Freely Me

Hannah Renae
Nov 3 · 2 min read

For young adults required to follow a dress code in the classroom or workplace, finding a sense of individuality or a way to express themselves can be frustrating in a sense.

Business savvy, 20-year-old Shelby Plourde recognizes this problem and tries to offer a solution in the means of her own online boutique, Freely Me. Plourde intends for the business to be a more affordable online boutique for women’s clothing.

“I try to keep it as low-price as possible for all of us college students out there struggling but still want to have a cute sense of fashion and be able to express how we feel through our clothing,” said Plourde.

Plourde reached the final decision to start the boutique over the summer, after hearing a sermon from her pastor about following God’s calling on your life. Although she had been considering the idea of starting something similar for a while.

“I stayed up until three or four a.m. that night trying to come up with a simple name that would be easy for branding and something that would also convey what I want girls to feel when they wear my apparel,” Plourde said.

The name targets and counteracts the lack of confidence so many young women often struggle with. Plourde believes that fashion is a way for people to express themselves, in a day in age where we are limited in our sense of individuality and expression.

“As a college student, I think it’s very important for us to be able to show our creativity through our apparel. Because most of the time now there’s going to be some sense of limitation to us,” said Plourde.

Since she, too is a college student Plourde personally picks out all of the clothing items herself and has made sure that all of the boutique’s clothing meets her private school’s dress code requirements.

The online boutique has its own instagram page, titled @shopfreelyme. Customers can follow the page to stay up to date with sales, new inventory and even make online purchases.

“I am grateful that I have quite a bit of an instagram audience, where I’m able to try and get some feedback from them, I’ll put up a few different options on my instagram story and see what the viewers like and what they dislike,” Plourde says.

Currently Freely Me’s inventory includes dresses, t-shirts, sweaters, scrunchies and ribbons. Plourde says she is expecting to add a selection of jeans and more jewelry to the inventory very soon.