
SWB Agency takes wardrobe styling to new level with virtual, editorial offerings
Bonnie Thompson Smith started SWB Agency in 2009 and has seen it grow with new offerings. (Courtesy photo | Amber Tice/SWB Agency )
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The SWB Agency is a boutique wardrobe styling company founded by Bonnie Thompson Smith. The agency recently added editorial stylist Jenny Davis and launched a virtual styling app with services earlier this year. The addition of Davis gives the agency the ability to provide editorial photoshoot styling services for multimedia content platforms and also fashion-related speaking engagements and appearances, including corporate events and media events. “Jenny literally wrote the book on styling, and I’m honored to have her on the SWB team,” said Smith.
Editor’s note: Made in Tarrant is an occasional Q&A series on small businesses started in Tarrant County. Submit your business here.
Contact information:
Email: bonniesmith85@yahoo.com
Website: shopwithbonnie.com
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/the_swbagency
Bonnie Thompson Smith, the founder and executive wardrobe stylist, spoke with Bob Francis, business editor.
When was the company founded?
Bonnie Smith: 2009.
What does your company do?
Smith: The SWB Agency is a boutique wardrobe styling company catering to both private and editorial clients. The fashion agency’s services include curated shopping, styling, closet design, and now virtual and editorial styling.
In addition to our bespoke one-on-one services, we have developed an app for convenience and ease. We’ve sourced over 50 luxury designers and emerging brands, including Valentino, Christian Dior, Gucci, Saint Laurent, Celine, Fendi, Christian Siriano, Akris, Carolina Herrera, Brunello Cucinelli and many more.
Tell us about your company and how it came together.
Smith: I was working full time at Neiman Marcus. Forty-plus hours a week didn’t leave a ton of time. But I had clients that were by appointment only. I had several clients ask me if, on my day off, they could hire me to come and clean out some things in their closet. They wanted me to help them get rid of things and choose what to get rid of. That’s really where it all began.
I would work five days a week at Neiman Marcus and then one or two days a week I would just do closets. I know it gave me a lot of insight into what people have already bought before and things that they really weren’t wearing, things that needed to go that were not reflective of their style.
I’ve always been able to view fashion as a very objective topic and helping translate someone’s purchases into a wardrobe they’re going to be really proud of and having it fit their lifestyle. It goes without saying when you’re in fitting rooms with people, and you’re trying clothes on with someone, you kind of develop these relationships that are full of trust and full of respect. They were having me in their homes every weekend to work in their closets. As a young single girl it was perfect. But by 2009, I was not sustaining the workload. I realized I had a huge opportunity to make it a full-time business and so that’s when I got started.
Tell us about your job.
Smith: My job is very much about relationships. Since switching my business from a sole proprietorship to now operating as a corporation, we have other members of the team that are serving clients. They’ve all taken my process and training, and now, they’re thriving in their own careers. It’s very much centered around a relationship and constantly evolving.
Tell us about your recent new hire, Jenny B. Davis.
Smith: Jenny is my most recent hire and she comes with years of experience in the fashion world as a writer. She had a career in Chicago where she did a lot of fashion editorial styling and writing. She then came to Fort Worth and we met each other maybe 15 years ago. We’ve remained friends and really connected in the industry. But I approached her because my agency has received several requests for styling services in the editorial niche, which I have to say, is a very specific service with a very specific amount of prep work. The scheduling looks very different from the services that I provide myself.
I realized I needed someone to focus on that. We casually had a conversation about it, it just seemed to be the perfect addition. She’s currently teaching at SMU as a fashion professor. She’s also authored an amazing textbook that’s completely taken off. And she has the bandwidth to do these editorial pieces that, you know, work with my current clientele.
Tell us about the virtual styling app.
Smith: The virtual styling app allows clients to upload photos from their existing wardrobe to receive styling advice and to shop for new items recommended by their stylist.
I wanted the ability to connect with clients online, and create a way that we can manage a client’s wardrobe and work with someone outside of doing Zoom calls and FaceTime. So, I worked with a company called Hue & Stripe and we have developed a completely virtual platform and an app that allows us to onboard a client and then fully operate their wardrobe from their device anywhere in the world. It’s been really helpful. So that was a huge moment for us. We launched the app on Jan. 15 of this year and there really hasn’t been any stories or media that has talked about it because we’ve been busy. I found that’s been a huge asset to my business.
What are some other goals of the business?
Smith: Other goals I have is to continue to have a large presence in fashion weeks both in Paris and New York. I attend New York Fashion Week twice a year. I’m able to continue to grow because more brands want to work with agencies and people like myself, they want to connect their brand directly with the consumer.
That’s been an area of growth. And it’s created a lot of new goals for me because currently we have over 50 affiliate brands that offer us product to take to clients. All of these brands loan us merchandise to take to our clients just to try on. That’s a huge advantage for the client to have that.
We weren’t really on social media until 2020. We were all home and bored and trying to figure out what to do with that time. I got on Instagram and started an account, sharing my outfits and style and it really just kind of started clicking with local clients and it kind of grew. And so I’m sitting at 19,000 followers right now. It’s been kind of fun and interesting. I keep it really light and very personalized and it’s also been a source of new clients because they find me that way.
Anything else you’d like to share or mention?
Smith: We’re running a 40% increase compared to last year. We’ve consistently seen an increase since 2020. That’s kind of why I’ve had to scale the team up. We’re probably looking to hire someone to manage virtual clients after the summer’s complete. I’ll have someone in the fall to help with the new app users and we’re just going to keep scaling and growing.
Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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