Leaving the security of a steady paycheck to build your own apparel business is one of the biggest decisions you'll ever make. The uncertainty of replacing your income, finding clients, and giving up traditional benefits can feel overwhelming, but the freedom, flexibility, and opportunity to build a business on your own terms can make it one of the most rewarding decisions you'll ever make.

In this episode, I sit down with two former colleagues and friends, Sarah White and Kayla Clarot, to talk about our journeys from the corporate apparel world into running our own businesses. We share the lessons we learned working in a high-pressure environment, how those experiences shaped our leadership styles, and why creating businesses rooted in collaboration, flexibility, and kindness has become our mission.

📝 Today We're Covering:

• Why leaving a corporate career can be the catalyst for building a business that fits your life and values
• How high-pressure work environments can develop leadership skills that translate into entrepreneurship
• Why collaboration works better than competition to create a strong business
• How to lead with honesty, kindness, and clear communication while building a healthy team culture
• Why balancing ambition with your physical and mental well-being leads to more sustainable success

Whether you're wondering if it's time to pursue your own apparel business or you're looking for encouragement as you navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship, this conversation will remind you that your past experiences can become your greatest advantage in building a company on your own terms.

➡️ Connect with Sarah and Kayla:

• Sarah: https://www.theoutdoormerchant.com/
• Kayla: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayla-clarot-58351b97/

➡️ Connect with Rachel:

• Subscribe to the Apparel Founder's Boardroom Notes on Substack: https://substack.com/@businessofapparel
• Get in touch here: http://thebusinessofapparel.com/contact
• Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-erickson-pmp/

🤝 Meet Rachel:

Rachel Erickson is a Fractional COO, Apparel Industry Consultant, and founder of Unmarked Street and The Business of Apparel. With 20+ years in technical design and product development leadership, she sat at the executive table of a $25M apparel line and helped scale it to $60M in one year.

After decades working inside major fashion companies, she learned the truth behind billion-dollar brands, and it's not about chasing trends or pumping out endless products. It's about building clean processes, tightly edited assortments, and obsessively focused customer targeting.

Rachel helps founders and CEOs of performance apparel brands:

✅ Build lean, profitable product lines

✅ Streamline operations for growth

✅ Replace overwhelm with executive clarity

✅ Create garments that fit bodies in motion

Whether you're just hitting $1M in revenue or trying to break through the $10M ceiling, Rachel will join you as an embedded operations and product partner—running fittings, line plans, tech packs, and vendor communications so you can get back to leading.