Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenalyn Vintayen.
Jenalyn, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I am a proud mommy to my twin daughters Aundrea and Olivia, to whom I credit the start, inspiration and motivation of D & L Kids Apparel. When the girls were two years old, my younger cousin who at the time lived with us, gave my daughters a bunch of her old graphic tees that she wasn’t wearing anymore.
Instead of holding onto them until they were older, I thought it’d be cool to turn them into altered dress tees. I like to think I’ve been creative all of my life, so doing a DIY dress tee for babies was something fun for me. So I grabbed a pair of scissors out of my sewing kit and snipped away. My girls loved wearing them everywhere! Whenever we’d go out, they would always be in their little dress tees and I started getting a lot of other mommies asking me where I bought their dresses, or what the name of the Etsy shop I ordered them from. I eventually started buying more band tees from stores, cut them into dresses and altered tees, and one day my husband planted the seed and said: “you get a lot of people asking where you bought the girls’ outfits from, maybe you should start selling some”.
So, I tested his theory through Instagram and got our first order through DM for a custom Pink Floyd altered tee! I snipped and snitched the altered tee to perfection and mailed it to an excited mama and her one-year-old baby girl! Hearing how happy she was with the altered tee I made, I knew I wanted to make more, not only for just my girls but for other kids too! Today, our most popular items are being sold locally at Artifacts and Artichokes, and everyone can still order through our shop on Instagram and Facebook.
Has it been a smooth road?
For the most part, starting D & L Kids Apparel was not tough, but keeping the excitement and balancing between the shop, my full-time job/career, and still being a wife and mommy, has been a bit challenging. D & L Kids Apparel is something I like to do for fun, like a hobby. However, for the last 15 years, I’ve worked full time for a major financial institution and I also keep a very busy schedule with the girls’ extracurricular activities as well as their school. Throw in my hobby/side hustle and it can get a bit overwhelming for a one-person shop. When I first started D & L Kids Apparel, I primarily sold through Instagram, Facebook, or the shop’s website.
Being primarily online, it was easy to manage orders because they’d be either something I’ve promoted and have ready, or they’d be custom requests to where I had time to make them and ship the products out when it was complete. I eventually branched out into pop up shops and markets throughout San Diego, but I needed to ensure I had a wide variety of ready-made clothing and items to shop from. Having to make everything all on my own on whatever downtime I may have had was tough. So yes, a big struggle of mine was learning to balance everything and still enjoy every moment of it.
I’m sure everyone goes through phases where you start to lose interest in your hobby, especially when you start to see it as work, but what always brought back the excitement was getting the support from my family and friends, meeting all of the amazing people who I have been vendors with, the customers who have shopped from our shop, and those who browse through our merchandise. That is definitely something that keeps our shop going and pushes me to make time for our shop. Just hearing or seeing people getting excited over something you make is so self-satisfying and a great feeling.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with D & L Kids Apparel – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
D & L Kids Apparel. Kids Clothing and Accessories inspired by Aundrea and Olivia (Drea and Livy). Trendy and Affordable clothing – cute and comfy for your little one. Our most shopped items are our Altered Tees and Beanies.
Our shop’s specialty is our Altered Tees! I shop at local stores for cool graphic tees in sizes ranging from 12 months to 8 years old. Cut, snip and stitch them to our popular altered tee pattern and add our D & L Kids logo. Each altered tee is altered solely by me and is uniquely made. Overall, I take pride in knowing that everything we sell is something my girls would wear cool and comfortably without having to spend so much.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
What’s there not to like about San Diego?!? Born and raised in San Diego, I love how diverse of a city we are. There are so many different people, and in a matter of minutes, you can be in the city, in the suburbs, near the mountains, or at the beach! We have a wide assortment of amazing food to choose from, and there’s always something fun to do. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.
Contact Info:
- Address: Our merchandise is currently being sold at Artifacts and Artichokes:
7549 Mission Gorge Rd San Diego, CA 92120 - Website: shop.drealivy.com
- Email: drealivy@gmail.com
- Instagram: drealivy
- Facebook: D & L Kids Apparel
Image Credit:
Photos taken by local photographer: Albert Vintayen
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