Check Out Taylor Wharton’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Taylor Wharton. 

Hi Taylor, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Taylor Wharton, I’m the founder and owner of House of Baesics- a lifestyle and accessory brand that believes in empowering people to feel confident in who they are. I started working on this brand at my previous job 2 years ago- and I’ve had an entrepreneurial, growth mindset my entire life and knew one day I would own my own business. Jewelry and loungewear have always been staples in my everyday life, and as I started doing research (and also from being a bit of a shopaholic myself) it concerned me that popular online boutiques were *severely* lacking proper size ranges. These days, manufacturers that sell to these boutiques only make standard sizes small through large. I want to redefine the “standard” because…who wants to be standard? I want to break the crushing stigma that you have to be a size small through large in order to find accessible, trendy clothing. So instead of ordering directly from popular brands that all other boutiques buy from, I started to design/find loungewear in sizes S-3XL so that everyone feels welcome at House of Baesics. 

I put a spin on the word “basic” because well…it’s cute. I wanted to take a word that is so often used to put a woman down and re-define it into something fun and uplifting and therefore “BAESIC” was born. I personalize a majority of my apparel and accessories to create a fun and exciting shopping experience for my customers so that their apparel tells a story and isn’t just the average sweater you throw on. 

Whether we’re out with friends or running errands, someone’s necklace, hat, or sweatshirt, might catch your eye. This is how we often create conversations and relationships with people, by just giving a simple compliment. But giving a compliment says so much more about who you are on the inside, and this is why I created House of Baesics. I wanted to create a brand that provides you trendy, affordable, customized (yet high quality) lifestyle products that spark relationships, human connection, and empower each other through the power of a compliment. For humans of ALL SIZES. 

I hope you my customers love each and every piece that I’ve put my heart and soul into curating. Each month, I choose a new charity to give back to with each order I receive. It is so important to me that I am able to give back to charities and causes near and dear to my heart while building House of Baesics from the ground up. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Any entrepreneur that has only had a smooth road…. tell me your secrets! Just kidding. I think every bump in the road has allowed me to spin the wheel in a different direction and learn so much about every aspect of owning a small business. The brand is just shy of a year old (our birthday is Sept 22, which I picked this date because it’s my lifelong best friend’s birthday- and she has always been one of my biggest supporters.) 

Usually, boutiques go to market or find wholesale websites, pick out the clothing, and purchase it. They then resell it for retail cost. There is nothing wrong with that- and I often shop from these boutiques. However, because these wholesalers are NOT size-inclusive- I have to design/manufacture clothing myself and that is extremely pricey. This has been my biggest struggle because there are so many moving parts behind the scenes just to produce ONE sweatshirt. I have to find the perfect sweatshirt that has inclusive sizing, order several colors in over 5-6 sizes, order the letters or custom graphic that goes on it, and then hand press these onto the sweatshirts. As you can imagine this gets extremely time-consuming and VERY expensive. Finding the balance between being super unique and providing custom options for my amazing customers, while having a very small budget has been the biggest struggle so far. But it is so worth it. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I graduated with a Communications degree and interned every summer to make sure I would land a job out of college. I was also a college cheerleader (shout out UNC Greensboro) which is and always will be one of the most memorable and happy moments of my life. After graduation, I became a nerd for all things social media and marketing throughout my several jobs before I took the plunge to start House of Baesics. I still have marketing clients that I do work for, so I get to fulfill my passion of helping others grow their small businesses while working on mine simultaneously. 

I am most proud of my ability to persevere when everything felt against me. I’ve struggled with my mental health since I was a child and I think that we need to speak up more about this topic in order to show people you can still be successful (whatever that looks like to you) while healing and working on yourself. It is okay to take breaks and it’s okay to go slow- there is no timeline and no room for comparison. 

I think what sets me apart from others, is just being Taylor. I have always had a deep sense of self-awareness and intense drive to do my own thing while being extremely empathetic and sensitive to those around me. I’ve been told by a past boss that I was “too emotional” for the workplace. Well, I created my own workplace- and in this workplace, I am free to be whoever I want to be and I will never change who I am for anyone. That’s why House of Baesics is what it is, my customers can personalize and customize our products to express themselves freely. 

What’s next?
My plans for House of Baesics are big. I would love to one day have a storefront where customers can come in and completely personalize their products from start to finish and see the magic happen right in front of their eyes. In the near future, I am planning on continuing to find fun and creative apparel that my customers can customize for all events in their lives. I’m looking forward to expanding my budget to do more fun and creative photoshoots with people from all walks of life and different backgrounds- which is an absolute priority to me. I’m just really looking forward to creating a community of people who come to my brand not just for cute, personalized clothing- but to find comfort, joy, and a safe space to be themselves. Making others feel loved and happy is extremely important to me. 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: houseofbaesics.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/houseofbaesics/

Image Credits
Luci Cruz