By coinnews 
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Welcome to living not so fabulously.
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So they say that love is patient, love
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is love is also filing an LLC paperwork at 2 a.m. in the morning and forgetting to eat lunch.
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Exactly. It’s romantic until someone forgets to respond to a Nordstrom buyer’semail
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or sells the house to keep the company afloat.
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You know, the small things,
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which brings us to Cherise and Vicky Paschi, the powerhouse couple.Dapper boy, the all gender size inclusive clothing brand shaking up the fashion industry, one perfectly fitted gene at a time. They turned a honeymoon brainchild into a full blown movement, proving that confidence starts with the clothing that fits you right,
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from shark tank spotlights to selling their house to fund their dream. These two are redefining what it means to show up, show out as your authentic selves. Welcome, Cherie and Vicky.
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Wow, that was such an, thank you guys. We’re
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so
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excited to see you again.
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Yes, it’s fabulous to be sitting down and having a conversation with you, folks, we, we interviewed these two on our Queer Money podcast. So before we sit down and get into the whole Barbara Walters portion of this interview and we pull out our boxes of Kleenex.Let’s take folks back to the beginning. How was Dapper Boy born? What was the inspiration? What made you think that we can create thisBrand this empire dapper boy.
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You know, uh, selfishly, it actually started with my own personal journey, you know, shopping in the men’s department, not made for curves. Once I became confident enough to shop in the men’s department, which was a huge adjustment for me, um, it was actually a game changer for me and my confidence in how I felt, um, you know, then fast forward a couple of years later, I meet uh love of my life here.And she’s seeing me, you know, dressing in the men’s department. It’s
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a hot mad. I was like, uh uh, you’re wearing and stupid. I can’t be having you as my arm candy, no.
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Yeah, I mean, think about it though, like, the problem was when I was shopping, I’d have to wear my, you know, wear a button up shirt and I’d wear it to like the center of my chest and leave the rest out like it was a style cause I couldn’t fit over my.Booty, and then I’d have to wear two side gig again for the same problem. And, you know,
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you know, listening to this
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fashionista here, it was just so unflattering to be so boxy, you know, in men’s clothing. Yeah.
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I tried to shop for her. It didn’t work. And then fast forward, we get engaged.You know, we get married and on our honeymoon, she pops another question to me, and she says, hey, I’m thinking about scrapping everything, all of my my career, my work experience, everything. I think I want to uh start a brand, you know, selling clothes. Mind you, we both have zero fashion experience, haven’t opened a business, we have very entrepreneurial spirits, but, you know, when she had shared this with me, um,I was completely all in, and I’ve seen how it’s changed her confidence through the roof, and we haven’t looked back, one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.
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It is isn’t it so nice to be able to make decisions that make you feel confident and whole and really compliment who you are? That’s it’s, it’s wonderful to be able to do that, butLife may be a highway, but entrepreneurialship is a roller coaster, right? It’s not always easy, so tell us about some of your experiences with Appper Boy. It’s ups and downs, maybe some big decisions that you’ve had to make.
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Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we’re, you know, coming on 10 years right now actually, and being in business. So when we launched in 2015, it was on Kickstarter initially, and, you know, again, it was like the excitement, you know, the launch of the brand and people were so engaged and excited and, you know, we wereUh, soon selling out of products year after year, you know, bootstrapping this business, but it hasn’t been easy in the least, you know, and, and hopefully we make it look that way, but uh, you know, on the back end here, it is a roller coaster. I wouldn’t have it any other way, that’s for sure, butUm, there’s so many lessons learned. I mean, the first lesson, again, like Cheri says we didn’t have a fashion background, you know, and so trying to find a manufacturer to, um, you know, help us create this, this perfect pair of jeans that has no gender was.It was a very interesting process. I mean, the amount of hang ups that I had from people being like, no, you don’t know what you’re talking about, and like, do you know what a minimum is like how you need to order and like, do you know anything about fabric and fashion, and I didn’t. And it wasn’t until one manufacturer was like, I think you’re on to something, I’ll hook you up with our pattern maker, and we were off to the races. That was the first, you know, like,You know, initial challenge of just not knowing this industry. I’d say the second huge one was capital, like, the amount of capital that you need to run a fashion brand, you know, we completely underestimated. After that first Kickstarter launch, you know, we had enough to raise, you know, we, we were trying to raise 18,000 for our very first production. And we did 26,000, you know, and we were like, yes.We have one, but, you know, there’s a lot more money that goes into just the production, you know, like how are we going to stay alive and, and, and invest in other productions and marketing dollars and all the things that, you know, goes with running a business, we had to learn very quickly. And so,Yeah, and then after that, it’s really how do we keep capital coming in? How do we scale the the brand, you know, our vision and still is, is to be the next Levi’s of all gender fashion, and you need a lot of capital to do that. So how are we going to, you know, beyond our bootstrapping ways, um, raise capital, talk to investors, learn how to talk to investors. What kind of capital do you need, you know, when you’re scaling a company. And so there is again, so many lessons learned andUm, you know, to the point, like you said in the very beginning, we ended up selling our home. You know, during COVID was such a crazy time, you know, and so many brands didn’t make it. And we almost were one of those, because imagine we’re doing these pre-orders still in that bootstrap kind of life, and not having inventory and not being able to even back the pre-orders that have come in and we’re just trying to keep the lights on. And so yeah, we had made that decision, but I just threw a lot at you.
