For Love of Fashion: BY.Everyone Launches in Tulsa with Help from TEDC

Table of Contents:

An Early Passion for Creative Work Takes Flight
A Tangled Path to Success
Unexpected Shifts in Business
Finding the Right Funding with Local Partners
A Streamlined Process for Beginning Anew

As owner and creative director for BY.Everyone, Elyjah Monks develops clothing under his own label and collaborates with local designers. He’s weathered the ups and downs of the fashion industry, Covid’s effect on retail, and a move to a different market—and is now growing his own fashion label with help from TEDC Creative Capital.

An Early Passion for Creative Work Takes Flight

The world of fashion immediately brings faraway places like Paris to mind, as well as runways in big cities like New York. But for Elyjah Monks, owner and creative director of the fashion shop BY.Everyone, fashion is part of the fabric of small businesses in Oklahoma, too. You just have to know where to look.

For Ely, the path into fashion began with a simple love for making things, which he learned at the feet of his great-grandmother, grandmother, and father—who were all creative. “I love building things,” he says. “Any excuse I get to work with my hands, I’m in.”

With his appreciation for making things and admiration for good clothes, Ely gravitated toward working in retail for stores like PacSun. He also tailored clothing for a small Oklahoma store, Spencer Stone Co, where he learned about the technical side of garment making—and how small businesses function. From there, he moved on to work with other designers in Oklahoma City and started his brand, Silent Studios and his first store, BY. Elyjah, in 2018.

A Tangled Path to Success

Opening his own clothing store was an adventure for Ely, giving him much to learn. “Challenges are around every corner when you open a small business,” he says. That included negotiating with landlords and figuring out how to reach his ideal customers. “As a 21-22-year-old, it’s pretty hard to earn the trust and find the clientele that can afford the types of garments we make,” he says.

During that period, he discovered that he enjoyed working with other makers. He began carrying more brands, telling their stories, and supporting their visions. At the same time, he took a hiatus from his own design work and took on the role of CEO and buyer.

“I was working with different stylists and getting clothes on different celebrities,” he says. “We saw a lot of early success with the OKC Thunder players and with traveling theater acts that came through.” The experience was a whirlwind, with many ups and downs.

Unexpected Shifts in Business

The fashion industry requires orders to be placed months in advance, which requires businesses to plan far in advance—something that’s not always easy. Ely’s sales went down during the pandemic, just like many other retailers experienced. But then, with stimulus checks flowing and things opening back up, there was a boom.

Like many small businesses, BY.Everyone ordered a lot of merchandise in response to the demand and increased staffing. Then, the pendulum swung back again. The slowdown meant having to scramble to make ends meet. “We were a little bit too ambitious and acquired quite a bit of debt,” Ely says.

At the same time, he was facing decisions on the home front. His fiancée moved to Tulsa for her job, but Ely still had his storefront in OKC. They decided to buy a house in Tulsa, with Ely commuting each week. That got old quickly, and he kept his eye out for other opportunities. When an affordable property opened up in Kendall Whittier, he leaped at it.

The decision to close down his Oklahoma City store and relaunch in Tulsa’s Kendall Whittier district was a major move, but one he’s glad he made. He’s back in the designer chair, concentrating on growing his in-house clothing and home goods label.

Finding the Right Funding with Local Partners

Moving to Tulsa gave Ely the chance to reshape his business, but he still needed to figure out how to fund it, including how to pay down the debt he’d incurred a few years earlier. He looked into artistic grants and other funding avenues. Then, one of his friends recommended that he speak with the team at TEDC Creative Capital.

That idea appealed to Ely because it felt like a logical fit. “TEDC is catered directly to small businesses,” he says. “My concept fit right into that.” He applied for small business lending to help build his new storefront location, purchase new inventory, and consolidate his debts. He’s also taking a personal finance class for entrepreneurs with TEDC that is explicitly aimed at the unique needs of business owners.

“I love the fact that they offer both financing and education,” he notes. “They’re not just throwing money at you. I got a loan when I was 19 to start the business, and it took literally up until the past year to pay that off. I had no guidance, no education on that at all, so it was pretty rough. Imagine if I had this education back then. It would have been amazing.”

A Streamlined Process for Beginning Anew

Moving locations can be a challenge, but with TEDC, Ely has been able to make headway. “The process for getting the funding was extremely thorough and extensive,” he says. “Writing a thorough plan for the funding made me reevaluate our current business plan and model. I’m actually implementing a lot of the changes that were made during that time of evaluation.” The TEDC team provided practical guidance throughout the process. “They were extremely helpful,” he says.

With his new store funded, Ely is looking forward to repositioning his business to fit his new goals for the future. “We’re going to put our focus a lot more into the in-house brand we have,” he says. BY.Everyone has a new collection coming out called Souvenirs that Ely is excited to launch. And his eye is firmly on the future.

“In a year’s time, I hope that the store is primarily showcasing our in-house brand,” he says. “Honestly, right now, I’m really happy with where we’re at. I basically started a brand-new company here in Tulsa, with not a lot of backing and not a lot of clients. To be afloat and have our numbers be pretty close to where I thought they would be is a good feeling.”

TEDC Creative Capital is a community financing organization that supports small businesses throughout Oklahoma. From SBA 504 loans to microloans and more, TEDC offers flexible, nontraditional funding and educational programming to promote business success. Connect with TEDC today to find local financing and education to grow your small business.