A little more than four years ago Lauren Stokes started sketching dress designs while on pregnancy bed rest with her son, Lofton James Stokes.
She and her husband, Lance, turned the boredom-killer hobby into a business, which has blossomed into a successful company. The Lauren James Co. brought in a little more than $200,000 in revenue in the last six months of 2013 and has continued to grow sales. Now it’s planning a major expansion.
Lance Stokes didn’t want to divulge specific revenue figures but said the company generated more than $10 million in 2016, with approximately one-third of that coming from its e-commerce business. He believes the company could generate more than $10 million in e-commerce revenue in 2018.
From its homemade beginnings, Lauren James now has a 60,000-SF warehouse and distribution center in south Fayetteville. T-shirts are made in South America and shipped to Fayetteville for screen printing or embroidery add-ons; woven dresses are made in Dallas and other items are manufactured in Asia. All products are shipped back to Fayetteville for completion and inspection before being sent directly to customers or to retail stores.
While many e-commerce startups have flashed brightly before crashing just as spectacularly, the couple is confident they can make Lauren James a lasting success story.
“Unfortunately in our industry we have seen a lot of brands and friends grow too fast or grow in the wrong way and not be able to keep up with it,” said Lauren Stokes, 28, the CEO. “For us, it was important to not act like anything we weren’t, especially in the beginning. We stayed pretty quiet for a while. We didn’t spend any money on marketing or advertising.”
Lance Stokes, 29 and the company’s chief operating officer, said the time was right to invest in the brand’s growth. Lauren James recently added a chief marketing officer, a director of sourcing, a technical director and a director of retail.
Lance Stokes estimated that the company would ship as many as 600,000 T-shirts in 2017. The company averages between 30,000 to 50,000 items sold a month, depending on the season, Stokes said.
“Obviously the challenges have changed as we continued to grow,” Stokes said. “It was just Lauren and I in her parents’ living room, and then we upgraded to their basement. Now we have all these people that we are relying on and can count on.
“The next stage of the business is building a team to get things done. We recognize where money should be spent. We are investing in people to build the business.”
Lance Stokes said the company hired eight full-time employees just this year and now has more than 100 full- and part-time workers scattered from its office and warehouse facilities in Fayetteville to three brick-and-mortar stores. Lauren James merchandise is sold in the company’s stores in Fayetteville and Plano and Southlake, Texas, in addition to more than 600 locations nationally such as Dillard’s and specialty retail stores.
Expansion Goals
The company has focused on expanding its e-commerce team, which was just two people before the recent additions. The strategy is to be more aggressive in getting products in front of more people.
“Most of our growth online has been completely organic,” Lance Stokes said. “Last year was really the first year we really had a budget that we spent money on marketing. We have a huge social media following. We have a very loyal customer base.
“We’ve built the customer base up in the right way, and we built a loyalty base. That rate of growth, we feel comfortable with it. We’re actually looking to grow faster; now we’re really getting down into it where we’re going to build a world-class e-commerce and marketing team to support that 40 to 60 percent growth or higher.”
The Stokeses are confident their products will appeal to new customer sources. The company plans to roll out a new line of bridesmaids’ dresses, as well as continuing to grow its line of college-licensed products — Lauren James now has agreements to use the logos of about 25 universities.
Lauren James’ sweet spot for sales has been predominantly in the southeastern United States. The 2018 growth plan includes pumping products in the Midwest and Northeast.
“With the growth, it just means I get to design more dresses,” Lauren Stokes said. “I get to do bigger photo shoots and get to be more creative. I’ve never been afraid of the growth.”
The husband-wife team works well in this area. Lauren concentrates on producing good designs while leaving the nuts and bolts to Lance, who has a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Central Arkansas.
“There are peaks and valleys in any high-growth company,” Lance Stokes said. “Some of that stuff stresses me out, but it is also something I enjoy. What I’m here to do is provide the foundational structure so she can do what propels the brand forward. We’re lucky to have that relationship. I think it’s a bit of the magic of the brand, too.”
Secret to Success
One key to success has been the special design flair that Lauren Stokes, a former nurse, discovered in herself. A year ago, she hired Serena Townsend as the company’s head designer and said it wasn’t hard to give up some of the hands-on design.
“It would have been really hard, but people make fun of Serena and I because we almost finish each other’s sentences,” Lauren Stokes said. “She’ll design something, and I’ll say, ‘I was just thinking of designing something exactly like that!’ I still have the final approval on what makes the line, but we collaborate.”
When Lauren Stokes was named an Arkansas Business 20 in Their 20s honoree, she said people teased her on how cheap she was. She and her husband, until recently, lived in the same 1,000-SF home they were in before the business took off.
That same modesty fuels Lauren James’ business plan. When success came, Lance and Lauren relied on industry mentors and old-school research to keep up with what was going on in the apparel industry.
“The recognition that absorbing all that information and making it our own with what we want to do has been the secret sauce,” Lance Stokes said. “It has been our willingness to flex and change and turn when we see things coming. Humility is important no matter how big you are, whether you have a one-spot convenience store or if you’re running a multimillion-dollar company. Humility is an important and necessary trait in any leader.”
Lauren Stokes said she wants to grow the company but, most important, she wants to do what she enjoys and do it well. The rest will take care of itself.
“I welcome this challenge with open arms,” Lauren Stokes said. “I’m excited to expand everywhere and see Lauren James all over the country. I try not to get too wrapped up in thoughts of growth. I never spent time wondering if it would be successful or if it wouldn’t be successful.
“I just put my head down and work. The present is really exciting.”
Sign up for Daily E-news