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No, no, I,
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you know, I, I, I guess.Oy, right? So selling, uh, there are lots of people who have, we’ve heard of taking out a second mortgage on their homes to fund a business, but actually selling your house and downsizing to start your business, that’s, that’s, that’s gotta take a lot of emotion and risk. How did that feel?
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Well, I will say, being a first generation Filipino American, it was always my parents’ dreams, Vicky’s parents’ dreams, you know, for us to be able to buy a home, and especially at that point, I think we had our girls were 2 years old at that point. So how proud were we to say that we were founders, we were able to create something for ourselves and our family. Um, so,Actually, it’s so funny. I, I share this a lot, but it actually, when it came time to sell our home, it was easier for me to come out to my family than to have the conversation saying that we needed to sell our home to sell the business. And to anybody
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to,
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to invest in the business. And to anybody outside looking in, you know, they think that running a business is very easy. But what I will say isI heard another founder say this on a panel. We may be selling our things, but we’re not selling our dreams. And to have that much control, and once I wrap my head around it and I said, yes, I’m all in, we need to do this. There’s a couple reasons why, but we had that within our control. We were able to say yes. In order for us to be able to go to investors and say, invest in us, you need to know that we’re.Willing to invest in ourselves. So that was #1. And the #2 thing is, is that always at the back of my head, you know, Vicky’s, I would say she’s at the forefront. She’s having the conversations with investors. On the back end, I do a lot of the operations, a lot of, you know, customer support, and very customer facing. And to hear so many parents reaching out to us, what this brand means.Means for their child, for other people that they know, their partners, you know, we hear those customer stories, and if a brand like ours didn’t exist because we couldn’t make the decision to keep the brand going, that would eat me alive. Yeah,
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I think,um, we did a really crucial exercise because, you know, emotionally, it was a really hard decision. It’s such a balance.Personal and business. And so we did an exercise that I brought to our our small group, and it was like a goal setting. That’s what everyone thought it was going to be, you know, even though we were in a rough spot, we were still like thinking big, we said,You know, OK, goals for 3 months from now, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, again, we’re the next Levi’s of all gender fashion, but the gut punch question was, where would the world be without dapper Boy in 10 years? And that’s where, you know, the tears came.And that’s where it was like, this is a no brainer, you know, to sell our home because of all those stories that Cherise was just talking about. You know, this brand is so much bigger than us and it just has the potential to change so many lives.
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Mm, wow, yeah, that has to be a a gut-wrenching decision to make because I think for a lot of people owning your own home is like the American dream. Then also having your business is an American dream and like which baby do I choose? It’s like, uh, choice scary.So you you’ve said before that you’re you’re plan A all the way kind of people. How has that mindset impacted your financial decisions, not just with your home, but your income, your saving, your risk taking, um, you’re all in on everything or do you have any aversion to any kind of risk at all?
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We are plan A all the way because I really feel like if you even put a fraction of a percentage into Plan B, you’re not fully invested in Plan A. Like you have to have all of your energy, and fortunately, Vicky and I work together so well. We’re typically on the same page for all things business and life. If you’re not on the samePage, then you can’t say that you’re 100% focused on that linear dream. If you are not visualizing, manifesting where your end goal is, how can you get there if you’re putting other energy elsewhere? Um, our, I always say that my motto in our relationship and our life has always been say yes, ask questions later.
