Every woman’s dream is to have a big wedding. It’s the day they’ve been waiting for - the start of their “happily ever after.” They would have it nothing short of lush. Once that dream is over, the next big deal is the honeymoon - a time to get tucked away with their charming prince.

Nobody trades these moments for anything. Well, nobody except Blake Geffen, the woman who started a stunning $35 million business during her honeymoon.  

Meet Blake Geffen

Like most women, she is savoring the joy of being a wife and mother. However, unlike most women, she runs a two-figure million-dollar company which Inc. describes as a “ sustainable twist on the try-before-you-buy model for jewelry and handbags.” She is no other person than Blake Geffen - the woman entrepreneur behind the fast and glamorous look of countless New York wives and mothers. 

Blake is a passionate and industrious individual who started out working two retail jobs in high school. Right after, she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from Boston University and went on to work a public relations job. It was here she realized just how much she loved the fashion industry.

A couple of years later, this newfound passion would lead her to start a fashion club and become the celebrated entrepreneur she is today.    

Turning Passion Into Business: Blake Geffen’s Remarkable Story

In an interview with Entrepreneur, Geffen remembers how she and her husband often make jokes about their honeymoon. They planned to spend time basking in a beautiful Maldives beachside and soaking in its luxury scenery. After making it all the way there, the pair gave up their romantic getaway idea for a chance to create a business plan. 

But what could make anyone forfeit a Maldives vacation treat - well, most of it? For Geffen, it was the sheer frustration she felt from being unable to access high-quality low-cost wedding accessories. Actually, this is what begins the inspiring story of the Villerele brand. 

Geffen (known as Blake Cohen at the time) was set to marry the love of her life, Wayne Geffen, in November 2017. A few months before the wedding, while she was trying to sort out her outfit and accessories, she bumped into a serious challenge. No stores offered the kind of attractive high-quality bags and jewelry she needed: not for the amount of money she was willing to part with anyway. 

Realizing how difficult it was to get the good wedding stuff at cheap prices, the light bulbs went off in Geffen’s mind. Her goal from then on would be to conquer the untapped fashion accessories market. According to her, she came up with the idea of launching an exclusive membership club that would offer access to highly appealing accessories. Club members will be able to rent luxury items for work, special occasions, and everything else. 

Blake and her husband Wayne spent most of their honeymoon drawing up a business plan. Call it unusual but the team believed in their idea, so much that they went on night after night molding and shaping it. 

On returning to New York City, Geffen resumed her public relations job. But things were never the same again. She put every spare time she had into building her brand and over weekends, the team indulged potential investors and reached out to partners, vendors, and friends. Their hard work and grit finally paid off when the brand made its official launch in September 2018.  

Vivrelle: An Exclusive Membership Club

Registration

Aspiring Vivrelle members will have to go on the site, click on the “apply now” button, and fill out a membership form. Once done, they have to wait until they get approval to join the club. Receiving a positive response means that the company thinks you’re a good match for one another. This opens the door to a partnership where they supply coveted designer handbags and you get to switch them out through monthly subscriptions. 

Subscription

What is also interesting about Vivrelle is the flexible payment options available. Club members can choose to subscribe monthly or pre-pay for a period of 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months. Both of these subscriptions are broken down into four categories: Premier, Classique, Couture, and Couture+. 

At the cheapest end, the premier category presents access to jewelry with up to $1000 in retail value and some select bags. Couture+ subscribers, on the flip side, have full and unlimited access to jewelry, bags, and limited edition pieces from the club.

Membership Perks

As a one-of-its-kind membership club, Virelle offers some really impressive perks. These include;

Attractive Prices:

Vivrelle heavily operates a rental and subscription model of business. However, members can also purchase and keep any product they are comfortable with. This option comes with mouthwatering discounts, portraying the company’s value and appreciation. 

Free Shipping: 

Purchased items earn free shipping within the United States. The entire arrangement is handled by the luxury brand as an appreciation for the customer’s patronage. 

Monthly Item Swaps:

Vivrelle allows members to rent a luxury accessory and swap it in for another one every 30 days. This means that members get a monthly change of outfit and can rock the best labels without having to break the bank.

Insurance:

Every member of the luxury fashion club Vivrelle is covered by standard insurance. This protects them from wear and tear that may occur on items they rent. Users can also take a step further by purchasing premium insurance which covers any accidental damages and costs only $18 per month. 

Company Profile and Achievements

The Luxury fashion business Vivrelle is based on a one-of-a-kind idea quite alright. But that didn’t stop it from facing humongous challenges before getting off the ground. The biggest hurdle, according to the company’s CEO, was convincing investors of the potential and imminent success of the business model. 

Geffen tried everything she could. She leveraged her experience in public relations and went as far as getting help from influencers who saw the big picture and were ready to offer their support. 

At launch, the team had a humble expectation of 50 signups. This was going to be a benchmark of success and a sign not to abandon the business. No one fathomed that they would have to deal with way more subscriptions - but that’s exactly what happened. Luckily enough, the ball has never stopped rolling for the female-founded company and today, the brand has grown across all its verticals. 

More importantly, Vivrelle has seen triple digits in revenue year-on-year. The company also hit a huge milestone when it concluded a Series B funding round generously supported by celebrities including Lily Collins, Nina Dobrev, and Morgan Stewart McGraw.  

The Founding Ideas Behind Vivrelle

People start businesses for different reasons. To some, it is the drive to make money. To others, it is the need to help solve a problem. In this section, we look at what ideas were likely responsible for birthing Blake Geffen’s luxury club business. 

Promoting Luxury and Fashion: 

Women are attracted to high fashion - the type that has luxury and great style stitched together. For entrepreneurs, this implies a breeding ground for creativity. Geffen made a good mix of both sides by taking her love for fashion and the good feeling that accompanies it and turning it into a $35 million business. 

Solving a Problem:

If you’re a business enthusiast in this time and age, you’ve likely thought that “every possible business idea has been implemented by someone somewhere.”  That might appear true since businesses today are simply replicas of each other. Nevertheless, Vivrelle proves that entrepreneurs can take existing ideas and mash them up to create unique product or service solutions. 

Blake’s Advice to Potential Entrepreneurs

Bake Geffen believes that pursuing your passion sets you on an easier path to success. It makes your work feel less overwhelming and demanding. She, therefore, advises potential entrepreneurs to look deeper into their hobbies, pointing to this as the secret to her own business and an immense source of strength to keep at it despite challenges. 

Because Vivrelle is the brainchild of a long-coming love for luxury fashion, succeeding at it has been particularly rewarding. Geffen explains that there is so much to love about her work, including randomly meeting customers in public and listening to their testimonies. In addition, she would often stop by the Manhattan showroom to get a feel of what products customers are excited about. 

This reinforces the idea of developing a business that aligns with one’s passion, as it is far more thrilling to succeed at this than at any other type of company or business. 

Conclusion

Three things stand out about the Vivrelle brand. First, it employs an innovative approach to the fashion accessories business by focusing on rentals more than sales. Secondly, it operates an exclusive membership rather than an open one. Thirdly, it is a product of passion. If you’re in search of some ideas for your business, we bet you will learn a thing or two from this article on Blake Geffen’s remarkable entrepreneurship journey. Tell us what you find most impactful in the comment section below. 

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