An influencer's clothing-brand launch was a huge miss for her followers, so she took the site down. She relaunched it 7 months later with better materials and lower prices.
Madeleine White's pajama brand faced backlash over pricing and material quality.
She took the website down and relaunched it seven months later with higher quality and lower prices.
White told BI building back trust with her audience is the most important thing for her.
Madeleine White learned the hard way what happens when your brand is a huge miss with your fans.
When she launched her pajama brand, See You Tomorrow, in May, White was thrilled because she'd always wanted to be a fashion designer.
But the launch went awry. Fans didn't like the price point or the materials used in many of the garments, leading to criticism that White was out of touch and had lost the authenticity that helped her amass millions of followers on social media.
"It was always a dream starting my own business," White told Business Insider. "But I could not have been prepared for how difficult it's been.
A clothing launch backfires
White started making content after she lost her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and decided to learn how to use a sewing machine.
Relying on a decade of modeling experience, White became known for sharing thrifting videos and industry insights.
She currently has 1.6 million Instagram followers and 4.7 million TikTok followers.
But after See You Tomorrow launched, fans lamented that she'd forgotten her roots.
White's aim was always to create a brand that would resonate with her followers: one that wasn't budget or fast fashion but also wasn't too high-end and unaffordable.
But while things started off well, with over half a million visitors to the website, customers felt See You Tomorrow fell short on price point and quality.
"I feel like her original fan base have nothing in common with her current ventures," one said on the InfluencerSnark subreddit.
Under one Reddit post showing a $145 pajama set, customers said they weren't very impressed with the price or the materials.
"They're cute, and I've been trying to focus on a smaller but more quality wardrobe, so the price didn't immediately turn me off," one said. "$145 for 100% polyester is absolutely insane though."
"She should get backlash for this, because choosing fast fashion materials but selling it at a high-end price is wild," wrote another. "Were this made from cotton satin or even a cotton silk voile it would be worth it. It would be sustainable."
White told BI she was aware of the complaints immediately and decided to take action. She took the site down and started rethinking the entire brand.
"We went back to the drawing board after a couple of days," she said. "I decided that unless I could fix most of these concerns that people had and really give it a proper shot, then it wasn't really worth continuing the business."
7 months later
White didn't want to make any announcements while things were in flux, which was hard to do with so many fans eager to know what was happening.
Seven months later, in December, See You Tomorrow relaunched with new, higher-quality pieces and lower prices.
"I decided to bet on myself and put my money where my mouth is and to create the product that I wanted to make," she said. "I trusted my instincts that something wasn't right and that we could do better — and we are doing better."
White had to find new manufacturers and pay for everything herself. She said that though it was hard, she's glad she took that leap of faith.
"I felt like it would be so much more powerful to my audience if I could prove to them that I actually cared about their opinions and I cared about that feedback," White said.
"It's easy to say, 'I'm so sorry, I fucked up,'" she added. "But it's much better to say, 'I'm so sorry, I fucked up, and here is how I fixed it.'"
White told BI that the past few years have been a mad rush because she was so eager to start her own brand. In hindsight, she would have spent longer researching what she wanted to do and not taken the first offer that came along, she said.
"It was definitely an eye-opener," she said.
Trust is everything
White posted a TikTok this month explaining the relaunch. She said building trust again with her audience was the most important thing to her.
It seemed to pay off, with followers thanking her for her transparency and applauding her for listening to their concerns.
White said she doesn't care if she sells one product or 1,000 with the new launch — she just wants to repair her relationship with her supporters.
"I've definitely learned just how badly launching a brand that people don't like can hurt your public image," she said. "It just goes to show how important it is for us as people with large followings to do things right."
She said she's also learned that people are happy to pay for quality as long as they know how a price point was reached.
White said influencers are held to a high standard, but ultimately, she sees that as a good thing.
"It just makes the brand better," she said. "I've learned so much, and I've definitely learned not to put my name on anything until I'm 100% happy with it."
Read the original article on Business Insider
