The FMC Spotlight: Rebel & Fleur

If you love something, make merchandise for it. At least, that’s Caity’s philosophy. In 2020, the future small business owner found herself with lots of extra time on her hands. Already equipt with a penchant for 'doodling' and an 'act now, ask questions later' mentality, Caity designed a Harry Potter-inspired graphic tee and listed it on Etsy. She didn't set out to make a name for herself within the realm of e-commerce, only to share her creation with others within the long-adored fandom, figuring people may want to wear her rendition of the Dark Mark on their post-pandemic Universal excursions or during at-home movie marathons. Her suspicion was correct. Almost overnight, her ever-growing audience was clamoring for more.

In the three years since, Caity's Etsy store, Rebel & Fleur–a name that embodies the brand’s edgy and feminine aesthetic– has flourished. The business is now her full-time job, housed on website, and boasts over sixty designs with more to come. The owner and founder has an eye for creating subtle and unmistakable fanmade designs, spurred on by a shared interest in what she is making. Just like her first illustration, if the design is not something Caity would wear, it does not go to print. The result is hand-crafted merchandise made precisely for Rebel and Fleur's target audience, which is its own kind of magic.

The FMC is pleased to shine our spotlight on Caity as she tells us about what it took to start her business, her favorite pieces thus far, where she would like to take Rebel & Fleur in the future, and more.

Let’s start at the beginning. How did Rebel & Fleur come into existence? What sparked the idea?

Well, like most people, I had a lot of time on my hands in 2020.

[laughter]

I was fortunate to be able to work my full-time job remotely, but I started doodling a lot. I would draw various things, caricatures and designs inspired by what I liked. The entire time I was doing this, I would watch Harry Potter. It was embarrassing the number of times I would have one of the films on in the background during the day. On occasion, I would think to myself, this design I’m drawing would be cool to put on a shirt and wear to Universal Studios.” But I never did anything with it until the Death Eaters design came to mind. It was too cool not to put on a shirt. I figured if I thought it was cool, other people might too, so I made it happen. I put it up on Etsy. There was no brand. I just wanted to see how it would go. My first shirt sold in twenty-four hours with no marketing whatsoever. It snowballed after that. I came up with other designs based on fandoms that I liked, books, and pop culture. I started posting on socials. I had a TikTok that performed extensively well. It got to the point where I couldn’t do it all myself. I was learning on the go. In the beginning, I wasn’t outsourcing anything. I was screen printing the shirts, shipping them, all of it. Almost overnight, it became what it is today.

When did you decide to branch into other fandoms?

Early on, the brand was very much just that initial fandom. I stuck with that IP for so long because I was nervous to jump into something else. I didn’t know if my audience would still be connected to it. After eight months to a year, I started slowly teasing designs outside of that realm to see if there was any interest. The answer turned out to be way better than anything I had imagined. Once I branched out, I realized how interested people were in more than just one fandom. In hindsight, I should have known because I love multiple fandoms. [laughter] But that wasn’t connecting at first. Now, I have a bunch of different collections.

How do you decide which fandoms to dip your toe into?

Honestly, at this point, it's a gut feeling. If there's something I'm interested in, my audience is probably interested in it as well. There have been times that I’ve gotten requests for things I knew weren’t right for me. For insurance, there was a viral BookTok series in 2021 that I got an ungodly number of requests for and even started designing, but I didn’t love any of them. I realized that if I'm not into it, I don't need to be making anything for it. If it isn’t for a fandom I enjoy, how will I know how to market it?

And if you don't have a heart for it, the items will reflect that.

Exactly. I don't want that either. A lot of passion goes into my designs, which I hope people see. I don’t want to make things I am not entirely behind.

When did you start to think, “This could be more than a passion project?”

It really hit me that first Christmas. I technically opened in September 2020. So, it only took a few months. The Christmas season was absolutely insane. I wasn’t prepared for the number of orders that were placed. My mentality has always been ‘just do it. Go in 70%, and then you can figure out the other 40%.’ I thought, “I can put all this inventory online. I’ll be totally fine.” Initially, I was like, “Oh, I can screen print this in one day and send it out in two.” I was out of control. I've now realized I cannot do those things and have built really good processes. But that Christmas was when I first thought, “Oh my god. This is something that is going to work out if I keep pushing forward.” But, I was still working my full-time job and doing this on the side until the middle of 2021. It was crazy and ultimately unsustainable.

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In the grand scheme of things, it took less than a year for Rebel & Fleur to become your full-time business. That’s a pretty fast timeline.

Honestly, I think it was just the right time. Everyone was at home, wanting to experience something and feel something. All we could do was read and watch movies. People fully embraced that. They started buying things that were connected to what they were consuming. If I had done this five years prior, I don't think it would have gone the way it did. I don't think it would have gone this well if I started now. The timing was just perfect. I've loved every second.

You mentioned that you hand-draw all the designs. Has drawing always been a hobby, or was it fashion design that drew you in?

