After organically landing big corporate partners like Amazon and Mattel’s Barbie, a Buffalo startup plans to use raised funds to bolster bulk orders.
Aille Design, a local clothing design company that creates fully legible braille beadwork on clothing pieces, recently got a $100,000 investment from UB Cultivator, a University at Buffalo’s startup program. Funds will go toward marketing and sales to secure more corporate customers.
“Over the next six to 12 months or so, our real focus is trying to get these bulk orders and perfecting that process,” Jake Walsh, director of operations, said.
Over the last year, the company has taken big steps to promote growth. Revenue increased in 2023 by 134% compared to the year prior.
Aille Design moved last summer from 100 square feet at the Foundry in Buffalo to 450 square feet, still at the Foundry. The move was spurred by more orders and more space needed for production.
The company recently hired a production assistant to join the team of two: Walsh and Alexa Jovanovic, who is founder, CEO and fashion designer.
The business has organically worked with some big corporate clients over the last year. The startup handled a roughly 200 customized T-shirts order from Amazon’s corporate team.
Early this year, Aille Design created braille game night jerseys and custom shirts for staff, administrators and employees to wear for the Cleveland Charge’s braille appreciation night. The Charge is an NBA G-league team affiliated with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
And just this summer, Mattel announced that its Barbie brand collaborated with the Buffalo business to launch braille beadwork pieces for adults and youth based on Barbie’s attire. The beadwork is made with Swarovski pearls.
The pieces coincided with the July launch of the Blind Barbie Fashionista doll.
“We were able to create a campaign that specifically highlighted the fashion experiences of three blind women,” Jovanovic said. “Barbie had different meaning for each of them... To be part of that history is truly an incredible experience for us and such a milestone as a brand.”
Aille Design is the 13th local company to announce the closing of a private, growth-oriented round of funding this year. The list includes Aille Design ($100,000), Strideful ($100,000), EmergenceTek Group ($100,000), Circular.eco ($100,000), Immersed Games ($100,000), Edenesque ($175,000), TeleSafety ($230,000), Top Seedz ($750,000), SelectFI ($4.5 million), MimiVax ($5.8 million), PostProcess Technologies ($17.7 million), Ognomy ($6.8 million) and CleanFiber ($28 million).
