With minimalism back in style, Diamond Bar High School juniors Kayley Van and Ram Varandmal took this opportunity to launch “VanZeviel,” a trendy clothing brand of their own.
Inspired by the popularity of casually comfortable clothing sold by brands like Stussy and Essentials, Van and Varandmal came up with a vision for their first launch.
“Ram and I wanted to make money before starting college and we thought the best option was to start a clothing brand,” Van said.
Although this idea seemed simple, bringing VanZeviel to life proved to be more difficult than expected. Some of the brand’s initial obstacles occurred during the creation of their shirts.
“I started by making designs, it was really difficult at first. In total we spent around eight months preparing before we opened. I took a while working on designs and it took Ram some time to set up and complete the website, but we are glad we are finally starting,” Van said.
After nearly a year of developing the brand, the young business owners finally were able to announce Vanzeviel’s opening this August.
VanZeviel now has its own official Instagram and website. Kicking off their sales with their designer T-shirts, one of their best-selling designs depicts VanZeviel’s hand painted logo on both the front and back.
“Eventually, we want to manufacture our own clothing and sell a variety of clothing like pants and tops, besides t-shirts,” Van said.
Van and Varandmal were also able to get in contact with large content creators for partnerships, acknowledging the current success of influencer-marketing. Since then, business has skyrocketed, and now the site currently offers $15 off any purchase with the use of an influencer code.
“We plan on expanding our market by reaching out to influencers with a high following who can help spread the word of our brand. We also want to test running ads to see if we can reach a bigger audience,” Van said.
She hopes to expand VanZeviel one step at a time, first starting on our campus. Van revealed that the majority of VanZeviel’s initial orders are from DBHS students, which could potentially pave the way for a new wave of fashion on campus.
“We hope to make it into something bigger,” Van said. “It would be a dream to see our shirts worn outside of this community.”
