YouTube helped founder build $10M fashion brand

A university student builds a business from online tutorials

Hailey Weiner founded Heiress Beverly Hills in 2020 while she was still a senior at the University of Miami. She had no formal training in fashion, marketing, or business operations at the time. She possessed a problem she wanted to solve and an internet connection. Weiner taught herself the basics of running a clothing company by watching free videos on the platform. She studied everything from garment fittings and production methods to digital advertising and customer acquisition. “I couldn’t have done it without YouTube at the beginning,” Weiner tells Inc. “I had no idea what a fitting was or who the fit models were. I wanted to learn what the current systems were, break them down, and figure out why clothes weren’t fitting me and why the quality was bad. I basically reverse-engineered everything.”

The business model relies on quality and fit

Heiress was born from a problem Weiner identified in the clothing she purchased. The items were often expensive but did not last or fit properly. “If I could bridge the gap between great-quality garments that last, are washable, and actually fit, I would have a real business,” Weiner says. She wanted to understand how the fashion industry’s existing systems worked, break them down, and figure out why her clothes did not hold up to her standards. To achieve this, she turned to YouTube videos about the fashion production process. She watched tutorials on how fittings worked and how brands utilized fit models. After her classes, she would open her laptop and search for videos about ad campaigns, audience targeting, and customer acquisition.

Watching a large number of videos about advertising was the most valuable skill she developed during this period, Weiner says. YouTube taught her how to structure campaigns, what percentage of the budget to allocate toward retargeting versus acquiring new customers, and how to measure attribution. “At the time, a lot of it was me emulating what I learned in ads from the YouTube videos,” Weiner says. However, she notes that she had to filter through a large amount of information and narrow her search criteria to ensure she was learning from the right sources. “You see a lot of contradictory information when you’re watching videos, so I was careful and mindful of whether the person was selling a course or simply sharing the information for free,” she adds. “I really wanted to find people who were sharing information for free and had nothing to gain from it.”

After watching enough videos, she began to notice common themes and strategies. She then experimented with those ideas at Heiress and learned through experience what worked for the brand. She now pushes against the common belief that founders should immediately find experts for the things they are not good at. Instead, she believes founders should first develop a strong understanding of each area of the business before handing it over to someone else. While she no longer turns to YouTube for business strategies, she regularly uses artificial intelligence tools such as Claude to understand and improve different areas of the business. “Especially with AI, it is easier than ever to become an expert in almost anything,” Weiner says. “It is so important to master every single skill and truly know what is going on in your business before you can expect someone else to take that role over.”

Weiner’s approach to business relies heavily on understanding operations before delegating tasks. Founders must master every single skill and truly know what is going on in their business before they can expect someone else to take that role over. This philosophy extends to modern technology as well. She utilizes artificial intelligence tools to understand and improve different areas of the business. [1]Short positions in the market have grown as some investors bet against the sector’s long-term prospects.

The outlet notes that while the fashion industry has seen many changes, the fundamental need for quality remains constant. [2]AI layoffs echo Circuit City‘s fatal mistake.