Brittany Beecham is a mother, wife, and retail entrepreneur. What started as crafting little girl bows and selling them on Facebook is now a multimillion-dollar online children’s boutique meeting all criteria that buyers love: affordability, trendy, and great quality. Her line, Dash of Glitter, has successfully blossomed into a sensational online boutique attracting loyal customers nationwide.
Where It All Began
I had the pleasure of visiting the Dash of Glitter’s warehouse to sit down with Brittany Beecham and discuss her company’s origins and how she successfully turned a small business into a multi-million dollar online boutique. Beecham, a once ultrasound technologist, discovered in January 2012, while living in her hometown of Thorndale, Texas, that she would become a mother that September. Twenty weeks later, at a routine anatomy exam, she was told she would welcome a baby girl. This prompted a new excitement in Beecham as she was finally able to start shopping for her daughter. However, she quickly discovered that aside from the baby clothes, accessories for little girls were far more expensive than she was willing to spend her money on. “I remember going to a store, like a boutique in San Antonio and just browsing looking at like different things that I'd like put on her and a head band, like I can remember it like yesterday, I can even see myself holding it and it was like this little nylon headband, like a little bitty flower, it was $23,” Beecham said. This was when she decided to put her creative skills to work and design her headband and bows at an affordable cost. “I knew I was crafty, so I took to Esty and purchased material and started to make my own,” Beecham said. Beecham knew she wanted to be able to raise her daughter without the interference of work. Her goal was to generate enough income to pay for her car. “I really just wanted to be a stay-at-home mom with Maddie and pay my own car note,” Beecham said. She sparked an enticed audience when she started posting her finished products on Facebook. This led to personalized orders, and during the remainder of her pregnancy, Beecham began Dash of Glitter, sitting on the floor of her parent’s living room crafting headbands, bows, and tutus for her friends.
Along Came Growth
Beecham found gratitude in the support she received from friends and family. They were vital to the growth process that Dash would essentially see years later. After months of working on her creative skills, Beecham incorporated children’s clothing into her brand. “I remember I asked my dad for $3,000, and he was like, of course, whatever,” Beecham said.
That is when she started attending small community events and festivals where she made more profit than she could have imagined.
“I took the profit from that, bought more inventory and did another show, bought more inventory, made a Facebook page, and even started selling handmade necklaces in auctions,” Beecham said. Beecham eventually discovered the demand for frilly and affordable clothes and accessories, so she started selling them wholesale to brick-and-mortar stores. “In the beginning, I was excited to make $300 to $400 a month to cover my car note. With the wholesale stores etc., I started profiting close to $1500 a month,” Beecham said. These small yet risky decisions paid off as Dash of Glitter’s popularity slowly emerged, her profit increased, and the development of her business website started.
Fort Worth, Texas
About two years after running a small business out of her parent’s home, Beecham, her boyfriend, Tim, and their daughter Maddie moved to Fort Worth, where she continued to grow Dash. By this point, Dash had extended to their garage with multiple layers of shelving. Even the driveway was utilized to help separate orders, with chalk written near items to indicate sizing. Despite two hours of separation from family, their support for her company and its growth never wavered. “My parents used to drive up to Fort Worth and sort and pack orders for me. My brother and sister-in-law would help with personalized items; it was like a family work party every other weekend,” Beecham said.
Dash of Glitter’s expansion from handmade bows and accessories eventually led to a garage full of three to four outfits of inventory, lining shelves with various sizes. “I did a big show in Chapel Hill, ordered more inventory, and eventually, everything needed to be moved out of the garage,” Beecham said.
The increased demand for boutique clothing for five successful years and a following of about 16,000 on Facebook meant more space was essential to keep up with the overwhelming popularity. “It got to the point where I told Tim we’ve got to move,” Beecham said. In 2017, the Beecham family moved to a nearby suburban location about an hour from the warehouse after it was fully built.
The Warehouse In 2017 before leaving Fort Worth, a 2500-square-foot warehouse broke ground on family land near her parent’s house. “My husband, father, brother, cousins, and some of our awesome friends helped bring my dream to life,” Beecham said.
The increased expansion of products meant that the company was now worth about 50k to 100k by the time the warehouse was built. With this staggering growth came the need for more hands, and it took working until the early morning hours for Beecham to realize that she could no longer sustain the heavy workload alone. “I realized I needed help when working sunup to sundown,” Beecham said. She hired a few friends, and her family continued to spend most of their weekends helping her stock, pick, and ship orders. After three months of adapting to the new warehouse, it was time for Beecham to plan for the building’s first expansion, putting the total square footage at 5000 square feet. We Are a Team The move was a successful one for Dash of Glitter. But it would not have been possible without Tim’s commitment to helping build his wife’s dream. Aside from Tim’s efforts to help Beecham with filling orders and shipping items, his sacrifices for Dash went beyond online retail duties. “Tim told his company, hey; I have to move. I have to take a different position. I can’t be a rep anymore. He had to take a pay cut for us to move here,” Beecham said. Tim, however, did not feel he was sacrificing anything; it was without question a decision he was willing to make for the betterment of her company. “I loved watching the company grow from a garage to the warehouse, Tim said; I try to be the best support system I can in every aspect.” Tim witnessed the unlimited amount of dedication, love, and at times, exhaustion his wife exhibited building Dash from the ground up. “All the hard work and effort that has been put into it to get it where it is today, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes that people don’t see,” Tim said. He respects and values his wife’s tenacity, humbleness, and adaptability.
