Jodie Dolanwas the founder and owner of a successful fashion apparel company when she had an epiphany – she wanted to make a difference in the world. Jodie shares her journey from high fashion to making comfortable clothing for essential healthcare workers and to restoring the dignity of the unhoused through the gift of clean clothes.
Q: Tell us about how you got started in fashion and how that business evolved.
Jodie: When I graduated in 2000 from University of California Santa Barbara, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was trying out various things and I ended up making T-shirts, which I painted and decorated with crystals. To my surprise, I received a real order – and from Saks Fifth Avenue no less. Saks was my first customer and, at the time, I was on my own producing the product. I didn't know anything about fashion, business, manufacturing, or finance. I had an art history degree, so when it came to starting a business, I was really winging it. But I was able to turn that first little order into a fashion business, selling complete collections wholesale to retailers like Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Saks, Anthropologie, Barneys New York, and many specialty stores. Eventually, we moved into private labeling and white labeling, focusing on the customer: How can we help this retailer? What kind of product do they need?
Q: What prompted you to transition from high fashion to scrubs – medical wear?
Jodie: Around 2019, after building my fashion business for many years, I was burned out and disillusioned. I decided I wanted to do something that really mattered and would make a difference. That led me to volunteer on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, near the Fashion District. And then COVID happened. There was an avalanche of cancellations in my email inbox, leaving me with millions of dollars of unsold inventory. It was an "oh S***! moment." What do I do now? I hustled and lined up all my manufacturing facilities to make massive amounts of PPE and masks. That put me in front of healthcare professionals all across the country and I heard them complain that their scrubs didn't fit well, that they were tight, not breathable, and just uncomfortable on their long shifts. So I asked myself: What if I took everything that I know about fashion and applied it to an area in the apparel industry that is ripe for innovation? And that's how DOLAN Scrubs was born and the beginning of my journey to make a difference. We are now proud to offer the world's best fitting scrubs in the most inclusive size offering: XXXS-6X with 5 inseams, curve fits and specific petite fits. Our customers thank us every day.
Q: For founders of CPG companies there is the conundrum of how to raise capital without sufficient inventory to sell and how to manufacture inventory without capital to pay the factories. How did you work through that puzzle?
Jodie: It definitely is a puzzle – like a Rubik's Cube.
For the first 18 years of my business, we manufactured in-house here in Los Angeles, with about 100 people in our building producing our clothing. That made it possible to do small runs of items and then, when the volume of business grew, we had the flexibility to increase the runs. But eventually it became untenable to manufacture in Los Angeles because of the cost of labor. And, in any event, manufacturing detailed fashion garments domestically is really hard, especially when you are trying to scale.
You cannot have a successful apparel business unless you have the volume to support it. That was another reason I wanted to pivot to an area with a big volume need – like the uniform business and the medical scrubs business. In those businesses you have economies of scale and can manufacture the same product over and over, without having to worry about seasons or trends.
Now we have two wonderful manufacturing partners: one in China and one in Vietnam. Both of them have big scalable operations and they are flexible – they can do one piece, or they can do 20,000 or more pieces at a time. I believe that is the key to solving this puzzle we're talking about – finding good manufacturing partners that make consistently good products, that are reliable, and that you trust.
And having good partners is essential. Many large retailers have very strict protocols regarding the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We regularly audit our factories and are very careful about who we work with.
Q: How have you funded your scrubs business and what advice do you have for other entrepreneurs in the CPG sector about how to fund their growth?
Jodie: I have self-funded DOLAN Scrubs. I had friends and family investment early in my fashion business, many years ago, which I was able to pay back in full. I then used my savings from that business to fund the scrubs business. Before seeking outside funding, it was important for me to validate that there was a market need for fit solutions in uniforms. I've done that and now we're just starting to think about outside capital. We're set up to scale, and we want to find the right investors to help us do that.
I would advise other founders to start small and build slowly. There is a lot of emphasis on rapid growth, but that's hard for CPG companies. We're not SaaS companies and I think it's a mistake to have that same mentality. There will be pushback from the factories who want – or may require – you to order more. But I wouldn't let them make your decisions for you. I think it's worth taking extra time to validate your product and then find the right people who will support you.
Q: Circling back – your time volunteering on Skid Row inspired your scrubs business but it also led to a separate venture that operates side by side that business. Tell us about that.
Jodie: I did a lot of volunteering on Skid Row – and so did my team. One of the places I volunteered was with The Shower of Hope, a nonprofit that offers mobile showers. If you are unhoused, you can pop in and take a 10-minute warm shower. I had spent a year and a half getting to know the community on Skid Row and I realized that I could do more, and my company could do more. How could I use my business for good?
My light bulb moment came one day when I was at The Shower of Hope handing out towels. I handed a woman a towel and she went into the trailer and took a shower. She came out feeling so clean, renewed, and refreshed. And then: I watched her put her dirty clothes back on.
So that was the beginning of The Laundry Truck LA. Why couldn't we build a laundry truck that sits next to the shower truck and wash this woman's clothes while she's taking a shower? Fast forward – we now have three trailers operating seven days a week. We've done over 400,000 pounds of laundry. We serve a lot of the same people we originally saw on Skid Row, young and old, but now we also serve single moms, families, and kids. There are over 10,000 unhoused kids here in LA alone, and we partner with the city, county, and school districts to go right to their schools.
Q: Running one business is challenging enough. How do you manage to oversee The Laundry Truck LA at the same time you are building your Dolan Scrubs?
Jodie: Our for-profit scrubs business works hand-in-hand with The Laundry Truck LA. We have a 1 for 1 offering. For each purchase of DOLAN Scrubs, we contribute a pound of laundry to someone in need. Each business supports the other. I believe business should be that way. There are millions of healthcare workers in this country and, if you're not one of them, you probably know someone who is. In business, we should be solving problems and, at the same time, operating as a sustainable, profitable business model. I'm excited to have DOLAN Scrubs out in the world, helping healthcare professionals feel comfortable, considered, and seen when they are doing such essential jobs and I'm grateful that I can leverage that platform to address one of the many challenges faced by the unhoused.
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