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It’s true, but I think that we’ve also been through enough, you know, we were just talking about this literally today. You know, when things don’t go our way and this roller coaster, you know, continues to exist. And, um, I think all of these mistakes and obstacles that we have overcome has made us like so much stronger, where we don’t really flinch as much anymore. You know, we are ableWe are very proud of how we have learned how to pivot quickly. You know, like this dream is plan A. And so no matter what obstacles come our way, because we have been through so much now at this point, there’s no other way. It just will happen and we really truly believe it. We’re all about manifestation on top of this all. And no matter what comes our way, you know, we’reWe can pivot.
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We’re still smart business people because we’re still basing our decisions on business data, where we have such a strong customer base, we have high repeat customer rate. I mean, we are trending much higher than what the average is for repeat customer rate. We built such a strong community and that starts with being 100% vulnerable, sharing our story, andI think customers when they come to our website, can see what this brand means to us personally as well. So I think that’s why they buy in. They see how much love, time and attention. And now this is also like our third child, like you were saying.
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Yeah, it isbeyond emotions. We see it in our data, you know, again, 51% repeat customer rate is no small feet, you know, on fashion brands like, you know, try to strive for 28%.You know, and so the numbers show it. So that’s, that’s, you know, it goes hand in hand, you know, with the emotions. And, you know, the fundraising journey hasn’t been an easy one, by any means, but, but that’s how we do connect with the investors that we have. It’s been very emotional. They can see, you know, the effect on our community, our customers, and, you know, where we’re going and how much we believe where we’re going and the work that we’re puttingin.
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Yeah. So we’re going to take a quick break. We’ll be right back after these messages.Right, so welcome back, folks to another episode of Living Not So Fabulously with Vicky and Cherise Apache. We are so excited to continue this conversation with you. So,We know a little bit about your backstory because we’ve already had the uh conversations with you. You downsized from a 4 bedroom townhouse to a 630 square foot apartment while you had two kids. I mean,Pull your hair out of your head, right? That’s, did you feel embarrassed about that decision to tell people about that, or was, what other kind of worries were you going through? This is, these are the kinds of decisions I think most people, they immediately close off because they don’t want to talk about this, tell this these kinds of things to their friends.
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Yeah, the first, so that was our first apartment before kids, you know, that we downsize from a 4 bedroom to the and just start to start the brand when we sold the house. Yes, yes, um, but we did have these twins during the chaos of the of all of this, uh.The business,
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selling our house, move into a rental. And I think on social media, it looked like we were selling our house so that we can upgrade. And I remember, you know, not everybody gets aired on Shark Tank. I remember getting our air date a few months later, and I looked at Vicky and I was like, Oh my gosh, our very best friends, our family.is all going to find out all of this news, the same time as America is. And that really freaked me out. I had to have those tough conversations. But one thing that I have learned is since that journey, leaning into the vulnerable is so powerful because especially with social media, so many people want to put this.Paint the best 5 seconds of their lives and only show that. It’s a very curated moments, whereas us leaning into our vulnerable story has really resonated so much with founders and also investors, cause the more that you can be vulnerable, you’re going to impact somebody, you’re gonna be able toBe honest about the wild ride, that is entrepreneurship, and I think investors really like to also see that.
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Yeah, I mean, we were down to, we announced on Shark Tank, we were down to our last $100 in our bank account, and that was very true. And again, when we had that launch party of watching Shark Tank, our friends and family were like, I had no idea it was like that bad at that point because we always kept a smile on our faces, you know, we were going through it, but, um, again, we believed in the mission the whole time.
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Yeah, I think, you know, when you have gone through the ups and downs, it makes when you are doing well, so much more rewarding, cause you have worked hard for it.
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Definitely. I think a lot of folks right now are having a lot of uh strained conversations, especially entrepreneurs, um, because of the the current uh geopolitical and business environment. Um, so I’m curious, are you having any impacts from the tariffs he saw that we see happening right now, but, or will your partnership that you announced recently with Nordstrom’s has that been affected?
