Where Style Meets Empowerment: Meet DimepieceLA
If there’s a fashion label that you need to know about right now, it’s LA-based clothing company, Dimepiece.
Founded in 2007, in the LA Design District, by Ashley Jones and Laura Fama, Dimepiece is a girl-power, street-wear brand with a strong urban influence. Born in a spare bedroom in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, Dimepiece, is now a global brand seen on celebrities like Rhianna, Selena Gomez and Nicki Minaj.
So what’s got me so obsessed?
It’s hard not to get inspired after learning the ladies’ story behind the brand.
After just one year in business with 12 t-shirt designs, the ladies set up shop in downtown LA. By 2011, they moved into their first fully functioning workspace in LA’s Design District. Celebrity support by Rhianna, Nicki Minaj and Kylie Jenner — to name a few — pushed their status higher than ever, and by 2014 Dimepiece had reached 200 retailers globally and a quarter of a million fans worldwide. In 2016, the ladies opened their first retail store in LA and was seen on both Michele Obama and Missy Elliot at SXSW.
In less than ten years, the ladies behind Dimepiece had gone from creating 12 t-shirt designs to being represented by significant fashion icons and distributed around the world.
If this isn’t a story of inspiration, I don’t know what is.
I imagine, for small businesses, it feels utterly impossible to compete with larger, well-known brands. But in this age of social media and free advertising through pretty much every social platform, more and more independently owned companies are making a name for themselves.
However, it’s not just their story that’s got me swooning, but what they stand for.
I first heard about Dimepiece when I saw a photo of British model and actress Cara Delevingne wearing their famous trademarked phrase “Ain’t No Wifey” t-shirt.
Immediately, I fell in love.
After looking into the company, I realized there was this continuous message of empowering phrases like, ‘Treat Your Girl Right,’ ‘Though Shalt Get Her Own Money,’ ‘The Sexiest Thing About a Woman Is Her Hustle,’ and ‘Spoil Me With Loyalty, I Can Finance Myself.’
The boldness, yet simplicity of it all was impressive to me. What could be more inspirational in the fashion industry than a woman-owned company creating empowering t-shirts and being recognized and worn by style icons?
Back then, right after graduating college and getting out of a 4-year (somewhat) co-dependent relationship, I was finding and defining myself as a young single, independent woman. And back then, this clothing company seemed to speak to me on a level that not really any other brand was.
Six years ago, Dimepiece was ahead of its time. Today, their brand is even more relevant.
In a day of #MeToo and the reawakening of The Women’s March, female empowerment is more important now than ever. Women recognize the necessity and the value of unity and empathy for each other.
Respect towards women is now demanded in mostly all industries and on all social levels. It’s not ‘cool’ to be demeaning or disrespectful in any way towards women anymore. And that’s why I love this brand so much.
It speaks to women on all levels, at all ages, at any moment in their lives.
It speaks to encouragement, empowerment, self-love, and self-respect.
It’s a powerful statement for a crucial time.
Their latest move? Dimepiece coined the phrase “Encouragement over Competition” in 2017 and came out with an entirely new line that has animal-friendly, cruelty-free products, and shipping in now 100% plastic free.
These ladies knew what they were doing back then and certainly know how to speak to the modern women now.
Quite frankly, I can’t wait to see what they come out with next.
