Music
She started in high school with a $300 sewing machine, and now Taylor Swift wears her clothes
Elena Bonvicini started off in the fashion world scouring thrift shops in Wisconsin looking for denim bargains.
25-year-old Elena Bonvicini has come along way from the teenager who loved nothing more than to scour the thrift shops in Wisconsin on her regular visits to see her grandparents.
She initially saw the business potential after she started selling reworked old vintage Levi’s to her school friends as she saw the interest in bespoke repurposed clothes as word soon spread about her designs with students in neighbouring schools clamouring to secure a pair of re-worked jeans.
Speaking to CNBC, Bonvicini admitted that the Wisconsin trips proved extremely lucrative: “In the Midwest I was buying [the jeans] for 50 cents. In some places, you could buy a trash bag filled with anything for $8. I could probably fit 20 pairs of jeans into one bag,” she says. “There was a huge profit margin there.”
After agreeing to take sewing lessons, her mother procured Bonvicini a $300 sewing machine which led to an Etsy account being created and this was to provide the paving stone towards the creation of EB Denim.
Next level
The Southern California native soon realised that social media could prove a vital tool in expanding her reach and she adds: “I decided that I wanted to reach out to people I thought were cool on Instagram, message them, find their email,” she says. “I didn’t care if they posted it or not. I just wanted them to have my design.”
The gamble paid off as the likes of style icons such as Chiara Ferragni and Danielle Bernstein posted wearing EB clothes and as demand grew for the brand, Bonvicini increased the infrastructure at EB Denim as it slowly grow to become a global brand with a loyal following.
Hailey, Kylie and Taylor
Today EB Denim is synonymous with good looking, edgy and sustainable designs with legions of fans from the world of fashion with the EB Denim brand regularly sported by the likes of Hailey Bieber, Kylie Jenner and Bella Hadid.
13 September (2023) is a date Bonvicini will never forget. There was a murmur that Taylor Swift was set to don an EB Denim design for the MTV Video Music Awards in New Jersey.
The Swift effect was immediate and propelled EB Denim into another league with the company now on track to generate $3 million in 2024 which is far cry from the school girl selling reconditioned denims for $10 from her school locker.