Jultie Designs

I founded Jultie Designs in 2013 when I was 15 years old and a Sophomore in high school. Jultie Designs was an eCommerce store that sold hand made band related merchandise. Our products were sold internationally through our website hosted on Squarespace.

This company was founded by a passion for music and a vision to fulfill the wants and needs of the fans. As a fan myself, I belonged to a community of other fans and was able to receive feedback on what consumers desired and make these ideas come to life through designing t-shirts, sweatshirts, and flannels.

Jultie Designs First Website — A screenshot of our first website that I designed on Tumblr.

The focus of Jultie Designs was a band called Emblem3. Over the years, we expanded to include designs related to 5 Seconds of Summer, One Direction, Halsey, Twenty One Pilots, and we even had customizable sweatshirts and t-shirts. One reason that we chose Emblem3 was that they aimed to bring positivity and inspiration to the lives of their fans. We followed along with this idea and placed handwritten “Inspire Cards” in each of the packages we sent out. These cards had my favorite inspirational and uplifting quotes on them in hopes of brightening the days of our customers and maybe even making a lasting impact on their lives.

Marketing

We did almost all of our marketing through social media. Primarily, we used Tumblr and Instagram to promote our items and sales. We did multiple giveaway contests in order to get the brand name out there and reach a larger audience. Our Instagram page had around 1.7k followers and we would regularly post content from photoshoots as well as discount codes and other relevant news about the brand. I also used MailChimp to send out emails to our customers about promotions and sales. Another way we marketed our products was by giving shirts to the band members of Emblem 3 and posting the photographs of them wearing our items. We also reached out to social media influencers to ask them to promote our products. It was amazing to learn how advertising can be accomplished at no cost with social media.

Research

I started this company as a high school student with no previous work experience. Jultie Designs was created from my bedroom with no financing and I was able to accomplish this with an immense amount of research. I didn’t know the first thing about eCommerce, marketing or how to run a business. The first month or so was spent researching the ins and outs of starting an eCommerce store. I also had to find the best method to create the merchandise at a low cost, which ended up being hand painting. Next, I had to find an adequate shipping method and chose USPS priority mail. The final step to getting Jultie Designs up and running was the website. In the interest of keeping costs low, I decided to learn how to code an eCommerce store on Tumblr. The research continued as the company grew and improved.

So, why did Jultie Designs come to an end?

The answer is pretty simple, I went to college! I started my college career in 2015 at Virginia Tech and made the decision to close Jultie Designs because I did not want to sacrifice the quality of my work as I knew I would not have the time or resources to continue. It was a hard decision, but I knew it was the right one. I will be eternally grateful for this opportunity and had so much fun while also learning valuable skills for my future!

Where am I now?

Since Jultie Designs came to a close, I have continued to design and create sweatshirts for friends. I have a true passion for design and have always loved using my creativity to bring art into this world. One of my favorite things is seeing my friends wear my designs!