When you combine the heart of an adventurer with business sense and sprinkle in a passion to see things created responsibly; you get Stacy Woodward and her business Wild and Roaming. Wild and Roaming leggings are gorgeously inspired by nature. The prints are bright, bold and unique.
However, creating beautiful leggings is not enough for Stacy. It's important, to her, that her products be manufactured responsibly. Not only are Wild and Roaming leggings made sweatshop free, they are also free of harmful toxins that are so common in clothing today.
You can get your own pair on their website or connect with Wild and Roaming on Facebook or Instagram.
Tell us about yourself. My name is Stacy Woodward, and I live in Tacoma, WA. I am one of a set of triplets, originally from Louisville, KY. I have lived in Washington for eight years and despite being a sun and warm weather person, I love it! I love to be outdoors and can generally be found hiking or paddle boarding. I am pretty well addicted to travel and I can make relaxing an art form. How did you get into your business? I actually bought my business in 2017 from two women in British Columbia. My brain is going in a million directions at all times and I always have ideas for products I would like to bring to the market, especially clothing and jewelry. I never really knew how to do that effectively. I learn best by being shown how something is done. Buying something that was already started and that I could run with and experiment with, was easier to wrap my head around.
What has been your biggest challenge? Deciding what I really want my company to be. Right now, I sell nature inspired leggings, but the point of having this company is to have a brand that speaks to who I am and what I love. From that I plan to develop and curate other products for adventurous women. Figuring exactly what that looks like has been challenging.
A second challenge worth mentioning is balance. I have a company that is based around adventurous women and an adventurous lifestyle but I have found a lot of my time is spent on a computer, which is really not in line with how I want to spend my time.
What do you wish you’d known when you started?
I’m in a course right now called Factory 45 that teaches sustainable apparel design from start to finish, including sourcing, branding, marketing, pre-sales, etc. I wish I had done this course prior to buying my company. It is an excellent foundation and I may have started differently and built my company from the ground up rather than buying it. This course has made all of that much less scary.
If you could narrow your success down to one thing, what would it be?
My willingness to be curious and try new things without thinking them to death.
Where do you see yourself in a year?
My goal in a year is to have my product line and site be more inclusive. I want to offer extended sizes and celebrate all women regardless of age, ethnicity, or size.
What are your top three tips for women starting a business?
Don’t build a business because you want freedom. Build a business because you want to run a business.
When you are lying in bed at night doubting yourself and stressing about everything you have to do and everything you think you are doing wrong, just stop. Tell yourself that you can worry about it tomorrow if you want, but not tonight. Tonight you can’t do anything about it, so there is no reason to worry about it. I promise you will sleep better if you can do that.
Be curious and try things. Indecision and inactivity make everything seem worse. Just try things. You never know where your curiosity will take you and your business.
What is a typical day for you like? I start my mornings with meditation and about half an hour to 45 minutes of reading. I try to get outside every day whether it is for a walk, a hike or a paddle. I tend to break my day into segments of time to work on different things during the day. I don’t have a set schedule. It is fluid depending on what is going on. What’s your business motto or quote you live by? “Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.” I think this is a good quote for life and business.
Comments