion. Pisola is privately owned and has been profitable since year one, Na said.

A lot has changed for Summersalt since 2017, when it launched as an online-only, perfect-fit swimsuit brand and quickly gained popularity on Instagram. For starters, it has since expanded to product categories including sleepwear, activewear and intimates, Plus, it now operates stores, on top of its e-commerce site, allowing customers to shop IRL in West Palm Beach, Myrtle Beach and Nashville. And Instagram is just one piece of a larger marketing pie. The growing business is the brainchild of Lori Coulter and Reshma Chattaram Chamberlin, serial entrepreneurs with complementary skill sets who managed to find each other and make a go of an ambitious business plan from their shared home of St. Louis. "I was creating strategy and branding for amazing brands while running my own agency. Then, after doing that for about seven years, I realized I wanted to eat, sleep and breathe a brand," Chattaram Chamberlin said, regarding her road to Summersalt, on the latest Glossy Podcast. As for Coulter, she was running a made-to-measure swimwear business, which had perfected the fits of its styles, mastered quick-turnaround manufacturing and maintained accessible price points. At the same time, she was tracking the evolving e-commerce environment and realizing the opportunities it presented. "I decided to create a business plan and develop a collection," she said. She initially approached Chattaram Chamberlin about hiring her agency, and the partnership took off from there. Now, six years later, Coulter and Chattaram Chamberlin are preparing for yet another year of growth. Their plans for 2024 include opening more stores and doubling down on collaborations, following their successful collections with brands including Diane von Furstenberg and Rifle Paper Co.