I always say I’ll start our year-end blogs earlier but I never do. It’s now Dec 30 and I’m writing this in the cramped middle seat of a super saver economy flight back to LA. Regardless, I love doing these blogs and make it a point to do so because they give us a rare chance to reflect on the entire experience of building a brand with your best friend—something we don’t often have time to document.
Before I start writing I always re-read last year’s blog (read year 3 here). It’s always a joy to reflect on what we learned that year, how it felt, and what we were aspiring towards. But this year reading our old entries felt a little different. Looking back, I noticed a layer of hesitation in my writing, a kind of self-effacing tone that I hadn’t realized before. In many ways 2024 has been a transformational year—both for the brand and for our personal lives, and it shifted our mindset in ways I hadn’t expected.
For most of these last 4 years of running Street Grandma, I spoke about it as if it were something small and silly, just a side hobby we did for fun, rather than recognizing and acknowledging the real business it’s become and the community it’s created. Although internally it meant the world to me, I (subconsciously) kept myself detached, thinking that as long as I didn’t vocalize our accomplishments or communicate too many expectations, then I wouldn’t be devastated or embarrassed if things didn’t end up working out.
I remember one conversation with Devin on my couch in my living room, when we were going over our insane fall schedule, and she started saying how proud she was of all the things that were in motion at the time. I was happy too, but was more uncomfortable expressing it, and she could tell. Then she said, “You have to stop acting like creativity and good things are a scarce resource reserved for a couple people. You are counting yourself out.” I realized then that creativity is abundant and it’s something we can cultivate just by being open to what’s in front of us. Life is about seeing what’s available and taking it, and deciding you’re ready for it. So here it is—I’m going to say it: I LOVE STREET GRANDMA. IT’S A REAL BUSINESS, AND I’M SO PROUD OF WHAT WE’VE DONE THIS YEAR. WE’RE GOING TO TAKE WHAT’S IN FRONT OF US BECAUSE WE’RE READY FOR IT!
This year, there’s two things we did a lot when it came to our branding discussions: talked about Sabrina Carpenter and used this hand gesture:
When we first started STREET GRANDMA, we only had a general sense of what we hoped it would become and what we set out to accomplish. We tried our best to consider what we wanted to see more of in fashion and what we felt was missing from popular retail and e-commerce stores, but it wasn’t until the last two years that we began to find confidence in our vision, tone, and started to see the fruits of the unique space we were beginning to carve out.
Branding is all about repetition and world-building, and Sabrina Carpenter’s last year became our favorite case study. From her half-baked, wannabe R&B phase (respectfully) to her fully-formed and deeply committed vintage Stepford Wives aesthetic, we were reminded how far you can go when developing the world of your brand. We spent the last year asking ourselves daily, what does our content say about us? What can we repeat consistently? Is what we think we are being accurately communicated out into the world? How can we narrow *cue hand gesture* our vision and double down on it?
After 4 years of slowly building enough confidence and skill to lay the foundation needed to carry the weight of the opportunities ahead, I’m excited to say we’re ready to grow our vision! We did some of our best work in 2024. We were more focused, ambitious, and funnier. In 2025, we hope to continue building the world of Street Grandma and most importantly, create products you love. Thanks to our incredible community, Street Grandma will be here to see 2025! Happy New Year!
Xx,
Andrea + Devin