March 8th is quickly approaching, and we all know what that means… International Women’s Day! Let’s highlight some badass brands founded by cutting edge women. This international holiday celebrates women’s achievements globally, and the chicks below deserve some claps on the back for the game changing products they have created.
While womens’ breadth of expertise surely spans outside of the home, here we’ll touch specifically on home decor brands that will make your house an absolute home. I’m talking style, cool-factor, and comfort. These companies’ products are truly TDF. That’s right, “to die for”.
So yes, let’s highlight these ladies in honor of IWD, but not limit the praise to March 8th. Let’s continue to push for women’s equality, and support women-owned brands to keep the movement going forward.
Estelle Colored Glass
A luxury brand of hand-blown glassware, Estelle Colored Glass is where it’s at. Beautiful and thoughtful, this line of stemware and cake plates was founded by Stephanie Summerson Hall in 2019. After working overtime as an attorney while also owning and event rental company, Stephanie opted to become a full-time entrepreneur to do things on her own terms.
Outside of thrifting, it can be very difficult to come across rainbow colored cups and wineglasses. With Estelle, you can have those fun pops of color, but modernized. After sifting through dozens of makes across the country, Sommerson Hall connected with a glassware company in Poland: a 100-year-old company. Pretty solid, huh!
What’s the inspiration? Interior design and fashion. The color of the season? Yep. You can get it on a wine glass, thanks to Estelle. This entrepreneur’s goal? “My mission is simply to show entrepreneurship as a great avenue to curate your own life for women in particular, who may have constraints in the traditional workforce. And in the African American community, it is a great tool for wealth building,” says Stephanie. Authenticity is a core principal at this company, and it looks like it’s paying off! Too legit to quit.
Shop Estelle Colored Wine Stemware – Set of 6
Ruggable
Like so many founders, Geneva Bell landed on Ruggable to solve a need of her own. After her pup happened to ruin her brand new rug, she knew it was time to create rugs that could easily be cleaned. Launched in 2017, Ruggable is the first washable 2-piece rug system.
So underneath you’ve got the comfy, non-slip mat, and above it you have the gorgeous printed rug. Although the rugs, runners, and doormats are stain resistant, they are still able to be popped in the washing machine should they need a bath. Spills? You’re good. Pet accidents? You’ll no longer have to completely replace a rug! Zero waste, baby!
Ruggable’s People, Pets, & Planet initiative “believes in creating safe and comfortable spaces” while improving the lives of people and pets in need. By donating furniture and miscellaneous home goods, they create comfortable homes for foster youth who have aged out of the system. This conscious brand also sponsors life-saving surgeries for pets in the event their owner was unable to afford critical care.
Galfie
Couple Hannah (myself) and Jade Sullivan are the founders of Galfie, which has a new take on decorative house flags. As designers who met in graduate school for Business and Branding, Hannah and Jade have always worked together on branding projects, creative side projects, and animations.
Suckers for all things home improvement and home decor, Sullivans wanted to put a spin on an age-old decorative item: the house flag. Rather than being limited to country flags, state flags, or flags with random teddy bears, these women design flags with surfing flowers throwing peace signs, trippy mushrooms, yin yangs, smiley rainbow pride flags, and local pennants.
The fun doesn’t stop there. They’ve got quirky key chains, fun stickers, pins, and hats. Been looking for a “kindness rules” garden flag? Got you covered. What about a “hate has no home here” yard sign? Yup. “Sportsball” hat? Indeed.
Minted
Like many startups, Minted began out of Mariam Naficy’s home. Rather than the typical garage setup, Mariam set up shop in her attic. While Minted got its claim to fame for its beloved stationary, the company has grown into much more, including home decor. Items include textiles, furniture, accent pieces, candles, ceramics, vases, blankets… but what is super cute and unique are their dining and kitchen options – including napkins, tableware, oven mitts, aprons, and tea towels.
