Friends of Jenny: Hand-picked Global Designs

"We started FOJ because we wanted to bring things to people that they might never have seen before, from hand-picked global designers that we feel are doing something interesting. We wanted to give our customers the experience of discovery, and make that fun and magical—because we really think that getting dressed is about a feeling.”

“That’s something our friends already looked to us for—“Is this going to look good on me?” “I want to convey XYZ but I don’t know how to do it”—and we wanted to expand our reach to engage with more people, to speak to that person at home who feels lost staring into their closet and wondering what to wear, and help them feel special. And it doesn’t have to just be about apparel, it could be something like sharing an amazing cocktail recipe to make when a friend comes over.”

“We also saw that there was a space in the market to listen to the consumer and respond to their needs. We wanted our customers to be able to have something arrive at their door, without having to pay a surprising duty and without it taking two weeks to get to them.”

“We wanted the ability to offer free returns because that’s a big pain point for people; a lot of the time, brands will ship to you but then if you’re not satisfied you can’t return the product, or you won’t get your duty back, or you have to pay extra shipping. Smoothing that process is part of our vision of making getting dressed as stress-less and joyful as possible.”

“Because we’re a new business and online-only, visibility is the biggest hurdle at this stage. Being able to be discovered and organically build a community that trusts us—we need our customers to trust that we’re going to deliver what we say we’re going to deliver.”

“What we’re doing to try to solve that is working with people who have a diverse set of skills. We’re the first to admit we don’t know everything, so an important part of being new business owners for us has been bringing in people who can help us navigate these spaces and learning how to delegate responsibility—and it has been really positive!”

“Being an eCommerce business, sustainability was a baseline for all of our decisions from the beginning. We are trying to leave as little impact on the environment as possible. The fashion industry has a very bad reputation—and rightfully so—and we realize that every time we send a package, it’s adding waste."

“So, something we discussed early on was the packaging; it’s one aspect we can control. There are a lot of places we could get packaging that wouldn’t be sustainable, but at the end of the day, even though noissue was a little more expensive, we decided it was very important for us to partner with someone whose mission aligned with ours.”

“Now, when we send out a package, the fact that it’s 100% biodegradable makes us feel good knowing that it will not be left behind afterward. We love that through our packaging we can send a message to our community that sustainability is important to us and that it’s something they can do, too.”

“We’ve also made decisions wherever possible to work with brands that are grounded in sustainability. Whenever we find a piece that’s super cool and interesting and also has a sustainable aspect to it, it’s an amazing marriage—whether that’s Eleven-Six knitwear which is hand-knit in Peru, Machete which uses recycled materials, the fabrics that Rachel Comey has developed from recycled bottles, or Jakke outerwear which PETA has voted the best faux fur coats two years in a row. We’re not perfect, but we’re all headed in the right direction together.”

“The aesthetic value of what we’re doing is important to us, and custom packaging helps to deliver the whole message; this is who we are. It’s about creating a special moment, because when you get a package at home it really does bring you joy, and when you open it and it’s pretty but also sustainable, that's even better.”

“With other packaging companies, the minimums to do something custom are insanely high—it wouldn’t even be an option for a small business like ours. But noissue’s minimums are reachable. And it’s beautiful packaging; it helps us to tell the story of our brand on an aesthetic level, but it also communicates our values. (Our sticker says “Friends Forever”!)

“It’s about delivering the whole package (literally), from when they open our website and see the same logo and color feel all the way through, to when they receive their order in the mail.”

“It’s our logo printed all over. We love our logo because it looks like an abstract shape, but then you look more closely and figure out its an interlocking FOJ. It’s a fun little discovery when someone has that a-ha moment. We put so much time and energy into creating this little gem, so why wouldn’t we want to see it on our tissue paper?”