Rockstar Tutu Takes the Lead in the Adult Tutu Couture Industry!
My Day usually begins with a cup of tea and an internet connection. Before I get absorbed in my responsibilities to Tutu.ology, I buzz around the internet looking for new industry trends, online boutiques, and I like to see what funky new goodies people are selling on etsy. Along the way, I have found some absolute favorites. They are the brilliant, talented, and authentically creative. These are the people who propel this industry forward and set the standards higher.
Without further delay, I want to introduce you to Andrea Thornton, founder of Rockstar Tutu- Queen of punk tutu couture! She is definitely on top of her game and knows all about trend-setting because she’s taken this industry by the horns and did it her way. I have a lot of admiration for her unique style and I think her move to take the path she did was a brilliant one. Who ever said tutu’s are just for kids and ballerina’s had it all wrong….Andrea’s proven it! Visit Rockstar Tutu & My Baby Rocks (and put a few things in your shopping cart while you’re at it).
Interview
When did you first realize your gift of design? I’ve always loved art and design. My goals never directly involved fashion or tutus, but I always new I’d choose a career that allowed me to be creative and artistic.
Why did you choose this media? A couple years ago we noticed that customers were searching for tutus on the website of another clothing line we run – My Baby Rocks (www.punkbabyclothes.net). At first, we attempted to just buy tutus wholesale, but were disappointed with the quality available. Tutus from China were cheap, but the quality was often unsatisfactory and the way many were packaged left them badly wrinkled. Many boutiques offered wholesale, but they were all either hand tied or hand sewn and therefore orders had a huge wait time and were often too expensive to justify reselling them. And to order the large quantities we required was simply not even possible for most tutu sellers. It came down to either figuring out a way to make them ourselves or just not selling them at all. We developed a unique process that allows us to sew high volumes of high quality tutus in-house in our Salt Lake City, Utah studio. We sold our tutus under the My Baby Rocks name for a couple years before we decided to create a separate company for our tutus offering all sizes – that was when Rockstar Tutu (www.rockstartutu.com) was born. When did Rock Star Tutu become an official business? Although we’ve been selling out tutus for years, Rockstar Tutu is a fairly recent business. We launched our website www.rockstartutu.com in August of 2010. Your designs are truly unique, luxurious, trendy, and elegant. Where does your inspiration come from? I’m always on the look out for exciting ribbons, colorful fabrics and interesting textures. In nature and even everyday life, there are beautiful color combinations that I love to incorporate into tutus. In both My Baby Rocks and Rockstar Tutu I’ve tried to stray away from traditional styles and colors. While other clothing companies are offering pastel pinks and purples for babies and kids, we like to incorporate bold patterns, bright colors, blacks, and more alternative themes. When I first absorb and process the word “tutu”, my brain converts the word to an image. That image is of a little girl donning a precious tutu, lost in the magic of the moment. Although you indeed fill this slot, your niche caters to grown-ups. Why did you choose this focus? Even as adults, girls need to feel like a princess sometimes. It’s hard to put on a tutu and not feel happy. As a child I never had a tutu. In fact, the first time I’d ever actually worn one was a couple years ago when I made one to wear to an 80′s themed dance party. I was instantly hooked. Since then, I suppose I’ve been making up for lost time and making sure I can get as many girls as possible to join me in the fun.
What did you do before Rock Star Tutu? As i mentioned before, we have another clothing line called My Baby Rocks – www.punkbabyclothes.net. There we make and sell alternative and rock themed baby and maternity clothes. We are working on setting up a wholesale site soon which will carry our My Baby Rocks line as well as our baby/kid tutus for wholesale – www.mybabyrocks.com (launching march of 2011.) What are your plans/goals for Rockstar Tutu moving forward? Selling to adults is fun, but it takes convincing people to let go of that little voice inside that tells them they are too old to do such a silly thing. We are trying to get tutus out there as much as possible and make it something a woman can wear regularly and confidently. We are currently working on our new spring line of kids & adult tutus. I’m really excited to launch the new styles and can’t wait to see the response they get. What is your favorite thing about Rockstar Tutu? I love the response the tutus are getting. We’ve started doing fashion shows and appearing at events. I love being able to create elaborate costumes and creating tutus in ways and with materials that I’ve never seen done before. It’s also been a great way to get women in the community involved. (I also love that I now have a very large collection of tutus for myself!) As a long-time tutu couture veteran, I have watched this industry grow form a seed, evolve and explode. I personally really love Rockstar Tutu because you have thought outside of the box and are leading the industry in a new direction. I think b/c there are sooo many tutu girlie-girl boutiques out there competing for the spotlight, you have made an imperative move to stand out from the rest. What are your thoughts on this? Why should kids & babies have all the fun? The way we’ve run our business has always revolved around the idea of creating a product or business to fit the needs of customers. We noticed early on that there was a need for adult tutus and very few companies offering such a thing. What other interests do you have besides designing tutu couture? I love all types of art. Photography, painting and dance are passions of mine. In my free time, I also love to travel and spend time with my dog. Can you give us your most valuable life advice? It’s a tough time to be growing a business, but in times like this, it is paramount to be very open-minded and realize that opportunity may lie where you least expect it. Willingness to change the business to fit the times seems to be the life preserver needed to keep us going.
You can also follow Rockstar Tutu on Facebook here: Rockstar Tutu (Rockstar Tutu specializes in Adult & Teen tutu couture, corsets, and accessories as well as children’s dance costume and tutu goodness!)
About the Author
Founder of Tutu.ology (online marketplace and business platform), niche business developer, tutu couture lover and industry guru 
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