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Yeah, not in this moment, but we’ve been kind of preparing for this for a while now, and we’ve been, you know, already making new manufacturing relationships with other folks, um, you know, in other countries, we have, you know, backup manufacturers here in the United States, you know, and the reality is, it’s, it’s very, very expensive to produce in the United States, you know, our prices would be completely different at that point. So,Um, what’s interesting is what we didn’t realize too is when the recent tariffs were announced, such drastic tariffs, um, you know, we weren’t anticipating all of the countries that it was going to be affecting. And so, um, you know, when we were making a pivot, you know, for example, from a China manufacturer to India, um,We had talked to the Indian manufacturer and they said, OK, when you’ve been placing this PO and when do you expect it to arrive? And we said, you know, our typical like 60 to 90 days, and they’re like, that’s not realistic anymore because now all of these um US huge corporations, they have now taken over our factories pretty much.And it’s hard to get in these productions unless you’re like way in advance. And so that was a surprise to us that we weren’t completely ready for. And so it’s just like, you know, now it’s just, you know, proper planning and we still don’t know exactly what the, you know, what the, the pause on terrorists what it’s gonna be. So we’re anticipating.what that could be, you know, we’re going to have to adjust our pricing. And also, we’re making some really big moves now internationally, as in now is the time. It’s always been in the plan for us to expand internationally. We have customers already in the UK, Australia, Australia and Canada. And so, um, uh, we are, you know, going to be announcing very soon ourUh, big international expansion, and so, um, utilizing fulfillment centers even in other countries. And so we’ve been really making a lot of strides again towards that pivot and uh we’re not going to let this scare us. We just again need to figure out what that pivot’s going to be. We’re working through that right now.
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So for those uh who are just loving this tariff war and think that it’s it’s it’s showing, it’s proving America’s dominance on the on the global stage, as a small business owner who I’m assuming has some tight margins and you just articulated that you’ve experienced roller coaster ride, what does it actually feel like to have this level of uncertainty when you have payroll to meet and you have lights to keep on and children to feed?
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Yeah, it’s scary for sure. It’s scary, and I see so many other founders going through the same thing, even contemplating going out of business. That’s devastating. Again, I think because of our, you know, all that we’ve been through and our ability to pivot, that has helped us, you know, as in mindset wise to keep going, and we areLooking again at international expansion and what that could look like. And so this is by no means, you know, throwing in the towel. It is a feeling of fear a little bit, but, um, we will pivot and get through this. And I think coming together as a community is also essential, you know, and getting through this together and sharing resources as well.
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Yeah. Speaking of community, um, one of the questions that we love to ask at the very end of the show of all folks is, what’s one piece of money advice and maybe from your personal experience or your business experience that you would share with the LGBT community, especially today.
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Yeah, I think um for me anyway, it’s get out of your own way. You know, I didn’t come from money and it can be sometimes intimidating to talk to investors or maybe you don’t know if you need capital yet or, you know, for your business, um, have those conversations early and often, be confident in who you are, um, you know.Again, sometimes I kick myself for not having conversations with investors sooner in the game. But really, we’re just all people, you know, authentically connecting with one another. And once you’re able to kind of mentally get through that, like, don’t be afraid to ask, you know, for help or ask.Questions or just you know financial education about what you’re doing. Like that changed my confidence completely. And now we’ve raised a bunch of money now. And it is because that confidence shift again, of just getting out of my own way and getting out there. It’s not about me, my business is about everybody else.
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Yeah.It’s your money mindset is where Vicky was going with that. Anytime you’re running a business or asking for money, if you don’t have the right mindset about it, a lot of us come into the biases that we grew up with as children, being Filipino American, it came from a place ofScarcity, it was like, hold on to what you have instead of investing it, investing in yourself. So I think that if you can create your own thought process and mindset and manifestation towards what you want money to do for you.That’s where you’re going to have that breakthrough moment, so that you are not harboring those feelings and projecting that into your business.
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Absolutely love that. Yes, thank you, Vicky and Cherise. We really appreciate you joining us.As far as takeaways from this, I think one of the ones that I love the most here is this idea of sometimes you have to take a step back to take two steps forward. I think that there’s some, so many people in our community who would gasp at the idea of having to give up something that they already have, so that they could get ahead a little bit further and maybe even help themselves financially a little bit further. So I love that you, you two were able to do that. Yeah,
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I also love how you’re able to be so nimble, you know, I think so many of us, especially thisThis time we’re kind of maybe a little bit fatalistic and we’re not exactly sure that we’re going to survive this, but your your ability to be to be nimble sort of an inspiration for the rest of us to figure out, you know, we’re going to be able to get through this, this too shallpass.
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Definitely. Thanks again for tuning in. If you like what you see, scan the QR code to follow Yahoo Finance podcast for more videos and expert insights, because when you do, it keeps a pair of extra large cargo shorts from returning ever. And until next time, stay fabulous.
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This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services.