Today we’d like to introduce you to Monica and Mari Alvarez-Fuentes, Gonzalez.
Monica, Mari, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Fly Thread was born through a hobby between two best friends. One being the creative drive, and the other the more business-oriented, both forces allowed Fly Thread to flourish organically. Passion propels this small company to give consumers premier service, and quality of goods. In striving to be a sustainable business, it is of much importance that environmental factors are always taken into consideration. Fly Thread’s ideology is to have consumers invest in contemporary pieces that will last a lifetime or find value in second-hand, and vintage items. In a world where “fast-fashion” has attributed immensely to the contamination of our globe, Fly Threads prides itself in being a part of the millennial generation that vows to work towards a change in the fashion industry.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely not been a smooth road for us. When we started the company, we thought that we could do everything ourselves. From creating the website to taking all the pictures for the website, to starting our Instagram etc. Once we started building the website ourselves, we realized it was a lot harder, very time consuming, and a lot more technical than we thought. We soon realized that in order for our vision of the website and company to come to life we needed professional help. Same with the pictures. The frustration was real! We felt so defeated, and almost wanted to give up! All the hard work, time and effort we had put in to get this company going was literally for nothing. So, we sat down, created a strategic business plan, and started over.
I am sure that there will be many more obstacles that we will encounter in the future. Monica and I both have similar backgrounds, and experience in our career which has been very beneficial in many ways. In starting anything new, there will always be a learning curve. It’s necessary to push through them, and both of us feel very blessed that when one of us is feeling defeated, we always have the other for motivation. Being a team has really helped this business. We genuinely feel that we couldn’t have been able to do this on our own.
Fly Thread – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Fly thread is a small business that sells contemporary and vintage luxury items. We believe that “fast-fashion” has an incredibly negative impact on the environment, and find importance in recycled clothing. Not all of our merchandise is “used” but any “new” merchandise that we have is curated to allow the consumer to have the purchased piece in their closet for a lifetime. Since starting Fly Thread, it has only been a local company that sells through appointments. For now, we have done well as a small business and have even incorporated a styling service to those who are in need.
Currently, a website for our e-commerce store is in development as we plan to sell solely online in the future. Our styling services will be offered through the website, as well as a consigning option for anyone interested in getting selling their used items. We also plan on donating a portion of all profits to an environmental charity.
Our company was not planned. We think that to be the coolest element in the Fly Thread creation. In previous years, our creative Co-founder Monica had experience as a casual seller on E-bay. Looking for more inventory, she linked up with Mari and the business grew naturally. It wasn’t until two months into the project that we started to take it more seriously. We have been happy with our organic growth as a company, and are excited to show consumers the importance of buying items of quality as a small contribution in helping our globe.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Growing up, one always hears people saying to “do what you love”, but what does that really even mean? Personally, I always tried to fall into a career that I thought I would love. I never thought to make a business out of my hobby. The proudest moment is without a doubt coming to realize that one is actually capable of creating their pass-time into a career.
Contact Info:
- Address: 511 Bianca ave. Miami, FL 33146
- Phone: 786-554-5787
- Email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
- Instagram: @shopflythread
Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
