Rising Stars: Meet Egreis Gjergjani

Today we’d like to introduce you to Egreis Gjergjani.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
When I first moved to KC, my husband and I were expecting our first child. I became a stay at home mom after having had a very busy career in Los Angeles prior to getting married. Though I absolutely loved every minute with my baby, I felt that I was lacking something. I had always been so driven professionally and I missed Fashion in my life.

So I decided to mix my love for children and my passion for fashion together and created Itty Bitty Toes – a high-end Couture Line for Children. Within a few years, after having worked so closely with so many moms, dressing their little ones for every special event they had, I decided to create a Fashion Brand catering to these Women who so selflessly focused on just their children with rarely much time to shop for themselves. And that’s how By Egreis started.

By Egreis is a Clothing brand for Women by Women. We cater to realistic bodies, realistic shapes, and the true average Woman who in this day and age, with such a social media emphasis on being perfectly skinny with exaggerated proportions, “average” is rare. So we embrace all shapes, all heights, all proportions, and we cherish the Woman’s body and dress it to perfection without feeling the pressure to be lean in order to look good in our clothing.

We are proud that we’ve grown as much as we have in such a short amount of time, and it is a blessing and an honor that I get to meet so many different Women daily. We are thankful that we receive so much feedback including photos and videos of our clients wearing our designs. And I wouldn’t be able to accomplish any of this if it weren’t for my amazing team.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road to success is rarely easy or smooth. We experience challenges daily, some days more than others.

I started my first company in 2015. At the time, there weren’t that many options on handmade, fancy clothing for Children. Sure, there were designer options, but nothing in terms of “ready to ship” couture clothing. So it was challenging in that it had not been done before so there was little information online and I had to learn all of it on my own. But on the other hand, it was rewarding in that we were one of the very first ones who started the trend.

Now we dress so many children worldwide, and we’ve had the honor of being handpicked by a lot of celebrity moms, with the latest, artist Cardi B.

For By Egreis, it has been a completely different journey. The market is overly saturated with so many Women’s Clothing Brands everywhere. But, we’ve been successful in making our mark because we focus primarily on making our customers happy and not so much on expanding. We truly believe in the growth that will follow when you focus on the clients and catering to their needs. Eventually the word will spread and the growth and expansion will follow.

There are many challenges that arise day by day. The pandemic hit us pretty hard in the beginning, as it did most brands, but it also forced us to listen more and make necessary changes to our products to better suit our clients’ new needs. And that flexibility and ability to adjust quickly got us breaking all of our sales records to date. None of it would be possible had we not established such a strong bond with our customers who were there to support in every step of the way.

Any big plans?
We are expanding By Egreis to include Men Wear as well. And we’ve recently launched a third brand, Ivy Greis which is Children’s Clothing but for everyday wear, with a big emphasis on matching mommy and me outfits.

My next business venture is to launch my own Shoe line. I’ve personally built a following and a social media presence because of my love for shoes and passion for Fashion. I came up with my handle @thestilettomeup because I have a large collection of shoes (“stilettos”) and I initially got on Instagram with the idea that I’d be sharing that passion with the world, showcasing my collection of shoes daily.

Throughout the years, with me no longer being a 22 years old and now married with children, my page turned into so much more than that. I launched my three clothing brands, but always with the plan of having my own shoe line one day.

I plan on creating a high-end shoe line for Women and pour my whole self and creativity into it. It’s what I’ve always been known for, so I think it’s time I create something of my own when it comes to shoes.

Pricing:

• $50- $200 for By Egreis
• $200- $1500 for Itty Bitty Toes
• $15- $125 for Ivy Greis

Contact Info:

• Website: www.byegreis.com and www.ittybittytoes.com
• Instagram: Personal: @thestilettomeup, Brands: @ittybittytoes @byegreis @ivygreis
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/shopittybitty or www.facebook.com/byegreis