Mother-daughter duo seek to uplift pregnant women through online maternity clothing store

Mother-daughter duo seek to uplift pregnant women through online maternity clothing store - NJ.com

Posted: 08 Dec 2020 04:00 PM PST

Around four years ago, a newly pregnant woman living in New Jersey took a shopping trip with her mother in search of maternity clothes — and returned with little beyond disappointment in what she saw.

"It was such a chore," Stephanie Manganelli said. "We had to significantly drive out of our way — like an hour and a half — to find a maternity store, and when we got there the selection was just not anything that we wanted. The design was just horrible — just really not flattering. The fabric was horrible, the customer service was horrible — there was nothing good about this trip."

While returning home, Manganelli and her mother joked that they should start selling maternity clothes themselves.

Then, a few months later Manganelli was laid off from her job — and the mother-daughter duo decided their idea might be more than something to dream about.

In the fall of 2016, Manganelli and her mother Debbie McInerney founded Stowaway Collection Maternity, an online maternity clothing store with modern apparel manufactured in New York City designed to flaunt a woman's shape at any stage of her pregnancy.

"The transformation a woman makes, mentally and physically, from the time she gets pregnant to becoming a mom — it's ginormous," Manganelli said. "So for a woman to feel good while getting dressed and going out there with a little bit more confidence, it helps her mindset."

Stowaway Collection encourages high self-esteem in women by offering body conscious clothing that conforms to rather than conceals their pregnancy.

"So many women don't know how to dress their changing bodies ... A lot of people kind of go for the whale-tented look. And there's something to be said for that style. However, we take the opposite for our design approach, and everything is body conscious," Manganelli, who has a professional background in fashion marketing, explained. "If you have new curves, we want to give you something that hugs those curves and looks immensely more flattering."

The company's warehouse is located in Raritan Township, where McInerney resides and Manganelli was raised prior to relocating to her current home in Hoboken. Online retail stores that sell the Stowaway Collection brand include Nordstrom, Motherly, Zappos.com, Neiman Marcus, Macy's and Rent the Runway.

Beyond establishing a maternity clothing business that keeps pace with current trends and styles, Manganelli and McInerney also wanted to create something inclusive of all backgrounds and sexual orientation.

"We're still a small company; we don't have the budget to shoot multiple models. But, we make sure that we seek out imagery and share influencers and share images from the community of beautiful families that are same-sex or single parents, and make sure people know that there's many ways to have a child, and we need to be open-minded to that," Manganelli said.

While other maternity companies might glorify marriage and nuclear families in their photos, Stowaway Collection prints and shares images profiling different kinds of families and mothers. In fact, to counteract an implicit connection between marriage and child-rearing, the co-founders ask their models to remove their wedding rings prior to photoshoots taking place.

"We want to make sure that we're a brand that supports every person," Manganelli explained. "If they have a desire to be a parent, they deserve that right to be a parent."

The business also supports marginalized persons and combats injustice by donating a portion of its revenue to the American Civil Liberties Union throughout the month of June, or Pride Month, and on every Giving Tuesday.

"We're losing so much with the pandemic ... as a consumer, I'm just trying to hold onto something that matters," Manganelli said. "If we can make our business matter and have our customers have a similar mindset, then I think that we can make small differences."

While the coronavirus pandemic continues to threaten the viability of small businesses across the state, in the past two years Stowaway Collection's revenue has been ten times greater than its 2018 numbers.

Beyond halting in-person marketing efforts, the pandemic hardly altered the company's ability to create and distribute its products in 2020.

"The factory — other than being closed for a couple of months last spring, because it's in New York — has been able to manufacture our clothes, and we can go pick it up, or, when it was the heavy, deep (COVID-19) isolation, we were just shipping all the merchandise from the factory," McInerney, who earned her Master's Degree in business marketing, said. "The photoshoots — we changed our routine a little bit because of (COVID-19). We wore the masks; we did the six-foot social distancing; there were just little tweaks that we needed to do for our business."

Over the past several months McInerney and Manganelli have been surprised to see the continued success of certain pieces of maternity clothing designed for the office or for social activities.

"We have this one animal skirt that we launched in the spring, and as soon as the pandemic hit we were like, 'Uh oh, no one is going to buy this. It's such a great going out skirt and running-around-town skirt' — and sales for that one skirt were through the roof," Manganelli said. "And I think it was because we started to see people on Instagram styling it in a more casual way that we didn't think to do ... with big rocker tees and sneakers."

