Without the funds to put behind our initial inventory, and with a cautious approach to testing the market, we decided to launch Kibou on Kickstarter. In fall of 2019, we pre-sold $30,000 in our four-week campaign, which we put right into funding our production. By January 2020, sales were live on our own website (which Stephanie had built) and, just two months later, COVID threatened to put a halt to our slow but steady success. Fortunately, we were able to bring together a very lean team of brilliant people to help us get the word out about Kibou, and we kept chugging along, ever more grateful for the jumpstart that we got from the Kickstarter funds. Now, over two years after launching, we’ve learned and grown so much.

We continue to bootstrap our business and remain a small team; nearly all moms.

If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

From a business angle, we would both love to sit down with Sara Blakely. Her story of vision, tenacity, and success is incredible. She built Spanx brick-by-brick and has turned it into a household name that gives women comfort and confidence in their day-to-day lives. She is truly an inspiration.

On a personal level, we’d love to get a chance to sit down with our grandparents and great-grandparents whom we never got to know. To hear their life stories, to see our lineage come to life, to hug them and tell them all that came of our families since they began paving the path.

Article Credits

All photos courtesy of Kibou

Website: https://www.kiboubag.com/

Instagram: @kiboubag @stephmerks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thekiboubag/