WAS THE NEWSLETTER #48

The Curtain Launch (AKA Building a Brand Panel by Panel)

October 18, 2024

#48

I’m Paige Wassel. WAS the Newsletter is your weekly dose of design inspiration, where for the first time ever, we’re making shower curtains cool.

Last week, I took you behind the scenes on how to launch a shower curtain brand. This week, I’m getting a little meta and going into the why.

I’ve worked in prop styling for nine years and I style mainly for interior brands. One of the duties that comes with being a prop stylist is sourcing items for a shoot. Some items are far easier to find than others, like lamps. There are a million cool lamps, hard stop.

In constantly scouring the marketplace, I’ve seen where the gaps are in design. For example, when looking for pillows, I discovered there weren’t a ton of interesting styles to purchase… so I designed and made them. The same held for shower curtains. And I wasn’t the only person who couldn’t find great ones—you guys are no different. So when you all said, “When are you launching shower curtains?” I thought, Okay, I guess I'm making shower curtains. There’s a gap, so I’m filling it.

Here’s the thing—I’ve always been entrepreneurial. My thought has never been, Why don’t they make X; instead, it’s been, Hey, why don’t I make X? Right out of college, I launched a tapestry wall hanging business called Tap and Tack. I sourced vintage tapestries and fringed them myself because it’s not something people were doing, outside of medallions or the psychedelic ones. I actually made a small amount of money on the enterprise, which hooked me on running my own business. That desire eventually led me to creating the YouTube channel during COVID.

And that led me to launching WAS.

HOW SHOWER CURTAINS?

Once I set my sights on shower curtains, I discovered that making what looks simple is really complicated, as I’ve never worked with such large pieces before. I wanted to use vintage or deadstock fabric because that’s my whole VIBE. Not so easy. For example, I’d find 200 yards of a fabric that looked amazing with another fabric, but I could only find 50 yards of that one so it wasn’t a slam-dunk paring patterns together.

To supplement the vintage and deadstock, I ended up finding large batches of linen and having them custom-dyed. I went back and forth with my manufacturers, envisioning panel ideas. When you work with a manufacturer, you design a pattern and this entails specific and precise measurements. So if you believe becoming a “creative” gets you out of doing math, your calculations are incorrect.

My plan is to make shower curtains again next year, as the gap in the marketplace isn’t going away. Currently, I’m looking for more resources outside of vintage so that I can make larger quantities, but rest assured, I’m not going to just go with cheap fabric from anywhere—it’s not what I do.

I’m so excited for how these turned out and I love the results of the photo shoot. Given my background as a prop stylist, I really have no idea how anyone launches a product without that experience. There’s so much that goes into a shoot and the photos that will sell that product, because that’s how you create that brand.

I have to think that all my experience has led me here, that WAS is (was?) my calling, based on my background. I always wanted my own home decor company but I never had the money for marketing. That’s why I started on YouTube—I thought I could build an audience. My goal was 100K subscribers, because I felt like that would be the lift I needed to get my dream off the ground. I thought, If I build it, they will come—and you actually did. WHOA. WAS came about because of you all. So we’re here now and shower curtains are the next iteration of that brand and I’m so grateful.

WHEN SHOWER CURTAINS?

I’ll have a few at the pop-up on Saturday. The hard launch is this Sunday. Because you’re subscribers of the newsletter, I’m telling you they’re going to go live at 1:00 pm on October 20th. I suspect they’re going to sell out quickly, if past launches are any indication.

So that’s the story. BLESS UP AND TAKE A SHOWER!