Hey lovely humans, it’s time to join the skulk. Queer SLO was so fortunate to sit down with Renee Periat, owner and creator of growing international apparel brand Androgynous Fox. From entrepreneurial journey to Dinah Shore shenanigans, Stick and Poke collection inspiration to delicate strategy of putting out a call for underwear models, we hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did. The underlying goal for Renee: encouraging folks to feel more visible and themselves.
Can you give me an overview of Androgynous Fox in general and your journey about how you came to be where you are right now?
Androgynous Fox is something that I would have never thought I would be getting into 10 years ago. Around the time I started to find myself for real, really know who I was in terms of my identity and my style, I noticed the shortage in androgynous apparel. That was kind of what sparked my interest, finding a thirst in the market for that. As far as starting a business, I’ve never been the smartest in class; I’ve never been someone who outshines in a group in any way. So I think because of that, I had this stigma that I couldn’t do something that I wasn’t specialized in. I feel like people go to school for certain things and they become that thing most of the time, but for me, I never thought I could do anything.
One morning I woke up and said to myself, “why the hell can’t I do this thing?…there’s nothing stopping me besides my own insecurities, my own thoughts.” I thought, “yes, I’m not a screen printer, but why can’t I learn how to screen print? Yes, I’m not a business major, but why can’t I run a business? I’m fully capable of learning these things, just like anybody is.” I finally stopped trying to convince myself that I wasn’t this person and that’s why I’m here, because one day I decided to take away my own limitations and just focused on making it happen.
So I started Youtubing every possible thing I could about clothing and screen printing, and just learned everything from scratch. I tried out a couple of designs and it took me probably three weeks to burn my first screen because I kept messing them up. I just kept trying and trying and finally got it down. It was then that I thought, “huh, this could actually work.” And it took me two years to get it off the ground to the point where it was able to function as a business with all the legal business stuff, figuring out inventory and how it was all going to work. I bootstrapped it and it kind of gradually took off, and here I am now.
Yes, that’s awesome! Did anyone or any particular event inspire that mindset shift?
I remember the exact moment that I decided I wanted to do it. I was taking Kevin (my dog) for a walk, walking back to my apartment. By this point I had graduated college and I was in this job I’d been in for 12 years and I thought, “so is this it?” I feel like I can and should be doing something bigger or more than what I’m pushing myself into right now. I texted my girlfriend and said, “Hey bird, I think I’m going to start a clothing line.” And her first response was, “how are you going to do that?” Like, where is this coming from? And I said, “I have no idea, but I’m going to look into it.” I think she was half expecting it to go away, but it didn’t. So she got on board and said, “alright, if you’re serious, let’s make this happen.” She has a lot of marketing experience, so she helped guide me a bit. But yeah, I think I just realized, looking at myself and my job that this was either it, this was going to be my life, or I’d better figure something else out.
I think I’ve always had a little bit of entrepreneurial blood in me. I liked the idea of doing my own thing. If I get motivated about something, I become obsessed in a way where I’m going to think about this thing and do it until it’s perfect. So luckily I was able to get obsessed over this and get it to a place where I could really grow.
What was your educational background and what job were you doing when you started Androgynous Fox?
I grew up in a really small town, 80 students in my high school and not much in the way of college prep or guidance. I didn’t know what I was going to do after graduation, I just knew I had to get out. So I came here, worked for a construction company (been with them now for 16 years) and didn’t go to college until I was 28. I eventually went to Cal Poly to study Environmental Management because I was big into environmental issues, and after graduating I found out there were only certain jobs you could really do with that degree. I considered going into hydrology or watershed testing, got a job offer at the county, and at that point my boss gave me a counter offer, so I stayed. Career-wise, I think going to college was my answer at the time for feeling like I needed to do something bigger. But I got through that and ended up right back where I was. I don’t regret going to college, getting that education and the time I spent there, but it ended up not being the entirely right path for me.
So with Androgynous Fox and that whole idea, it was stemming from both a desire to do something bigger and you feeling like there weren’t enough clothing options that you felt really good in?
