Ridgewood, NJ
http://www.GlamourDollsMakeup.com
Hi Kickfurther community-
Glamour Dolls is back with our third co-op raising funds for merchandise that is 100% PO covered. We’re growing tremendously as our YTD revenue is 3x the amount we’re looking to raise.
A few months ago we signed a collaboration deal with design legend Lisa Frank (super exciting) and are creating a limited edition collection of exclusive products for a few of our trade partners. One of our customers alone has ordered 3.5m+ units delivering over the next 12 months and this offer will help finance one of those Purchase Orders.
As some of you know, our first offer paid back early and our second paid back a couple months late (we chose to pay an additional 1% to compensate) and we got a few negative reviews. We are not perfect but we learn from our mistakes and have been talking with our backers and Kickfurther to make sure we don’t have any of the same issues.
In a nutshell, here are 3 things we will be doing differently this time:
1. Only raising money for a SINGLE purchase order. Last time we got ambitious and tried to bundle 3 together. One order mis-shipped which delayed us and the co-op getting paid.
2. Better communication with bi-weekly or monthly conference call for KF backers. We are a young company that started getting a lot of attention this year. It’s been fun-challenging to grow the team, manage business development, onboard for Walmart, expand financing and put out fires along the way. With a lot of complicated things going on I didn’t keep up with the backer posts as well as I wanted which became an even bigger issue when the payback was delayed. I think the call will be as good for us as it is for you.
3. Even more transparency. We are proud of how we operate and want you to know more about our business and the details of our deals. Kickfurther has included new features to help us share more documents (including pos, press, production schedules, etc) and some of our backers have shared some threads on reddit where we can keep in touch.
We’d also like to try something new and host a phone Q&A before the campaign launches for anyone that has questions. Specifically I’d like to invite those who left us (deserved) lower star reviews so I can address anything I missed and so that we can come up with some solutions together.
As always we really enjoy working with the community on multiple levels. Your financing helps us grow and your feedback, criticism, support and suggestions keep us improving.
Purchase Order (customer name not disclosed per their request, KF verified)
About Us
Glamour Dolls is our line of <$5 cruelty-free, vegan makeup designed and formulated for girlie girls, makeup lovers and price conscious consumers. The concept behind Glamour Dolls came from our celebrity makeup artist, and co-founder Jessica Romano who you might recognize from Style Network’s reality show Glam Fairy. After two successful seasons, Jessica knew it was time for her to build on her industry knowledge and collaborated with co-founder Peter Georgotas to bring Glamour Dolls to life by developing a line that was both adorable and affordable. With Glamour Dolls you won’t be breaking the bank, just hearts ♡
Customers loved the concept, packaging, and formulations and Glamour Dolls quickly gained positive mainstream press and the first shipment was pre-sold before it even arrived. Our online presence has been growing as well and our e-commerce storewas recently ranked in the top 5% of all Shopify stores launched during the same period.
Our products are carried by a number of regional and nationwide retailers including Rainbow Shops, JoyceLeslie, Strawberry, Hallmark, Payhalf, 5-7-9 stores, Marianne’s and online powerhouses like Ipsy and Beauty Box 5. Additionally, we are going through the on-boarding process with Walmart and other major retailers. Internationally the brand has been been picked up for distribution throughout Europe by multi-national EMN Group.
Glamour Dolls Inc. was co-founded by entrepreneurs Peter Georgotas and Jessica Romano. After a number of years importing European makeup brands, we saw a high demand market gap for quality, cruelty-free, vegan products in the under $5 category.
Jessica is the brand’s creative powerhouse, makeup expert, and product developer. Dreaming of one day creating her own products and launching her own brand, she worked for MAC before starting her career as a celebrity makeup artist and TV personality for Style Network.
Peter comes from a background in finance and shipping and has been building the company’s infrastructure to support Jess’ vision by making creative and strategic deals with manufacturers, retailers, and distribution networks.
Of course we could not do what we do without the support of our amazing staff at Glamour Dolls and our trade partners around the world! Each of our team members brings something special and unique to the table and we are fortunate to have close relationships with our manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and logistics teams. Additionally, we are proud to say that over the past two years our internship program has provided college credits and experience to over two dozen amazing students.
Glamour Dolls has created an exclusive, limited edition makeup brush styled with Lisa Frank’s iconic artwork for one of our largest customers. The brush features Lisa’s artwork on the handle, rose gold ferul and pink tipped 100% cruelty-free bristles. Our customer has ordered 1.5m units for spring delivery (see purchase order) and will be featuring a marketing campaign around the product.