Margaux’s tips for turning political passion into a successful brand

Margaux Pepper is a Chitown-based, Southern spitfire with a penchant for good food and bad puns. By day, she’s a brand strategist at a PR firm, and by night she’s a feminist lettering artist and clothing designer. For her, International Women’s Day is not only a moment to celebrate the progress made toward equality, but also a reminder of the work that’s yet to be realized.

Continue reading to learn more about Margaux and her personal brand, where she finds design inspiration, promotional tips and more.  

Building a brand

Margaux is one example of the hundreds of thousands of fabulous females building their own personal brands and businesses on Teespring. Following her role as a contributing artist for a feminist clothing collection, Margaux decided to go independent create her own personal brand, Pepper vs. Patriarchy. Teespring’s on-demand business model meant Margaux could create 50+ products instantly without any upfront costs or risk—she was able to combine her love of feminism and art, and turn her ideas into a full range of products to sell online. 

“I love the wide range of styles, colors, products, and extended sizing. It was important to me to offer my designs with the most options possible so that customers felt included and like they could find something they love!”

Finding inspiration

Margaux says design inspiration comes from friends and family sharing their ideas or making requests on what they’d like to see or wear. For example, her Women 2020 design was an idea her mom came up with, to support female candidates at all levels! This same technique can be used by other Teespring users who are designing for an existing audience—some of the most successful designs sold on are inspired by a creator’s fanbase.

Promoting products

Keep in mind using real samples in promotional content can increase sales by 50%, so it’s no surprise featuring product samples are Margaux’s preferred promotional method. She incorporates images of herself, friends and customers wearing products into her Instagram feed, stories, and highlights. These images not only create tons of engagement, they’re also examples of social proof which can influence other followers to purchase too. 

“It’s great to be able to order samples and take photos of myself in the products, but it means so much to me to see other people wearing and enjoying my designs in their everyday lives…One of my friends from college wore my Good Bi design as part of her coming out journey, which basically made my heart explode. It means so much to me that something I created could be part of a moment like that.” 

Margaux’s fans repping her products 

The future is female

When Margaux isn’t growing her brand on Instagram, she works as a brand strategist at the second largest Public Relations firm in the world. One of the main reasons she chose to explore a career in PR was because of the opportunities she saw for women at all levels of leadership within the agency, both in Chicago and globally. 

“When women are given a fair shot and a chance to succeed, the work they make, the teams they lead, and the culture they create ultimately benefits everyone.” 

This is the core message of Margaux’s personal beliefs and brand…and it’s the perfect mantra to celebrate International Women’s Day 2020. With that in mind, we’d like to take a moment to recognize all of the inspiring female and female identifying users on the platform—we’ve selected a range below for you to discover and get inspired by! Of course, we couldn’t include everyone, but don’t forget to check out our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook where we are always featuring our amazing users.

Top row (from left to right): Moriah Elizabeth / Quiet Cool Kid / Shawna Lynn / Allison Bickerstaff

Bottom Row (From left to right): Ava Pearl / Jessica Kellgren-Fozard / Lehua Superfina / Sanne Vander