Watch the full conversation between Rachael Shtifter and Fashionista’s Associate Editor and Social Media Manager Brooke Frischer on The Fashionista Network.

Sleepy Tie, a hair accessories brand known for its blowout-preserving scrunchie of the same name, may seem like an overnight viral success story, but it’s the culmination of founder and CEO Rachael Shtifter’s 15-year brand-building journey. Before founding the company, Shtifter harnessed her background in business management to launch Parlr, an 11,000-square-foot salon and spa where she said she established her “street cred in hair.”

In 2020, Shtifter noticed her blowouts weren’t lasting through the night, leaving her in a constant rotation of heat styling and disappearing styles. Pulling from styling tricks she’d learned while working for a celebrity hairstylist during New York Fashion Week, Shtifter envisioned a tool she could secure her hair around to achieve a still-intact blowout overnight, and got to sewing. Her at-home experiment — a double scrunchie she stitched together — became Sleepy Tie’s first prototype.

“I’m probably Sleepy Tie’s number-one fan, which I think is part of what makes it such a special brand,” Shtifter told Fashionista’s Brooke Frischer on The Fashionista Network. (Watch it here!) “I actually need the product so deeply that I cannot live without it.”

Now, Sleepy Tie offers four core styles: the original Sleepy Tie, the Shower Cap, the LuxeBonnet and, its newest innovation, the Curly Tie. The brand marked a major milestone this year by launching in Ulta, which Shtifter said “legitimizes the brand” and offers consumers an opportunity to see and touch the innovation in person.

In the full interview, Shtifter shared her advice for aspiring beauty founders, how she addresses the challenges of running a business amid constant uncertainty and her goals for the next 10 years.

Watch the interview here.

This conversation was hosted on The Fashionista Network powered by interactive media platform Fireside, where viewers get the chance to participate and speak directly with industry figures. Learn more about The Fashionista Network here.

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