Originally started as Simply Embroidered in 2013, Arden and Gold opened their storefront in Covington this month, and they’re ready to grow their local customer base.
Co-owners Kristina Czarnik and Vanessa Pena are sisters in-law who sort of fell into the embroidery business by a happy accident.
Back at the start of the shop, Czarnik’s father owned an embroidery business that was getting busy, so the two, who both worked full time —Kristina Czarnik in the textile industry and Vanessa as an elementary school teacher —decided to jump in.
“We were like, ‘well, let’s just buy a machine and we’ll just do it on the side to help maybe take some of the stuff he’s turning away,’” Kristina Czarnik told LINK. “And then it ended up being something that we did not expect.”
At first, the duo started going business-to-business, giving their pricing sheet to potential customers and trying to get sales. “We got zero sales from that, but it was a builder of our character,” said Czarnik.
But then, in January of 2013, they started their online boutique on Etsy.
For a while, the two were both still working full-time. Pena said that for a while, they were only getting a handful of orders a week, but then everything changed in September of 2013.
“One day, we started getting all these sales, and we were like, ‘What’s going on?’” Pena told LINK. “Well, one of our listings on Etsy had been pinned on Pinterest, and it went viral, so to speak. It got pinned over and over again. Then Etsy picked up the traffic, and email blasted it out.”
After that, they started getting 50 to 60 orders a day, “and it exploded from there… and then it really never slowed down after that,” said Pena.
Kristina went full-time at Simply Embroidered in September of 2014, and Vanessa in June of 2015. Then, in 2018, they rebranded to Arden and Gold.
While Etsy was an initial boon for the business, recent changes to the platform have been reported by users worldwide to make this difficult for small businesses due to increased competition, SEO troubles and hiked fees.
“It’s a day-to-day battle with Etsy,” said Czarnik. “Us and Etsy, it’s a love-hate relationship.”
Their difficulties with the platform are one of the reasons they decided to open their storefront, “it’s very hard to rely on someone else,” said Czarnik.
“Your Instagram could get shut down,” said Czarnik. “Anything could get shut down, but this place, who is going to shut me down? I choose when I want to be open.”
Community focus and local business-to-business sales are their current focus for the business.
Arden and Gold has actually been based out of their location at 13 W 7th Street in Covington for three years, and only recently did they decide to open it as a boutique.
The front half of the space is open to customers with everything from t-shirts to travel packs, tote bags, blankets and more, all of which can be sent to the back of the shop to be custom embroidered, same day.
The back of the shop has embroidery machines, direct-to-film printing presses and everything else you could imagine to create custom designs.
Czarnik and Pena are hoping to get foot traffic from people enjoying the bars and restaurants along Madison Avenue, as well as opening the shop up for private events. They plan to host birthday parties, bridal showers, and offer needlepoint and sewing classes.
Bridal, Pena said, is one of their biggest sellers; they offer getting ready pajams, bridesmaid proposal gifts and more. Another one of their top categories is schools. With back-to-school season approaching, they are selling lots of custom teacher gifts and doing a lot of spirit wear for local schools.
Right now, they do custom shirts for many parochial schools, including St. Joseph, Calvary Christian, Blessed Sacrament and more. For these schools, they set up t-shirt bars where they develop a custom collection of logos with the school, then the kids or parents get to build their own t-shirt with whatever elements the school chooses.
Soon, they plan to launch their t-shirt bar at the shop, where customers can select multiple elements to include and have their shirts made on-site. They also plan to create custom themed packages for parties, for example, if they were hosting a birthday party and the birthday girl loved wine and charcuterie, they would have elements of wine glasses, grapes, cheese, bread and more that the party goers could choose from.
Ellen Yates, creative manager and graphic designer for Arden and Gold, said that their design meetings “could literally last for hours. We’re like ‘Hey, what about this? Or what about this?’ We have collaboration boards and ideas, they really just flow.”
Part of their success with school spirit wear, said Pena, is that many companies in this field are run by men and tend to focus more on men’s wear style designs. “Ellen has a great eye for women’s fashion,” said Pena. “We bring a new element to a lot of the spirit wear stuff.”
Flexibility and the ability to work in a fun, creative environment are the draws for the shop, according to everyone at Arden and Gold, whom we spoke with.
“It’s such a unique and creative place, and you’re working with friends,” said Yates.
Arden and Gold is currently open on a trial basis, Monday through Thursday. Czarnik said they are currently in a “very soft launch” and they are only open during their typical production hours, which are from around 8 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m.
In September, the shop is hosting a ribbon-cutting, and Czarnik said that is when they plan to be fully open.
You can find Arden and Gold at 13 W 7th St. in Covington and also online at ardenandgold.com.