Minted also has an option to shop directly from the artist, where one-of-a-kind items will be sent to you straight from their studio. Here, you’ll be able to grab sculptures, paintings, mixed media, and textile art. With this company, people around the world – whether they’re full-time professionals or side-hustlers – have the opportunity to share their art, globally. Minted’s crowdsourcing technology removes bias and reveals the freshest work around.
Mariam’s inspiration? Her father, for “his equal parts intelligence and kindness”. Naficy sits on the board of Every Mother Counts, whose mission is to “make pregnancy and childbirth safe for everyone, everywhere”.
Shop Stacks Napkin Horizon Set of 4
Bee’s Wrap
Sarah Kaeck had a simple idea and ran with it: Cut down on plastic, and find a way to store food sustainably. Have a half-eaten bowl of spaghetti, but tired of cling wrap? Why wouldn’t you be! Cling wrap is not user friendly, and pretty wasteful – at that. Kaeck developed Bee’s Wrap in 2012, which is a natural food storage alternative. Comprised of organic cotton, the added beeswax helps seal in freshness. Add plant oil for pliability and tree resin for durability, you’ve got a silicone-free alternative that can easily be reused for snacks, sandwiches, and covering those half-eaten bowls of spaghetti.
Bee’s Wrap brand is not only amazing for helping the planet, and bees along with it, it’s also a Certified B Corporation, and a member of 1% for the Planet. Kaeck’s brand partners with orgs to protect pollinators, as well as groups that work towards plastic removal in oceans. Additionally, 1% of Honeycomb Roll sales support the Bee Cause Project, which facilitates people on how to protect the bees.
To put it in perspective, a single pack of Bee’s Wrap can save “1,667 sq. feet of plastic wrap from entering our oceans and landfills each year. That’s enough plastic to cover a single-family home. If every American household swapped plastic wrap with Bee’s Wrap we’d save a staggering 212 million square feet (4.8 million acres) of plastic from the planet each year”.
Wow!! That is truly something. And don’t limit the feel-good to your kitchen. Kaeck’s brand also sells 100% GOTS-certified organic cotton rugs made of rags. These sustainable rugs make your house feel colorful, bright, and definitely not wasteful!
The Sill
Eliza Blank is a saint. Seriously, she created The Sill in 2012, which delivers adorable, easy-to-care-for indoor plants, right to your doorstep. With The Sill, you’re not limited to the plant itself. There’s also stylish and unique pots, planters, and wall shelves to host your new cuties. While it’s a little pricey, there’s also Preserved Living Walls, which range from $215 – $940.
Not that familiar with house plants, or known to be a serial house plant killer? Check out the collection for Beginners. Low-maintenance plants that are sturdy enough to tolerate temperature changes, limited sunlight, and forgetful-waterers. Friendly plants include money trees, ZZs, snake plants, and succulents.
The Sill has really thought of it all. They aren’t going to send you a happy looking plant, only to leave out the accessories, now are they? They aren’t! Their website is truly a one-stop-shop, filled to the brim with moisture meters, watering cans, oils, “bio” insecticides and fungicides, plant food, potting mixes, aprons, even super modern Growframes.
How to support women-owned businesses
Shop with us! Spend that money, hunny. Purchasing through women-owned businesses directly shows your support and can hugely make an impact. Yes, supporting business owners themselves is important and makes a difference, but it’s bigger than that. It affects the community as a whole.
According to the National Association of Women Business Owners, nearly 9 million people are employed by women-owned businesses in the U.S. – so let’s keep these businesses alive! If you think that’s a big number, get this: women-owned businesses generate $1.7 trillion in sales. Woop!
Other ways to support women entrepreneurs
- Engage with them on social media: Like and share their content.
- Tag their brand in your social media posts, and share why you love their brand!
- Recommend your favorite brands to friends and family… Word of mouth goes a long way!
- Keep researching #womenowned businesses, they are always popping up!
