Fil-Am boutique sells kids’ wear then buys them back for resale

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LOS ANGELES, California — During the peak of the recent economic recession, when very few industries were growing, luxury children’s clothing proved to be one of few markets that showed promising potential. Parents, it turned out, were still willing to splurge on their children.

Filipina entrepreneurs Geralyn Villaflor and Andrea Hawken soon saw that in spite of the parents’ willingness to sacrifice for their children, the costly and fast turnover of expensive brand clothing remained a problem.

The kids simply grow too fast, and the clothes quickly become too small to fit them. After studying more about the luxury children’s apparel market and learning more about the customer base, Geralyn and Andrea concocted a plan to address the parents’ desire to dress children in beautiful, high-quality clothing, in a more cost effective manner.

“Sammy and Claire” was born.

Sammy and Claire is the first online boutique where customers can buy the latest clothing from top designer brands and then sell them back when the clothes are outgrown.

In exchange for “pre-loved” clothes, customers receive in-store credit to shop for more designer garb for their kids. Returned clothing is then resold at Sammy and Claire’s resale shop at a fraction of the retail price.

The premise of the company is that by introducing a buy-back program in conjunction with their regular retail operations, Sammy and Claire makes it more sustainable to keep up with the latest fashion trends in children’s apparel.

In an industry dominated by corporate giants that offer luxury apparel for tots and toddlers, the dynamic duo of Geralyn and Andrea proves that even an upstart company like Sammy and Claire — with all its honest aspirations for becoming a sweet and memorable brand that has a heartfelt appeal to its customers — can thrive in a struggling economy.

Family influence 

Born into a creative family, Andrea grew up with artists, musicians and actors. Andrea’s grandmother was a talented painter, while her grandfather was a businessman. An aunt and uncle became painters, while two aunts became famous artists in Philippine showbiz — Gloria and Rio Diaz. Meanwhile, her father’s side of the family was more into business.

“They’re a wildly talented bunch,” Andrea recalls.

When she came with her family to the US at age seven, Andrea was able to assimilate into her new lifestyle. However, she never let go of the artistic heritage that she got from the Diaz family, and she brought that love for art to her new home.

She majored in art history at California State University, Long Beach, a program that further supplemented her artistic background. Currently, she brings a creative touch to Sammy and Claire as its resident artist.

Andrea told Asian Journal that she had worked with Geralyn back when she still had her blog. While she has since discontinued her blog, Andrea still wants to continue doing something on the creative side of things.

“I was really inspired by children’s clothing and I saw great potential for doing some really cute stuff with Sammy and Claire,” Andrea said.

Geralyn’s openness to new creative ideas made it even more exciting for Andrea to come up with “sometimes insane ideas and work with it.” Now, Andrea handles all of Sammy and Claire’s photography, graphic arts work, and artistic direction of the website, among other things.

While Andrea’s role within the company is more line with the aesthetics, Geralyn handles the business side. She is responsible for all the operations, marketing and finance-related aspects of the company.

A Southern California native, Geralyn was born to Filipino immigrant parents who moved to the US in their early twenties. Geralyn owes much of her business acumen to her parents.

“I developed my business intuition at a young age by helping my father who was a small-business owner himself. My mother had to study in the States to obtain her pharmacy license. So from a young age, I was taught the value of both entrepreneurship and education,” Geralyn said.

She obtained her bachelor of arts degree in economics from UC Berkeley and went on to work in litigation consulting after graduation. A few years later, Geralyn earned her MBA in finance from Wharton School of Business. The exposure she received while at Wharton spurred Geralyn to start up her own company.

“I believe there is a lot of opportunity to build a meaningful company that adds value to the market, and people’s everyday lives,” Geralyn said.

She also believes that it’s not just about the clothes and the families that buy them — it is also about the company’s impact to the industry and the LA scene in general.

“We want to foster a workplace that not only creates jobs in [our] Los Angeles headquarters, but one that also encourages creativity and new ideas,” Geralyn added.

Buying back 

Kids, especially the playful and active ones, can be hard on their clothes. With their level of activity growing as the years pass by, their clothes could take a beating. And if these garbs are not made of high quality material, they simply won’t last, Andrea pointed out. As a result, millions of pounds of children’s clothing are dumped in landfills every year.

In an effort to help curb that statistic, Sammy and Claire makes sure that their products are well-made and high-quality, so they will last a lifetime, if need be. More importantly, Andrea adds, the company’s buy-back program and resale shop ensures that gently-used clothing can be given another life — a tearful hand-me-down ending like “Toy Story 3” isn’t necessary.

The Buy Back Program is very simple. For example, hypothetical customer Michelle buys a shirt for her son from Sammy and Claire. Once her son outgrows the shirt, she can sell it back to Sammy and Claire to 20 percent of the original price in in-store credit, so she can shop for more items. At the Resale Shop, Michelle can buy pre-loved designer pieces at very deep discounts.

Being the first and only children’s store to have a buy-back component, Sammy and Claire is a fantastic place to shop. It also helps that the people behind the company make sure that the pieces that they carry are thoughtful and often organic.

With the core business model of giving new life to gently used designer clothing and creating a space for sustainable shopping, Sammy and Claire allows customers to give back, while buying back.