I had been curious about the path of an entrepreneur, so I embarked on a journey to start my own small business. In late 2014, I launched One Horse Threads, an equestrian lifestyle company that creates and markets gifts and apparel for horse lovers. Primarily still recognized as an equestrian company, One Horse Threads is quickly gaining recognition in the gift and pet markets as well. Located in South Carolina, the company sells wholesale, exhibiting at trade shows around the USA, and online retail.
The company’s success lies in its ability to deliver messaging that resonates with female horse lovers. With clever and poignant sentiments, they remind equestrians how much they love their four legged friend! The major ingredient in One Horse Threads is the modern and trendy feel of the graphics. From spending a lot of time in the equestrian industry, I found a gap in the market for womens apparel. Many of the brands on the market were offering graphic t-shirts, but they were geared towards children. Most of the product on the market was too childish and not fulfilling the needs of women age 20+.
I developed the website through Shopify. All email campaigns were designed in Mailchimp. Graphics were designed using Adobe Photoshop and XD.
I designed seven seasons of print and digital catalogs. I designed the layouts in Adobe Indesign.
It’s been six years since launch and One Horse Threads has sold to thousands of customers all over the world. One Horse Threads currently observes a customer retention rate of over 17.6% with 1,000+ active weekly sessions and a conversion rate of 2.5% (more than the industry average on Shopify). The brand has also become prominent on ETSY with a conversion rate of 3.1%. One Horse Threads has enabled me to use product design to build a brand, market it, and sell great products, backed up with design history and cognitive science. I stepped back from my role to pursue other career interests, but still manage this business as my side hustle.