"So while a lot of our special occasion stuff or date night stuff was pushed aside, things like that that are super versatile took the forefront," she added.

Stowaway Collection is offering 30% off its products during the holiday season as well as free U.S. shipping and returns on all orders. On Monday the business also launched its 'Pregnancy Party' initiative, a series of prenatal classes streaming live on its Instagram account every weekday through Dec. 14.

"This is kind of like our first run, and we'll work out all the kinks, but we'd like to do it quarterly because it sounds like a lot of people are interested," Manganelli said.

But, even when its holiday deals and virtual outreach comes to a close, Stowaway Collection will continue to prioritize boosting the self-love and self-worth of pregnant women everywhere — a mission Manganelli believes has become more vital now than ever before.

"There's so much that's out of control in the world right now, just like when you're pregnant," Manganelli said. "If a woman can feel confident during this out-of-control time, it helps her be able to take charge. And a company that can help her take charge of the way she looks and help her feel better through clothes and through styling, and help her feel good about her choices ... those little connections make a difference."

Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.

Caroline Fassett may be reached at cfassett@njadvancemedia.com

Business Owner Takes the Leap to Make Her Dream Come True - SweetwaterNOW.com

Posted: 09 Dec 2020 07:35 AM PST

ROCK SPRINGS — After seeing a lot of success selling products at local farmers' markets, one Rock Springs resident jumped at the opportunity to receive help with opening a store front business.

Becca Smith, owner of Rebel and Roots Boutique on North Front Street, said when she heard about the Rock Springs Main Street/Urban Renewal Agency's Project Pop Up she looked at it as a chance to fulfill her dream – opening her own business.

Project Pop Up is a new program that's designed to fill empty storefronts and prospect new, long-term businesses. A Pop-Up Shop is a short-term retail store that offers new, unique, local or specialized products or services, according to a press release from the URA.

Advertisement - Story continues below...

Under this program, one entrepreneur is given an opportunity to start a pop up for the holiday season with a minimal investment. Smith saw information on the program and immediately got excited.

"I read over it and though it would be a great opportunity for me," Smith said.

She decided to apply for the program and was even more excited when she found out she had been selected.

Smith described the program as someone who holds her hand through the entire process of getting a business started. She said they helped her come up with a business and marketing plan, already had a store front location available, and helped with advertising her business.

Smith said there is so much about opening a business that adds up. From obtaining a business license and tax ID to purchasing insurance, getting WiFi and buying a credit card reader. Everything costs money and it all starts to add up.

Smith's store offers Western and Boho style women's clothing and accessories, including jackets, shirts, dresses, scarfs, hats and earrings. Smith is proud to offer different clothing opportunities for women. She said there aren't that many options available for women in Sweetwater County.

Everyone's walking around wearing the same thing.
~Becca Smith, Rebel and Roots Boutique Owner

To make sure this doesn't happen with her clothing items, Smith only orders six of each thing. She also pays attention to what residents like. She's new to Sweetwater County after moving here from Missouri in May and is still learning Wyoming women's style.

Under the program, Smith has a downtown storefront for three months from October 15, 2020, through January 15, 2021. This will give her to chance to try a store front business and see if it's successful. The idea is that a store front will have more success during the holiday season, however with the continuing COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic, Smith isn't sure if she can rely on the numbers.

"You don't really know if you're getting true numbers," Smith said.

Despite not knowing if the numbers are accurate, Smith is already seeing a profit. Smith said this is the most she's ever made even while using her college degree. She has a bachelor's degree in recreation and tourism management. She also has over 17 years of experience in the customer service industry, retail management, and program and facility management.

"I have made the decision to continue in this space," Smith said. "I would like to give it an honest test run."

She said the store front she is in allows for a three month lease and she's decided to extend her lease for another three months for a total of six months. She is also looking for another business owner to partner with her for the back portion of the store. Smith said the store is just too big for what she needs and she figures it will save on costs if she can partner with someone and they split the rent.

It was a blessing to have project pop up. I don't know if I would have had the courage to start the small business.
~Becca Smith, Rebel and Roots Boutique Owner

Project Pop up in Smith's mind has been a success. Since she is the first one to participate in the program, she can't wait to give the group her feedback on the program.

"Project Pop Up was and is a great opportunity for anyone wanting to start a new, small business especially if they're not sure about the process," Smith said.