Phoenix & Hawke | Our Story

In January of 2020, I launched Phoenix & Hawke as a children's clothing and hair accessory brand. I had a four year old daughter and two year old son at the time, and I loved creating pieces for them. So after years with my sewing machine boxed up and stored, I had decided to launch a new brand and get back to what I loved doing: creating. What I didn't realize, was that my initial idea for the brand was going to be VERY short lived. 

Two months after launching, Covid hit the world. About 2-3 weeks into Covid surfacing in the US, I came across a Facebook post from a nurse. She was asking if anyone could sew buttons onto headbands, so that healthcare workers could wrap the elastic from their masks around the buttons instead of their ears, and save their ears from the pain that the elastic would cause from constant, everyday wear. The style headbands she shared a photo of, was something I knew how to make. I had some buttons lying around, so I decided to see if I could make what she was asking for. I made my first one, tested and retested it, made adjustments, and once I was happy with it, I listed some on my new Phoenix & Hawke Etsy shop. Within one night, I sold over 40. I was absolutely shocked, and realized very quickly the current demand for this product. I scoured my fabric collection and listed everything I had available, and within a few days, my orders were in the hundreds. And so began the most insane year and a half of my business, to date. 

Throughout the pandemic, I hand sewed over 20,000 headbands with buttons. I was waking up around 6AM, sewing the entire day; while also working on a home renovation, and raising a four year old and two year old. Life was wild. I would usually sew until about 1AM and then collapse into bed where I would order more fabric until I fell asleep with my phone in my hand; and then I would wake up the next morning and do it all over again. Looking back, I wish I would have been better prepared for the insanity of that season! Sometimes I miss it, and sometimes I'm grateful those days are behind me. But either way, it was a blessing. I loved that I was creating something that was so helpful for so many people during a season that was so bleak and difficult. I wouldn't change that for the world. 

But as Covid came to an end, I realized that my. business was going to change. People were no longer needing my products like they had, not to mention there were now hundreds of competition companies selling the same product. So as things began to slow down, I began to think about how I could shift my brand and continue to keep people interested in my handmade hair accessories, despite Covid ending and my most popular product no longer being such a need. 

At the same time that this shift was happening, shifts were also happening in my personal life. In August of 2021, I separated from my ex-husband and shortly after had filed for divorce. Within just a few months, I found myself discovering and processing that my relationship had been absusive; I was cut off from our finances; had no car or the means to get one; was struggling with a small business as my only source of income; and had two small kids who were completely dependent on me. Desperate to find other ways to earn money, I came across in-person markets and wondered what it would entail to be apart of one. I mentioned it to my best friend, and he did some research for me. He contacted the City of Aurora and asked some questions about a small market they had called the Art & Market, and he encouraged me to pursue it. So I did. To my surprise, I applied and got accepted, and in March of 2022, I did my first ever local market. 

At that first market, I met a few other vendors, (who are now some of my absolute dearest friends) and they told me about a few other local markets and encouraged me to apply. I also met a local boutique owner who raved about my branding and color choices, and asked me about selling wholesale in her shop. I left that first market feeling so encouraged and thinking to myself "I can do this. And we are going to be okay." 

I began to apply to other local markets and within weeks, had over 15 scheduled events for the year. While it was exciting starting this new side to my business, it was also the most exhausting season of my life. I was still without a car, but needed to be able to make it to markets so I could sell my products; so some weeks that looked like me walking with my kids about a mile away to a local car rental facility so I could rent a car for as many days as I could afford to, and get myself to and from the scheduled markets. My ex had given me six months to prepare and sell our home, so in between endless sewing, I was packing and painting and prepping a home for sale. I was also juggling homeschooling, the courts and divorce process, therapy and healing from years of emotional and psychological abuse, and single parenthood. It was A season. 

But seasons change and that dark one didn't last forever. By the end of 2022 I was divorced, my home had sold to family members who allowed me and my kids to continue living there, I had bought a car, and I was now familiar with the market world and hopeful for the next year and all that was to come. 

In 2023 Phoenix & Hawke did over 45 local and out of state markets. We traveled to New York, Nashville, Iowa, and Wisconsin. We met hundreds of amazing vendors and customers. I personally grew in confidence and excitement and vision for my brand, and my desperation for another avenue for income, had become my main focus of my business. 

After over ten years on Etsy, in early 2024, I launched our brand new website. At the same time, continuing to search out some of the best markets around the country so we can continue to bring quality, handmade, and COMFORTABLE hair accessories to customers everywhere. 

Phoenix & Hawke's journey started with a bang, and then fizzled, and then became a desperate need for survival, and has now steadied into reliable income. It has opened up doors I never knew I needed to walk thru. It has been a saving grave and a way of healing after walking thru the most difficult season of my life. It was an outlet, but also a lifeline. 

There is so much emotion tied into this business for me, but at the end of the day, my goal has always remained the same. I wanted to use my creativity and love for fashion and accessories, to bring high quality, and comfortable hair products to girls and women everywhere. I want to be the solution for everyone that says "I love them, but they always hurt my head," by creating only the most comfy, well sized products, made with the most luxuriously soft fabrics. 

If you have ever purchased from Phoenix & Hawke, THANK YOU. And if you haven't yet, but are interested, THANK YOU for being here. Thank you for reading my story. Thank you to everyone who has been along this journey with me; for the encouragement and advice. For every single order and compliment and suggestion and smile. Your support will forever mean more than I can possibly put into words. 

XOXO, Reese | Owner, Phoenix & Hawke