The Story Behind Launching Third Coast
I'm opening up about what the launch was really like.
Late last year, I finally launched my apparel brand, Third Coast. But I had been mulling over the idea for years. Here’s how I knew it was time to make it happen (and what it took to bring everything over the finish line).
Years ago, early on in my marketing consultancy era, I worked with a small shop in downtown Wilmette. The owner was an East Coast-er, but she was one of the first to explain the concept of the Third Coast to me. That the East Coast and West Coast have their coasts, but that the coast of Lake Michigan is the Third Coast. Unofficial, maybe, but beloved by Midwestern locals in states like Michigan and Illinois that border the lake.
Learning about this concept of the Third Coast blended perfectly with the coastal beach town feelings I’d had about my adopted hometown since my family moved from the city up to the North Shore. I wanted to create something that celebrated life along the coast of Lake Michigan, which is so different from the other major coasts. Late last year, I decided it was time.
The big question: how did I know the timing was right?
Seemingly every millennial out there has a handful of “if money was no object” or “maybe someday” business ideas (you know that meme about how we all want to open coffee shop/flower shop/book shop hybrids with our best friends? It’s relatable for a reason.). One of the things I love about my career thus far is the way I put those ideas into action. Sure, I may sit on them for years, waiting for the right timing or opportunity to come along, but I’m good at building on dreams and ideas and figuring out how to make them really work.
2025 was a quieter year for business with The Strategy Studio. With the implementation of new tariffs and other business policies affecting the way brands and companies were able to spend money, I wasn’t signing new clients as fast as usual. Brands were holding onto their marketing dollars, trying to make them go as far as they could.
For me, it seemed like a sign. I would have a little time to devote to building my own idea since I wasn’t as busy helping others build theirs.
I started with just making a logo. But if you know me (and I should know this about myself by now), you know I don’t really do things halfway. Once the logo was locked in, I decided I’d make myself one sweatshirt (ask my team about this… they’ve been teasing me since launch that I was just going to make one sweatshirt for myself and now it’s a full-blown business).
A last-minute launch
With the logo decided and the sweatshirt pushing me to launch this to everyone (and not just myself), I set my sights on the Wilmette Women’s Holiday Market. With a product brand like Third Coast, the holiday season is major, so I knew that if I was going to make a go of this, I wanted to give it a real test and launch in time for the holiday market. Since the market is local to where I live, I prioritized our Ouilmette and Wilmette collections, including the ever-popular Gillson Girlie line and the Saturdays are for Gillson sweatshirts. With a launch “date” in mind, I decided to really hustle to make it happen and get everything done.
I tested tons of sweatshirts, hoping to find the right material composition for the coziest, comfiest sweatshirt. Understanding what my lead times needed to look like was an early challenge since I was working on such a short—and firm—timeline. Each time I placed an order to test something new, it took about 10 to 15 days to get the new product in my hands. My inventory for the holiday market showed up two to three days before the event. It was a stressful and kind of scary time, but everything came together in the end.
The hardest parts when getting started
I’ve started businesses before (my blog, The Marketing Greenhouse, and The Strategy Studio, to name a few), but this was the first time I really had to invest a lot of money into a venture.
I put probably $6,000 into the business before I even knew if it was really a good idea. But I could quickly tell that there was no testing this concept. I needed to have an actual product to see if it worked. The only way to do that was to really build it out and actually get the product and get it in front of people. So I figured, worst case scenario, I tried something for $6,000 and I learned from it. But luckily, it paid off and everything worked out.
I’ve invested easily $10,000 in the business in total. If you’re interested in the financial part of what it’s like to start a product-based business, I wrote about it more in this Substack article, What It Actually Cost Me to Start Third Coast.
It’s not just the monetary investment, though. Starting something new isn’t all that fun—it’s actually really hard. It’s really overwhelming, and it’s really cringey. There’s so much self-doubt. Even when you have people cheering you on, it’s so new, it can be hard for people to really understand your ultimate vision.
I pitched the brand multiple times to news outlets that I have great relationships with (and have been to a million times before), and they told me it was too niche. It’s just so easy to build yourself up with the wins and then quickly fall down. And I think that’s the hardest part about the first year or two in business. You can ride really high and then fall down pretty quickly.
What I hope for Third Coast
One of the best surprises about the last few months running Third Coast has been meeting people in-person at farmers markets, artisan markets, last year’s holiday market, and more. Getting to interact with members of the community and hearing such positive feedback about the brand has been such a high point for me. I hope I never lose that part of the brand entirely. It’s just the best!
I just love how Third Coast has really made me feel even more connected to myself because I’m getting to connect with people, I’m getting to be creative, try new things, sell things directly, and it’s just this really fun flywheel. So I’m excited to watch this grow.
That being said, I hope one day we can get to a place where Third Coast can become one of The Strategy Studio’s clients. It would be an absolute dream if I could get Third Coast into a handful of local places, and then ultimately have Third Coast become a client of The Strategy Studio so that my team is working on it and we’re growing something together.
I’ve been pretty successful getting businesses from about $150,000 to over $1 million. And if I could actually do that for myself and build something substantial, it would be really cool.
Shop Third Coast
Flight Risk Hat | $35
Off Duty Hat | $35
If you have an idea you want to get off the ground and need help sorting through the steps, book a discovery call with me to talk things through. I’d love to help.