Save Small Business, FLAVNT, from Being Screwed Over

Hi, this is Courtney and Chris Rhodes - owners of Flavnt Streetwear. We founded FLAVNT in 2014, but in 2015, we introduced the world to our concept of a chest binder that came in a range of nude colors, something that made the binder market more inclusive and diverse than it ever was previously. For the past 8 years, we’ve sold our Bareskin Binders and provided a chest binding solution to the queer community that is made by and for trans people.

This year, we decided to reinvest in our product and change manufacturers. We’ve used the same manufacturing team here in Austin for the last 4 years, and while we love and appreciate the work they did, they were unable to scale or meet our deadlines or quality needs. We found another local company - a reputable and inclusive brand in the activewear space and went all-in.

This summer, we went into production, placed an order for a full run of all of our sizes and colors. We paid upwards of $15,000 upfront and were promised binders in stock by October. As of late September, that company stopped responding to our communications. They have completely ghosted us, taking our money, fabric, patterns, and, frankly, leaving us without means to make ends meet along with not having a much-needed product available for this community. We’ve gone by their location and there are eviction notices on the doors, so our chances of getting our money back or product are not looking good. We don’t have the means to get into a drawn-out legal battle - we don’t even have the means to pay our rent for November after these circumstances. So we are asking for your help to pay back the funds we are out including credit card interest and help us pay our rent in the meantime.

Here's even more backstory about FLAVNT over the years:

We started Flavnt with $500 of our own money, oftentimes helping carry the business by paying out of our own pocket, all while donating back into the community. (We've donated over $50,000 to trans individuals for gender-affirming surgeries and to nonprofits.)

For the past 3 years, we haven’t paid ourselves at all because there hasn’t been enough money to cover rising costs and keep our commercial space. We are asking the community to stand behind us and help to carry us through this tough time following a horrendous year.

Last year, we were thrilled to be a part of the Target Pride campaign. We were banking on a huge successful quarter of sales from that, but after a year of designing and working on a collection exclusively for them, Target pulling Pride products from the shelves resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in product never being sold and us not seeing any sales. Following that, we literally had several thousands of dollars stolen from us by two separate accountants. Now this. All we want is to be able to keep making proud apparel and to keep providing representation and aid to our community.

Our Venmo is @flavnt if you'd rather directly donate there. You can also purchase from our site (www.flavnt.com) at any time. We want to keep making things for our community and doing what we love, but we desperately need help.

And if you have any resources for dependable manufacturers in Texas or otherwise, please reach out. We are trying to remain positive and find a way to persist, but things have never seemed this bleak. Thank you for your support as always.