Tie-dye evolves to high-fashion, 'stylish loungewear'

Emilee Villafranca and Brynne Gattie

  By Jenna Hecker

            As trends are changing and styles are evolving, a new wave of tie dye has swept through fashion, defying the stereotypes of its hippie-era roots. What started as clothes to be worn at a Woodstock festival are now being worn in high fashion, or what’s known as “stylish loungewear.”

            Two best friends Emilee Villafranca and Brynne Gattie from Buffalo decided to put their love for loungewear and tie dye together and created their own clothing brand called EXB, standing for Emilee and Brynne.

            EXB is a men and women's all tie dye clothing line. The brand started off with just t-shirts and hoodies, but has expanded to sweatsuits, sweat shorts, tank tops, socks, and more to come in the summer launch.

            The brand came to life in 2020, the second year for Covid, a troublesome for businesses. Several businesses either had to shut down or be put on pause, but for EXB, it was just the beginning. 

         “Brynne originally said to me,‘Well it’s 2020 and people are doing crafts at home and tie dyes really big right now, so what if we did a different spin on it.’ And that’s exactly what we did,” Villafranca said.

            Their spin being based on the concept that loungewear can be worn in a more fashionable sense, and that you can feel just as confident in a sweatsuit as you could in a dress or suit and tie. With colors of neutrals and neons, there is a wide variety that goes with just about anything in your closet.

            Abby Pitz is a Buffalo resident who loves supporting local businesses and also has a love for tie dye fashion. Pitz recently discovered EXB through a friend and is now one of their top buyers.

                  “I personally really like how EXB markets themselves as an empowering brand and that you can feel confident in your loungewear, but still be comfortable at the same time. From the quality of the tie dye to the clothing itself, everything is great and so unique,” Pitz said.          

                  Now, it’s one thing to have a new idea, but it’s another to bring a brand to life and start making profit, and this didn’t happen overnight for EXB.

                  It was a 6-month process that started in Gattie’s kitchen. The two women were self-taught all the science behind tie dying.

             “We use the brand Rit dye. Color formula depends on what color we want to achieve and that takes a lot of testing. It will be an exact number of teaspoons of certain colors, some colors are a different amount. Everything is cold washed with natural detergent, then hung dry,” Villafranca said.

            After the process was perfected, the two women became entrepreneurs. They bought a camera to take pictures of their clothing, launched their website, and created an Instagram, Facebook, and Tik Tok.  

                  Since then, EXB has been to several pop ups in Buffalo, collaborated with other Buffalo artists, held three professional photoshoots, hosted tie dye workshops, and their brand is currently being sold in 49 Coffee House in Holland and in Live A Little Boutique in Weedsport.

             “Seeing our friends and family being so proud of us, and our stuff being sold in other stores was when I realized this was pretty sick, and also during our photoshoots seeing how much fun our models were having was when it hit me how cool this was,” Gattie said.

                  As far as who does what for the brand, Villafranca handles the business side of things, whereas Gattie is on the creative side when it comes to the designs and colors for the clothing, but the two do the tie dying process together.

             “I love that balance and the collaboration that we have within each other because two brains is better than one, and there’s just so much we couldn’t do without each other,” Villafranca said.   

            Although it’s exciting to create a business with your best friend, there were some road bumps the two faced.                                                                                                                                                                   “The biggest challenge for me was throwing everything I knew out the window. I only worked at one place for almost a decade so throwing my whole life out the window is essentially what I did when I decided to become a business owner,” Villafranca said.

            Gattie said they lost friends along the way from those who did not support or see their vision. But they kept a positive outlook, continued their dream, and let the critics and non-believers pass them by.

            EXB has had a few sales outside of Buffalo, and they plan to continue that as the business grows. Villafranca and Gattie plan to be a worldwide brand, spreading their spin of tie dye fashion for everyone to see and wear.                                                                          

 

     

 

Baker brings lifelong passion to Grant Street

Ahmari Stevens and Latoya Hailstock standing behind baked goods at Bee Sweet Bakery

 

By Rylee Shott         

            For Latoya Hailstock getting an Easy Bake Oven was the start of her lifelong passion.

            Once Hailstock started baking with her Easy Bake Oven she could not stop. Her parents had to make her batter just to keep up. This is when Hailstock truly learned the “magic” of baking.

            She learned that from one batter she could make cookies, cakes, and pies.

            “I always thought it was almost magic how you could take these things and a little bit of science to create all of this stuff, that always intrigued me,” Hailstock said.

            After running her business in her home for two years. Hailstock at 43-years-old finally achieved her dream of owning her own store front to sell her sweet treats.

            Bee Sweet bakery opened its doors at 1006 Grant St. Buffalo on Dec. 23, 2023.

            You can stop by the bakery between the hours of noon and 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday to get a that day’s array of cookies, cakes, brownies, brookies, pies, cobbler, and Big Deborah’s. Bee Sweet menu also occasionally makes baked macaroni and cheese. To keep up with the ever changing newest and most popular sweet treats you can follow Bee Sweet on Facebook here.

            Bee Sweet is not just about the treats being sold, there is a hidden message behind the name.

            “Every time you mention the name of my shop, Bee Sweet, you are telling someone to be sweet. So, let’s be sweet to one another. We are acknowledging the bee, the small things in life and reminding each other it’s not just to eat sweet we need to be better to one another,” Hailstock said.

            Hailstock inspires those around her particularly her two daughters: Ahmari Stevens and Ahrie Stevens.

            “My mother had us young, we always see her work extremely hard for everything. If she can do this on her own, it really motivates me. It goes to show it doesn’t matter how old you are, if you have kids, you can achieve any goal you set your heart too,” Ahmari said.

            Hailstock isn’t the only talented baker in the family, she has her mom, sister and her two daughters helping her out.

            Her daughter Ahmari is known as the Macaroon Queen.

            “I have just seen her create beautiful works of art literally with different configurations of sugar and flour. I just found that amazing so just seeing that really made me be like, well I can do it too and I did. She is why I like to do this,” Ahmari said.

            Hailstock’s favorite part about baking is being able to have a creative outlet that puts a smile on people’s faces. Particularly she loves to make cut out cakes where she can mold and create cake to shape things like guitars, pirate ships, the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland, and even recreating famous paintings like Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

            Bee Sweet is not just about getting a sweet treat, but it’s also a welcoming fun place to be, just ask some of their longtime customers and they will tell you.

            “It’s a nice sweet welcoming good vibe, you walk in there and you don’t feel like you are being judged, you walk in there thinking this is about to make my day,” Justice Skillon said.

            The realization set in for Hailstock that she wanted to have a job that made her happy like all the other woman business owners she always looked up to, although that created a challenge within itself.

            When inquiring about purchasing the building for the bakery Hailstock was told this building was not for her with no explanation behind it.

            “Being a Black woman owned business is probably the hardest part opening a business, people don’t take you seriously, they don’t give you the breaks they give everyone else,” Hailstock said.

            Hailstock feels like there are always eyes on her waiting for Bee Sweet to fail since she is a Black woman business owner, but she found a way to lift some of that pressure off her shoulders.

            “I do realize I am a success story but at the same time I am just that little girl and I just grew up and I’m living my dream,” Hailstock said. “I just try to think of it as that because otherwise it’s too much weight.”