I've never been into fashion design. I feel like I’ve really duped the system. As I said, It's definitely been a learning curve. I have had fashion-centric jobs in my professional history, but they weren’t necessarily fashion design. I've also worked in marketing and events. Some people might say, all I’m doing is taking a design and slapping it on a T-shirt. That may have been what I was doing when I started, but I’ve strived to do more in the years since. I want the shirts to look good, feel good and last a while. Quality has been something I've been honing in on for the past year and a half. I'm trying to work with quality brands and quality screen printers. I’m really considering what makes a good graphic T-shirt that someone would pick to wear for the day. It’s become more than, “I love this fandom and think this is a cool design.” I have drawn plenty of things that I don’t think would work on a T-shirt.

I noticed on your website that your designs are printed in partnership with local small businesses. Did that happen naturally, or was that something you expressly set out to do?

It’s on purpose. When I started outsourcing, I was printing with a huge ECOM printer, a business that prints the shirts and ships the batch to me. The quality was driving me up the wall. My way to remedy that was to begin outsourcing locally instead. It feels more appropriate. I'm a small business. I would rather support small businesses. Right now, small businesses are struggling. Why would I go to this big brand when I could help another small business by working together? I started working with a couple of different people. It takes trial and error to figure out what works. Maybe the direct-to-garment printer is not excellent at screen printing, so you have to find a screen printer that does it better. I've found one person that does around 70% of what I need them to, and they're fantastic. They started five or six years ago, and they've grown exponentially. Now, they work with really cool brands in LA and Pasadena. It's exciting to see them succeed.

It’s great that your process can support other businesses; ultimately, your customers get a higher-quality garment.

Besides the screen printing, I also source my actual garments locally. The READ Knit Sweater is the first thing I've done based on my measurements. It was a weird concept for me, but it felt like a natural progression. It turned out so well that I have been working on a custom T-shirt. It’s still in the testing phase. But it's literally the perfect oversized T-shirt. I'm very excited about it. Who knows, maybe I'm a fashion designer now. [laughter]

That qualifies in my book, honestly. Speaking of the READ Knit Sweater, Rebel & Fleur has recently expanded to include original pieces. Did that launch feel any different from previous ones?

The custom T-shirt is not even out yet, and it's making me so riddled with anxiety in the best way. I was so nervous about the sweater because nobody could feel the material. They don't know the size. It's also a very basic design when comparing it to other pieces. For instance, my High Lady shirt is out of control. It's really cool, but there are so many elements, and the design process took months. READ is four letters. It just feels different. It’s very nerve-wracking. The feedback has been great, but I still sweat about it. [laughter]

What was the most challenging part of starting a business?

Taxes. [laughter] You have to keep track of everything. I do an ok job, but it isn’t easy. On a more serious note, I would say knowing when to let go. Rebel & Fleur has had tremendous growth and is still growing. I’ve been one person for so long that it has been challenging to start letting other people help me. For about a year and a half, I have been going back and forth about hiring staff. I start the process and think, “No, I can still do it myself.”

I can understand that impulse. What was the most surprising part?

That people actually like what I’m doing. [laughter] It's the weirdest thing. There's an anxiety that comes with any launch. This design is a piece of my soul. It’s how I envisioned the fandom because most of these books have never been adapted to film. This is my vision. I usually do designs based on a ‘what if’ situation and not necessarily something that happened in the book. I take an idea and spin it into something else. Drop Party, for instance, if you have read Crescent City, you know that is not an event, but I pretended it was. The design came from this unique little world in my head.

Out of the entire collection of pieces you’ve created, is there one you are most proud of?

There are ones that I gravitate to more. But I'm also very moody, so it depends on my mood. Right now, Drop Party is probably my favorite. I love Jelly Jubilee.

I love that one. It’s so cute.

That one pissed me off so much when I was designing it. The first iterations were awful. I had to go back to the drawing board. The whole thing took way longer than I should have. My most underrated shirt is definitely High Lady. I think it is so beautiful. The one I wear the most right now is Take Me Out Of This World. Death Eaters holds a really special place in my heart. I’m sorry I gave you so many. [laughter]

It’s ok. They’re like your children. You can’t play absolute favorites. Which design took the longest? Was it Jelly Jubilee?

Jelly Jubilee did take a long time. It was probably over 40 hours total, which was just me being stupid. The ones that took the longest were my House Tour T-shirts because I love animals, but I don't particularly like drawing them. It took a while to get those in a good place.

For anyone reading this that is thinking about starting their own business, what advice would you give them?

Make sure you're passionate about it. Even if you have a great spur-of-the-moment idea, if nothing really drives you to have a small business, it's not going to last long. If you don't wake up every day excited to start working, you’ll get tired of it. It takes a lot of time and commitment.

That’s a good answer. Looking toward the future, what are your long-term goals for your business?

First and foremost, I want to work with more authors. There's like a couple of partnerships that are in the early stages. Some of them I can hopefully announce in the next couple of months. Aside from that, I want to grow. I always want to have the mentality of a small business but expand my reach to a bigger audience.

Lastly, since this is The FMC, who is a female main character you relate to?

Right now, I would say Aelin from Throne Of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. She’s a badass. She is the kind of woman that takes the situation at hand, figures out what needs to be done and does it. With Rebel & Fleur and other areas of my life, I’m the same way.

You can start shopping at rebelandfleur.com