The imperativeness of celebrating womanhood by empowering women in the world is an impactful reminder of the women who tirelessly fight for equality and justice. As one strong community capable of accomplishing and achieving anything we put our minds and hearts toward, standing up for one another instills courage, strength, unity, confidence, and inspiration.
In the fashion and apparel industry, women’s fashion brings together the entire world in exploring and navigating the ever-changing and evolving style and beauty over the years. Clothes have been women’s identity and a form of expression, that communicates a woman’s personality, image, character, attitude, belief, and value. Clothes can reflect who you are, where you are heading, and where you are returning from. For women, fashion and apparel can be a confident way of portraying their fashion sense of everyday style and beauty. Like the company Pink Lily which was co-founded in 2011, by the power couple – Tori and Chris Gerbig. Pink Lily’s mission is to “inspire a community of women to be confident in their true selves through everyday style and beauty.” In line with the increasing diversity and inclusiveness of women’s fashion around the world, this article will delve into the inspiring and successful journey of Tori Gerbig and her husband Chris Gerbig, sharing insights into how their retail fashion and apparel boutique company was co-founded together and launched.
From The Roots To The Skies:
Tori and Chris Gerbig’s story starts in 2011, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA. From working day and night at corporate jobs, the wife and husband were growing more concerned day by day from looking at their enormous pending student loans. Understandably, student loans are a hectic and painstaking financial situation that needs to be cleared off as soon as and whenever possible, the couple was also looking to spend more time with each other as their jobs seemed to slough off most of their get-together time away. From working in the insurance sector, Tori Gerbig learned one of the most important things in the business world – Networking and Building Relationships with people in her community. This way while engaging with many people, the co-founder realized that she had a growing passion for helping and supporting women in achieving their goals.
In 2013, Tori and Chris became first-time parents to a beautiful son and Tori found herself being home on maternity leave. Without any payments coming in from Tori’s side during this period, the family’s financial situation was incredibly tight, and more so with a newborn. Therefore she took to the vastness of the internet platform and began selling various odd things that she could find on marketplaces online. Forming a community of fast friends, Tori thought of an incredible idea and shared it with her husband Chris. The idea was for Tori to use her rapidly growing online community and network, and build a platform where she could integrate both her love and passion for helping and empowering women by making them feel confident and boosting their self-esteem through their everyday style and beauty with impeccable fashion choices.
When her online community grew from a few hundred members to a surprising 10,000 count, Tori felt supported and motivated to continue in her endeavors alongside her husband. From the ground up and right from their living room, Pink Lily was officially launched in 2014 with zero funding from the couple or potential investors and started to ship hundreds of orders every week. Applying her skills and experience in sales and social media platforms to increase their brand’s awareness, and with Chris’ knowledge and experience in business and finance balanced the company’s structure and strategic operations. Knowing the potential risks of starting and building a privately owned family business, Tori and Chris Gerbig together as one strong team and power couple, pushing against all odds overcoming all challenges, and facing the inevitable head-first.
Pink Lily’s Post-Launch Journey:
In 2015, Tori and Chris couldn’t continue their business working from their living room with a rapidly growing brand and an equally rapidly growing toddler. With the vision to “be the brand that inspires women to achieve their best”, the couple moved to quickly establish their second warehouse (the first being their living room in their humble abode). The following year in 2016, the business grew even more and the couple moved to their third new 25,000-square-foot warehouse and in 2017 launched a flagship store in their home state – Kentucky. Now a blowing retail fashion and apparel boutique for women, Pink Lily has become one of America’s fastest-growing retailers in fashion for empowering women. Featuring all kinds of clothing apparel, footwear, jewelry, and accessories that a woman can ever need, the brand prioritizes itself around “bringing fashion, positivity, and community to our customers”. The brand went on to include a second 25,000-square-foot warehouse in 2018, and in the following year successfully passed a milestone in shopping their 1 millionth order. Pink Lily yet again expanded and Tori and Chris Gerbig happily leased a bigger 160,000-square-feet warehouse.
Pink Lily’s Philanthropic Efforts:
In 2017 when Pink Lily was on its way to success and experiencing new heights, Tori and Chris proudly arrived at a period in their journey where they wanted to reach out to the community and help in philanthropic and charitable efforts.
Donating thousand to ten thousand in cash, clothes, and inventory, towards investments, collaborations, funds, and partnerships with the Houston Relief Fund, the Hope House Ministry local organization, the local community’s Toys for Tots Campaign, the local Warren County Humane Society, the Warren County Public Schools, the Warren County Family Resource Center, the Warren County Public Schools Disaster Relief Fund (WCPS), the 4 Paws for Ability, the Girls for a Change, the local community hospital, the Operation Gratitude Organization, the Pink Fund, the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness (FFBWW), the Hope for Fertility Foundation, the Life Impact International, the National Breast Cancer Foundation, the Hope Harbour, the Barren River Area Safe Space Organization (BRASS Inc.), and the Hope for Ukraine Organization.