“I at all times wished to make a distinction,” Emily Hikade, founder and CEO of luxurious sleepwear and residential firm Petite Plume, tells Entrepreneur. “I wished to make a change. I wished to do one thing that meant one thing.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Petite Plume. Emily Hikade.
Rising up in Central Wisconsin, Hikade was curious in regards to the world from a younger age. She biked to the library to show herself French earlier than highschool. At 13, she satisfied her mother and father to let her do a summer season alternate program within the South of France — and returned house fluent.
Hikade went on to attend the College of Notre Dame, the place she continued to review French alongside German and worldwide relations. As her undergraduate profession got here to a detailed, Hikade accepted a job on the White Home.
In Washington, D.C., Hikade handed the overseas service examination and labored on the State Division’s Operations Heart, the place she bought an up-close have a look at the White Home’s Scenario Room and navigated high-stakes calls with international leaders. Then one other life-changing alternative offered itself.
“Lights went out, individuals had been screaming. All I might see had been the faces of my three little boys.”
“I bought a faucet on the shoulder to go over to the darkish facet [to the CIA], as we are saying,” Hikade remembers. “I had the right cowl as a result of I actually was a state division officer. I actually did converse three languages at that time fluently. I actually did take the overseas service examination. I might discuss the discuss.”
Hikade joined the CIA and added Russian and Arabic to her language repertoire. She labored as an officer specializing in counterterrorism for greater than 10 years. Nonetheless, throughout her time on the company, a near-death expertise would set her on one other course.
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Hikade was flying to a gathering when the aircraft spun uncontrolled and towards the water. “Lights went out, individuals had been screaming,” Hikade says. “It was a business flight, a small puddle jumper, as they are saying.”
Hikade considered her three sons at house; her youngest wasn’t even a yr previous.
“As I used to be bracing for affect, all I might see had been the faces of my three little boys,” Hikade says. “And I had this profound sense of disappointment — that my children had been going to develop up with out a mother.”
Thankfully, the pilot was in a position to regain management of the aircraft, however the pivotal second caught with Hikade.
Hikade began desirous about what else she might do — and the reply, considerably surprisingly, was pajamas. When she lived in France, she’d stroll into the grocery retailer and see basic pajama units with buttons, and she or he wished to purchase them for her sons. However she could not discover a related product within the U.S. “All the things had gone towards Hanna Andersson, that kind of tight-fit model,” Hikade explains.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Petite Plume
“I knew tips on how to negotiate. I’ve a better threat tolerance than most.”
So, whereas stationed in East Africa, Hikade determined to create the product herself — and provides entrepreneurship a shot. She calculated what number of pairs of pajamas she’d must outpace her authorities wage (“and that quantity was not excessive”). The plan was by no means to begin a multimillion-dollar firm however to see if she might begin a enterprise.
“It was like, Okay, if I promote this many pajamas, I will probably be secure for my children,” Hikade remembers. “And I had lived in all these completely different nations. I knew tips on how to negotiate. I’ve a better threat tolerance than most.”
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Like most first-time entrepreneurs, Hikade needed to overcome a good quantity of challenges alongside the way in which. Nonetheless, one of many first and most vital emerged in the course of the product improvement part.
Hikade got down to make Petite Plume pajamas out of 100% natural cotton, however within the U.S., kids’s pajamas should be capable of face up to a direct flame for 3 seconds with out igniting — which suggests cotton needs to be blended with different supplies or coated with flame-resistant chemical substances.
“So we blended it with an inherently flame-retardant fiber; consider it like a tweaked wool,” Hikade says. “And that allowed us to move all of the strict Client Product Security Fee (CPSC) laws with out utilizing chemical substances.”
“We hit a distinct segment.”
What’s extra, the enterprise’s launch “was all finished on a budget,” Hikade says. As soon as the product was prepared, Hikade arrange a Shopify website and had the manufacturing facility ship on to a 3PL within the U.S. Petite Plume formally launched in 2015, and regardless of missing buyers or deep pockets, managed to be worthwhile from the beginning and revel in constant progress over time.
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Now, the corporate has developed into an entire life-style model with eight-figure annual income; its merchandise can be found in practically 500 shops nationwide, together with Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. As well as, Petite Plume’s ecommerce enterprise has grown 70% yr over yr, whereas 2024 sales-to-date are up 50% in comparison with final yr.
“We hit a distinct segment,” Hikade says by the use of explaining the model’s ongoing success.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Petite Plume
“I am actually happy with the corporate we’re constructing and [its] core values.”
Just a few years in the past, somebody requested Hikade what was tougher: working on the company or being an entrepreneur? She actually had to consider the query, Hikade admits. As harmful as her time as a CIA officer was, stress ranges got here with a level of predictability, peaking throughout high-stakes conferences or operations after which coming again down, she explains.
If you’re constructing an organization, these day-to-day highs and lows are typically extra erratic, Hikade says. She notes that your greatest and worst moments in enterprise may even happen throughout the similar 24-hour interval.
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Regardless of the challenges of entrepreneurship, Hikade is all in on the enterprise — and stays dedicated to constructing one which improves the lives of its prospects and workers.
Petite Plume provides mother and father on its workers the pliability to care for his or her kids together with parental go away and provides healthcare, 401ks and revenue sharing. “We’ve leaned into this Twenty first-century workforce,” Hikade says. “I am actually happy with the corporate we’re constructing and [its] core values.”
Hikade may need a better threat tolerance than most, however any aspiring entrepreneur, whether or not transitioning from counterterrorism, finance or some other area, would do nicely to take her easy however important piece of recommendation: There’s by no means a very good time to begin an organization or make a change — so that you simply need to do it.
“Any individual mentioned, ‘You get the enterprise playing cards, and you place the CEO and founder on it early on, so it actually defines who you’re,'” Hikade says. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. So do not look forward to that good time as a result of it is by no means going to return. Carpe diem.”
