bringing positive impact to communities with stella lin + yen tran (all bodies)
We are so honored to have been interviewed by golden guide. See the full interview on LinkedIn here.
field notes is a personal, behind-the-scenes look at our journey to constantly build and improve golden guide, the largest contextual platform of AANHPI businesses, restaurants, community organizations, and resources.
in this edition of field notes, we're talking to Stella Lin + Yen Tran of All Bodies—read on to learn more!
how did you come up with your business idea, and how did it start?
Yen Tran and I met in college, where we quickly became good friends and bonded over the dreaded gapping when a pair of pants did not fit properly.
A couple of years post-grad, Yen contacted me to start a clothing brand that aimed to bring flattering, custom-sized garments to the US. As with many other businesses, the plan has changed drastically since then.
Logistically, a small business cannot afford to sell solely made-to-order pieces unless we raise our prices abhorrently. Although we do still take custom orders, it isn’t our core channel at the moment. We’ve shifted to offering a wide range of sizes from XS to 3XL to accommodate all body shapes and sizes. We’ve also researched and designed in-house special cuts and selective fabrics suitable for all body types.
In the process of developing the products, we realized that the fabrics and cuts that tend to suit all types of bodies lean heavily towards natural fibers, with very simple, universal, basic cuts. This gave us the insight to produce clothing suitable for all bodies and all occasions through natural handmade fibers with timeless cuts that can last and be passed on from generation to generation.
tell us a bit about the community/region you’re in—what you love about it, what you wish more folks knew about, etc.
A huge part of our business is bringing a positive impact to the community in Vietnam, which enabled us to start All Bodies in the first place. The talented seamstresses who hand make our clothing have been honing their craft for literal decades. Some are disabled but continue working hard not only to make a living but also because they genuinely enjoy sewing.
We share interviews with our seamstresses on our website in an effort to provide them with a platform to share their stories.
It’s no secret that unethical labor conditions and unfair wages in the textile manufacturing of Asia are ongoing issues—while we’re not quite at the level of transforming the industry, we do pay our seamstresses over 2.5x the average monthly salary of a seamstress in Vietnam.
We encourage consumers to invest in slow fashion as much as they can if it is available to them. In addition to honoring our seamstresses, we donate $1 for every garment purchased to an orphanage in Vietnam. This equates to over 1% of sales, and we would love to increase the donation as we scale.
You can stay updated on our dedication to this mission on our website.
tell us about a fellow aapi restaurant, business, or community group(s) you’re a fan of. what do they do best? what makes them different?
Mandy (IG @littlemandyart) is one of my underclassmen from UCSD. She designs and sells stickers of cute cartoon animals on RedBubble and in-person at the UCSD General Store. I really admire her attention to detail in her art. Mandy has shared the different renditions and small details in her designs - although they may look cute and simple, a lot of thought and care is applied when drawing the animals!
what advice do you wish someone gave you when starting out your small business or that you think every business owner/maker should know?
If you vend at in-person events, get to know your fellow vendors! Talk to them, ask about their experiences, and support their business if you can. There’s a high likelihood they’ll have valuable advice to share with you, like how they’re managing physical POS and e-commerce, what events they recommend vending at, etc.
Also, if you have physical inventory, it can be a huge pain to manage – especially if you are vending in person and online. When just starting out, do your best to establish a forward-thinking inventory tracking architecture. Although we keep it simple and budget-friendly with spreadsheets, there’s also software like NetSuite that can help with inventory management.
what is a specific moment or memory has stuck with you on this journey as you build your business?
A specific moment that really stuck with us on our business journey was having our first repeat customer. This moment stood out because our business is at such an early stage (we’re only 3 months in), and we are still working hard to establish brand awareness beyond our friends and family.
To have a repeat customer within this short time frame truly exceeded our expectations. Our priority in the few months after the launch was entirely on acquiring new customers, but we are so grateful to see that our products are acquiring repeat customers as well.
what is the best way for folks to support you?
Purchasing and writing reviews/feedback is always a great way to support any business, but non-monetary ways folks can support us are engaging with our social media, sharing our content, and spreading the word about our mission. We only launched in September 2023, so we are still building brand awareness.
are you open to collaborating with others? if yes, what types of collaborations would you like to do or be reached out to for?
Yes we are! We are open to any collaborations. Specific ones we would be particularly interested in are brand collabs with other fellow small businesses, social media/influencer collabs, interviews, and events.
what brands (besides your own) in the gift guide will you be shopping at?
In college, we often treated ourselves after exams and long hours of studying with Meet Fresh; we love QQ/chewy rice cake-style desserts! The Assorted Pack Butter Mochi from Salted Cow looks amazing – and we can definitely stop by some of their in-person events as we are within driving distance.
Also, I've been searching for the perfect chili oil and will be trying the plethora of chili oils on the guide - such as those from Hot Boi Chili Oil, pi00a, and Wei Good Food
discover All Bodies & 300+ other small businesses, makers, and creators on golden guide's first-ever gift guide at aapigiftguide.com