Starting from bed rest

Kendra Scott goes to Houston: "Like Build-A-Bear for grown women"

Following a flagship store on Austin's South Congress, and addresses in BeverlyHills and Dallas' West Village, a Kendra Scott boutique has cropped up this weekin Rice Village.
Photo by Whitney Radley
Kendra Scott, the woman behind the eponymous jewelry line, grew up in Houstonbefore moving to Austin at 19.
Photo by Whitney Radley

Kendra Scott's success story is one for the books: Pregnant and confined to bed rest, with a recently-unemployed husband and a meager bank balance, she began creating custom jewelry.

Once she was allowed back on her feet, Scott would walk around to Austin stores taking sales orders and then sell her samples to the very last shop on her route so that she'd have the funds to purchase supplies to fill them.

Eleven years later, Scott opened her fourth eponymous boutique (and the largest yet) in Houston's Rice Village this week, with others slated for CityCentre and Scottsdale, Ariz. — and she's revolutionizing the way that women shop for jewelry.

But the best part is, each wearer has the ability to tailor pieces to her personal tastes or a particular outfit at the Color Bar.

"I found that what was missing out there was colorful, beautiful jewelry using natural gemstones, at a price that I could afford," Scott says.

She and her design team lean on antique jewels and contemporary trends for inspiration to create pieces that are in vogue, on-brand and timeless — something that, Scott hopes, a granddaughter will pull out of a jewelry box decades hence.

But the best part is, each wearer has the ability to tailor pieces to her personal tastes or a particular outfit at the Color Bar. The Rice Village boutique is equipped with two 55-inch touch screens, a half-dozen iPads and even "bar menus" with images of products and options.

This makes each customer a part of the design process. They select the style, the stones and the metal, and then watch while a store clerk — all of whom are trained stone-setters — makes the design a reality.

"It's like Build-A-Bear for grown women," laughs Scott, who got the idea early on when her workers would customize the colors of their own jewelry pieces for a night out on the town.

She took that concept on the road for a trunk show at Henri Bendel in New York that was supposed to last just three days. It ended up attracting lines out the door for three months, and the Color Bar became a staple.

But the shopping isn't the only thing that is experiential: Kendra Scott boutiques are event driven, with the Color Bar available for booking for bridal brunches or girlfriend get-togethers, and a Girls Night Out each Wednesday that draws fashionable crowds for cupcakes, champagne and select jewelry deals.

Kendra Gives Back parties offer opportunities for an organization to benefit from 20 percent of proceeds. Attendees, meanwhile, can gild themselves and feel guilt-free about the indulgence.

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The new Kendra Scott boutique is in Rice Village at 2411 Times Boulevard, Suite 120. The store is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from 12 to 6 p.m.

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Profiles of Innovation

Sweet Leaf Tea and Deep Eddy Vodka founder Clayton Christopher on taking risksand beating the odds

"The greatest rewards come to those that embrace risk and drive forward with passion to achieve their goal,” says Clayton Christopher.

As the founder and former CEO of Sweet Leaf Tea, Clayton Christopher took the many risks necessary to build a successful, iconic brand from the ground up — a legacy he has continued as the co-founder and CEO of Deep Eddy Vodka.

“I wanted to do something that I was really passionate about,” Christopher says of Sweet Leaf Tea’s humble beginnings. “A product that was really unique… best in class.”

"T"The mantra was 'No doesn’t mean no. It just means not yet.'"

With $14,000 in savings, and an inherent entrepreneurial nature (Christopher says he knew from an early age he would be an entrepreneur), he planted the roots for Sweet Leaf Tea Company, a small operation that has grown into a nationally recognized beverage brand.

“It was the classic startup on a shoestring budget,” Christopher reminisces of the early days. “There were so many times that I thought we were that close to going out of business.” Luckily for Clayton Christopher, his own bootstrap upbringing — fueled by “very humble beginnings” and an entrepreneurial father — gave him the determination to embrace the risks and keep moving forward, no matter how many “nos” he encountered.

“The mantra was ‘No doesn’t mean no,’” he says of the Sweet Leaf spirit that developed in those early years. “'It just means not yet.'”

Such was the case with retailers like Austin-based Whole Foods Market. After over a year of calling on the store, Christopher received a concise message: “We are not interested in your product at this time.” But that didn’t stop him, or his team, from pursuing their distribution dream. Four months later they were able to get into Whole Foods through a distributor.

“That allowed us to get into the rest of the stores throughout the country,” Christopher says of the move that solidified Sweet Leaf Tea as a viable national brand.

"The sweet tea vodka will definitely be the number one selling sweet tea vodka in the market," Christopher says. "It already is in Texas."

After his success with Sweet Leaf Tea, Christopher started a new beverage company from the ground up, this time with a twist. “I knew I wanted to stay in food and beverage,” he says. “Deep Eddy Vodka — the spirits industry —is very similar.”

In just two years, the locally sourced vodka brand is already bigger than Sweet Leaf Tea was after nine years, with representation in 16 states. Over the next five years, Christopher is confident that the Austin-based spirit will be in all 50 states.

"The sweet tea vodka will definitely be the number one selling sweet tea vodka in the market,” he says. “It already is in Texas."

While much of the success of Sweet Leaf Tea and Deep Eddy Vodka can be attributed to Christopher’s tenacious entrepreneurial spirit, it’s also due in part to the community that surrounds them. "Austin played a huge part of the company's success,” he says of Sweet Leaf Tea. “[It’s] one of the best cities to start a branded company."

Clayton Christopher beat the entrepreneurial odds, successfully launching two brands that show no sign of slowing down or failing. And neither does he.

"If you get knocked down seven times, you get up eight times,” Christopher says. “You haven't failed until you've decided you're not going to get back up."