- Revelry, a bridesmaid and groomsmen attire company, started out as a small made-to-order sorority and gameday gear company. Now, Revelry boasts more than $30 million in annual sales.
When Michelle DeLoach was finishing her communications degree at Texas State University in 2008, she didn’t see herself fitting into the corporate world. The only work experience she had was in restaurants and retail, so being her own boss, and starting her own company, seemed like the best path forward.
“As I had friends going into the corporate world, I thought, ‘wow, I could maybe just try to get something made and then go sell it,’” DeLoach told Fortune.
Her first idea was to make a game-day wear brand called Revelry for college-aged women. DeLoach’s mom, who practiced as a hobby seamstress, had made all of her prom and homecoming dresses, which taught DeLoach she could make anything. So when her customer base moved into their next phase of life and demanded the same custom attention to detail for their bridal gowns and bridesmaid dresses, she adapted. Now, Revelry is one of the largest players in bridesmaid wear with $39 million in annual sales.
While “it’s very popular now to see cute dresses and collegiate-colored garments, that didn’t really exist back in the day,” DeLoach said. “It was just t-shirts at the local bookstore.”
At the beginning of Revelry, DeLoach operated as a “solopreneur,” and her fulfillment center was just “me, myself, and I,” she said. She spent the first few years of Revelry crashing on friends’ couches and visiting college campuses trying to sell small production runs from the trunk of her car all while working a part-time retail job.
Sorority girls were really who powered Revelry in its early years, thanks to batch pre-orders they’d make. DeLoach cashed in on this idea to help fund her initial game-day line. Sororities liked Revelry’s process because it was one of the first brands to offer coordinating outfits of varying sizes.
“I’ve had women cry on the phone to me that they couldn’t shop anywhere else for their chapter because they have sisters that have different needs with their apparel,” DeLoach said. “And so I became very passionate about what we were doing.”
The initial fulfillment factory DeLoach used didn’t manufacture extended sizes, so she took it upon herself to make the products by hand. This is what inspired DeLoach to invest more time in made-to-order garments, foreshadowing what was to come with Revelry.
“I had some very loyal, die-hard customers that I still remember the names of, and as my customers started graduating from college and moving on to the next phase of life, getting engaged, looking for bridesmaids dresses,” DeLoach said. “They wanted the Revelry process for their bridesmaids, but at the time, I just had more casual dresses available.”
Following the customer journey
It took a couple of years for DeLoach to make the right factory connections, but in 2016 she launched the bridesmaid dress brand, which is now 100% of what Revelry does, she said. But this fall, the brand also announced the launch of its menswear section. Now, anybody on either side of a wedding party can wear matching colors.
“It’s not just a men’s collection, it is [for] anybody that doesn’t want to wear a dress and would rather wear a suit because we have coordinating colors,” DeLoach said.
What sets Revelry apart from other bridesmaid apparel brands is its at-home try-on process and custom sizing. Anyone who has ever been in a wedding knows the pain of ordering dresses online, and finding a flattering fit and design. At Revelry, every garment is made-to-order, so customers pick the size and length of their garment.
Although most Revelry dresses retail for about $200, many customers can forgo the annoying alterations process after their dress is delivered, which can tack on a considerable amount of money and effort.
“It’s a big deal to ask somebody to be in your wedding,” DeLoach said. “And it’s a financial commitment, it’s so many things.”
Before launching the bridesmaid business, Revelry was making about $500,000 a year, which grew to about $3 million per year between 2016 and 2019 after the business model changed.
But what came as an even bigger surprise was how much her business took off in 2020, a year marked by the pandemic and canceled weddings. As competitors shuttered due to the amount of canceled weddings, Revelry grew from $3 million to $7 million in sales that year.
“I was shocked, because I thought everybody was as busy as I was,” DeLoach said. “I couldn’t hire people fast enough.”
Now, Revelry boasts about $30 million in sales, and currently employs about 60 people in a 60,000-square-foot office in Austin, Texas.
Since DeLoach made it her mission to follow her customer through major life milestones, she’s also gotten questions about when Revelry might launch baby wear. Although she’d “love to do it at some point,” her focus remains dedicated to the bridesmaid dress business.
“Always continue to self teach, always listen to your customers, always be pivoting and innovating your product and your processes,” DeLoach said. “So nothing’s off the table for the future.”
