The idea for PHNX had been in my head for a while. I had been steadily saving up for the right opportunity. I came into the workforce after the crash of 2008 and I knew I wanted to “take advantage” of the next recession. I didn’t really know what that looked like, but I wanted to be ready when it happened.

I got engaged in February 2020 and my fiancé and I were working for the same travel company. By mid-March we both had significant pay cuts and loss of hours due Covid. We were newly engaged, trying to plan a wedding, and now we didn’t know if we would have jobs, much less if all of our family would be alive in a few months. We snuck onto the top of our building at work which was one of our favorite places to talk and I pitched the idea to Taylor (yes, my then fiancé, now husband, is also named Taylor). I wanted to start an apparel company for women. Specifically workout clothes for pregnant women or women thinking about pregnancy. Remarkably, he was enthusiastic. We talked about how much savings I had (about $10,000) and how much I was willing to spend ($5,000) to start the business.

At this point, I had a rough idea in my head of what I wanted our first product to be - shorts designed to move and grow with a woman in different seasons of life. I didn’t have a tech pack (I didn’t even know what that was at this point) or anything written down, but I started reaching out to manufacturers to start the conversation and get samples. After a few disastrous samples, I found a partner who could make exactly what I wanted.

I sent out a quick email, instagram post, and facebook post to friends telling them what I was doing and told myself if I had 50 orders in the next 2 weeks I would keep pursuing this dream. Within 24 hours I had over 100 orders! I was shocked. I realized this dream may actually come true!

After nailing down the design, colors, etc it was time to place the order. To say I was terrified is an understatement. Covid had made my personal finances extremely tight and I had no extra income. With pay cuts, my take home pay was less than $30K that year. I was going to risk it all with a manufacturer I had never met in person and was trusting would do what she said she would do. My initial budget of $5,000 was going to be less than I needed to order the shorts. I spent about $9,000 on my first order plus shipping and I was losing sleep worried I was going to lose it all. I had no backup plan and no idea what I was doing. I placed the order in June 2020 and the first shipment of shorts were expected to arrive at the end of August. The wedding was set for September 2020. I can’t say I recommend getting engaged, married, and starting a business within 6 months in the midst of the pandemic, but that’s what I did!

As we all know by now, delays started happening and the shorts were not ready before the wedding. They were scheduled to arrive while I was on my honeymoon. I quickly changed the shipping address to my parents house and sure enough, while I was on my honeymoon several of boxes arrived at my parents’ house.