The Glamour vs. The Grind

Two months into the IMAURA journey and, quite frankly, our brains are running on fumes. As we cannot afford a company therapist yet, and have been taught by our generation that we should probably “talk about our feelings”, we thought we’d share the realities of building a brand: the moments that have had us curled into a ball one day and popping champagne the next.

THE LAUNCH

Truthfully, we’re still riding the high of launch week. After spending so long talking about the collection behind screens, seeing people experience the garments in real life was incredibly rewarding. Hearing comments about the quality, the colours, and the fit while the sweet little Shopify “cha-ching” echoed in the background did wonders for our previously anxiety-ridden nervous systems. A few glasses of sparkling wine helped too.

What surprised us most was the reaction from people who couldn’t quite believe we had actually gone and done it, taken the idea that normally lives in a Sunday evening fantasy and turned it into something tangible, something real.

The night itself exceeded every expectation. In fact, it went so well that we eventually had to start encouraging people towards the exit, much to the horror of our mother, who remained fully committed to closing sales in every corner of the room.

INTO THE GRIND

Once the excitement of launch week faded and Instagram stopped blessing us with temporary main-character energy, we were reminded of the reality that building a brand is not just about creating beautiful products; it’s about relentlessly finding ways to put them in front of the right people again and again. Starting a brand with 380 followers requires a lot more than posting a reel once a day and hoping the algorithm falls in love with you.

Which brings us to our complicated relationship with META.

One minute we're ecstatic because our ads have reached 20,000 people, the next we're staring at conversion data making comparisons between our figures and those of brands who are selling snake oil while monetising emotional insecurities. We just want you to feel pretty, is that too much to ask?! The truth is, ads require an enormous amount of testing, time and money before they begin performing properly, something that feels particularly brutal when you’re a small independent brand trying to protect every penny.

So what else are we doing to grow?

Putting ourselves out there: we're attending as many industry events as we can to build our network and learn from other brands we admire. All of these events are hugely insightful. At a dinner recently with a group of other founders, who have been in the game far longer than we have, several themes came up repeatedly: prepare to persevere because nothing happens overnight; network relentlessly; get your brand in front of influential people; and whether we like it or not… META still rules the world.

Connecting with our community: we're building stronger retention through more consistent community messaging, planning a more intimate event around our upcoming AW26 collection, and batch-creating content every weekend so we can continue appearing on your feeds looking far more organised than we actually are.

Looking ahead: we're finalising production details for our AW26 collection and starting sketches for our SS27 collection. We're always looking at least a year ahead and have so many exciting ideas we can't wait to share. Then, you guessed it - sell, sell, sell - we're building on our marketing strategy constantly and this week brings lots of experimenting with Pinterest ads (pray for us).

THE REALITY BEHIND IT ALL

And yes, it is a lot.

One of us is almost eight months pregnant, continuing twelve-hour days in corporate law whilst squeezing in trips to the post office to ship orders, and courses in hypnobirthing. The other one is simultaneously working full-time, helping other brands build marketing strategies while trying to figure out our own in the background, and being a content-creating queen.

Needless to say, we are exhausted.

But equally, for the first time in a very long time, we feel deeply fulfilled. Every order that comes through is attached to a real woman telling us how excited she is to wear the pieces, style them, travel in them, and celebrate in them. That feeling never gets old.

So whilst the days are long, the learning curve is steep and the grind is very real, we genuinely wouldn’t change it for the world, and life feels "full" (in every sense of the word!).