The Boy Line In 2018, following the birth of their second child, Ripken, Tim was inspired to establish a boy’s line called Rip’s Thread. Six months after Rip arrived, Tim’s vision had made its way to the warehouse and online. “Ripken was our inspiration to our boy line. We started when he was about six months old,” Beecham said. Like the girl’s line, the boy’s line carries various sizes, from infancy to 6/7 years. Many matching sibling outfits can be coordinated as brother sets or matched with Dash of Glitter’s girl sets. “We have now merged Rip’s with Dash for an easier shopping experience,” Beecham said. After four years of working out of the warehouse, it was time to expand again, making the last and third expansion of the warehouse total to a 10,000-square-foot building.
The Storefront
In the fall of 2021, Beecham opened her first storefront at a mall in Cedar Park, Texas, called Lakeline mall, while still doing most of their business out of the warehouse. “I have always dreamed of owning a storefront,” Beecham said. Along with this exciting development, additional advertising measures were necessary to help promote foot traffic. “I have an awesome marketing team out of San Francisco,” Beecham said. Radio content was also created, the first time Beecham utilized this form of media to advertise Dash of Glitter. However, after a successful holiday season, Beecham noticed the foot traffic was not actively consistent, and the Dash storefront was not generating the necessary sales to stay open. But with one door closing, another one opens. “We are working on a deal with the Round Rock Premium Outlets. The traffic in this outdoor mall is busting at the seams; they are always busy and will be a great space for Dash,” Beecham said.
It's Not All Rainbows And Butterflies The many hours spent cultivating a successful children’s boutique meant that Beecham could not fully dedicate her time to Maddie. “I remember there were so many days where I knew I was busy, I was doing it all alone, it was all manual, Tim was working long hours as a rep in the field,” Beecham said, “I would pick Maddie up from school around four and take her to Walmart every day to get a new toy.” In Dash of Glitter’s early development, Maddie would sit near her mother, playing with her new toy as Beecham would pack orders. Beecham tearfully expresses, “It sucked, you know, a lot of points it sucks because I knew I needed to be with her, but I knew what I was doing was so much greater than that little bit of time.” The strenuous aspects of Dash were not ensuring that orders were packaged and shipped but rather the maintenance of solidifying solid relationships with oversea suppliers, which is still vital today. “When you are trying to rapport with your suppliers, and they are overseas at a different time than you,” Beecham said, “like I used to set my alarm every two hours in the middle of the night to wake up and email them.” Loss of sleep did more than build working relationships with her suppliers; it helped her meet goals and achieve small victories. “My end goal is where I am today; it has paid off,” Beecham said, “it’s not rainbows, and butterflies like everyone thinks.” The behind-the-scenes struggles are what goes unseen, and to flourish a small business, perseverance and devotion must be at the forefront of the vigorous challenges a company will undoubtedly face. “I worked hard: blood, sweat, and tears are legitimate when it comes to what I’ve done with Dash,” Beecham said.
Humbled
Beecham’s ten years of relentless conscientiousness expansion of her once small business has produced an all-around victorious company. Achieving a large following on Facebook with half a million followers and almost forty thousand on Instagram. She recognizes that she owes a large portion of Dash of Glitter’s growth to her loyal customers. “Without our customers, we wouldn’t be the company we are today,” Beecham said, “ they are who keep us running; I will forever be grateful.” Dash of Glitter is now worth 6 million dollars, generating sales from all over the nation. She has ten employees, ranging from high schoolers to college students and mothers, who ensure that all items are picked, packaged, and shipped according to Dash’s commitment. “My girls try and do a really good job of trying to give me my time,” Beecham said. As a result, Beecham is allowed some flexibility and trust that her employers can manage the warehouse without her. But without her family and friends, those who cut tulle for tutus, those who personalized items for orders, and those who purchased Dash of Glitter products before she was established are why she was able to keep her company going. “Thank you for all the love and support,” Beecham said, “the late nights, the times I called crying because I couldn’t handle it anymore, the dedication to helping me grow, and the ones who purchased items from me.”
Surprise: WALMART!!
In September 2022, Beecham received an email from Walmart. Initially, Beecham thought it was a scam. “Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think we would be on Walmart’s map,” Beecham said. She cautiously followed up with the email; to her surprise, it was a legitimate business opportunity. “She said, “I’ve been searching for the perfect brand and the perfect person with the sets and outfits we want, and you are it,” Beecham said quoting the email. The outfits will be limited to online purchasing through Walmart but could eventually be in stores. At the beginning of November, Dash of Glitter products launched on Walmart's website, and with this opportunity will come exponential growth. “The growth for dash will be undeniable. It will open a door we never knew existed,” Beecham said.
“You can’t please everyone. There will always be ups and downs, but the love and support of others will come out on top. Owning a business isn’t for the faint of heart, but always trust yourself.” -Brittany Beecham
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