A $15,000 Impulse Purchase Transformed This Passion Project Into A $4 Million-A-Year Business

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Abby Price started her home decor and embroidery business, Abbode, in 2019, while in a graduate program at Parsons School of Design. It wasn't until three years later, after she purchased a professional embroidery machine "on a total whim" for $15,000, that things really started to take off, she told CNBC.

and wasn't sure it would pay off at first. Without the space or experience to put the machine to regular use, she wound up storing it in Abbode's basement.

It wasn't until early 2023, after the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping had ceased, that she pulled it back out, hosting a two-day embroidery event in the shop.

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"That weekend, I knew I had something special on my hands. I knew that nothing was going to be the same," Price told CNBC. "I was just really early [to a trend]."

A turning point

Slowly over the course of the next year, Abbode began to shift its business model, phasing out some of its home decor stock in favor of offering customizable embroidered products and embroidery services in-store and online.

By 2024, sales had more than doubled, jumping from $719,000 to $1.59 million. This year, Price told CNBC she's anticipating $4 million in sales for Abbode.

Despite those high sales, the company is profitable by only a small margin, co-owner Daniel Kwak told CNBC. Kwwk started working at Abbode in 2022 and became a co-owner of the company in 2023. At this point, he says the company is concentrating on brand recognition and growing its revenue streams.

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To that end, Abbode has seen plenty of growth over the last two years. The company has hosted pop-ups around the world with brands like L.L. Bean, the Ritz-Carlton, and Charlotte Tilbury. These events account for around 25% of overall revenue, CNBC reported.

Right place, right time

Price and Kwak's initial decision to host that first embroidery pop-up came from a place of anxiety.

"As the business grew, I feel like the problems also grew," Price told CNBC. "I was constantly investing in things, more employees, more inventory, this embroidery machine. It all just sort of started to catch up with me."

"I was feeling so overwhelmed and stressed because I knew something had to change here," she continued.

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So when they had to haul the machine out of the basement for professional servicing that spring, they decided to offer free stitching to customers just to see what would come of it.

It took a week to get through the orders placed that weekend, Price said. Kwak, realizing the potential the embroidery could have, pushed his co-owner into leaning into it fully.

The pair acknowledge that some of their success comes down to being in the right place, at the right time, and being at the forefront of a trend. Still, their certain that their business will withstand the changing tides of popularity.

"We can take any ethos and emotion behind anything and turn it into embroidery," says Price. "Really just sky's the limit."

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