Yeah. I started to feel like I was on this gender pendulum. When I was in high school, I made the decision to go through high school straight, even though I knew I was lesbian at the time. But because it was such a small town, I wasn’t going to do that to myself. Not yet. So I was super girly and feminine in high school, and then I moved here, came out as lesbian and went very, very masculine. So my gender pendulum going crazy – I was kind of over correcting. Then I finally landed somewhere in the middle and thought, “oh, this feels really good. I really like feeling like I’m not identified with any gender at all.” And that was when the search for that style started. I was shopping in the little boy’s section, buying shirts that I liked the style of but the fit was just totally wrong. That’s when I realized that there was nothing out there quite right for me.
So you just decided, “I want to make that?”
I guess so! A while ago I went shopping in San Francisco, with my partner at the time, and I was disappointed in every store we were going in. I said, “you know, one day it’d be cool to own a clothing line and call it androgyny.” That was 15 years ago, but at that time I never thought it was something that was ever going to happen.
Wow, that’s crazy. So take us to the moment you started, when you said, “alright, I’m pumped, I’m gonna do this. I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m going to figure it out.”
It was 2013. That was the point where I started researching and diving into it, still working my construction job full-time. It took me a while to learn how to screen print because I didn’t want to take on getting a loan or an investor, and didn’t want to buy all this inventory. I just saw that as taking too big of a risk without having a way to sustain it. I wanted to start from super humble beginnings. I would have a couple screens (I didn’t have a screen printing press or anything) with multiple designs on it and I would just screen print directly on one of my coffee tables and cure it in my oven. That was how I started, with a few blank shirts in my bedroom. I had zero overhead, other than the subscription for my website, so like maybe $50 a month or something. So I was profitable from day one pretty much.
So you were figuring things out, honing your process – when did you start to feel people were responding to what you were putting out there?
Yeah, that’s been the coolest part for me in the process, realizing that people were excited about it and having to figure out how to accommodate the growing volume. I got to a point where I realized I needed more inventory on hand, so I bought all these racks in my apartment, which was like a 300 square foot one bedroom deal, that I lined with racks. I never wanted to be there because it was a terrible living environment, but I just did what I had to do. Eventually I felt like I was bringing in enough each month where I could maybe get this operation out of my place. So I started renting a little 300 square foot studio in Grover Beach and would just go there after work, get orders out and the volume kept growing. Next I hired a part time high school student to go in while I was at my construction job. They pulled the blanks for inventory, sewed the sleeves and got everything ready for me so that all I had to do when I came in after work was just do the prints. And that went on for a little while.
Then through the process of all this growth, there were a couple of exciting moments. Curve magazine did an article, like a four page spread, on Androgynous Fox, which was in my first year. That was one of the coolest moments, getting an email from Curve and reading that they wanted to do an article on me. I was beside myself. It turns out I didn’t get a whole lot of volume from that. You get so much more traffic from online references because people can just click the link and go straight to your website, whereas with a magazine it’s more about raising brand awareness. So I didn’t get many direct sales from that, but it did a lot in terms of self-validation, which was probably more valuable at the time.
So we continued to grow, moved into this unit, bought some more serious screen printing equipment, like the conveyor dryer, six arm press and things to handle a higher volume properly. Then recently we expanded into this space next door and now we’re just kind of working on refining processes, figuring out the higher demand items we can pre-make to have on hand versus the orders that are more rare or custom. It’s fun to play with that and see how you can make things more efficient, stay ahead on orders and shave time off of processes.
Yeah, you’re pulling the levers.
Exactly. Behind the scenes, tricking that out and figuring out how can we manage inventory better. From an outsider’s perspective, it might seem boring, but when it’s your business and you’re trying to figure out how to shave off half an hour here, half an hour there, you know, time is money and the more I can shave off time-wise, the more profitable we can be. It’s a fun place to be in.
I know Androgynous Fox has been a frequent vendor at SLO Pride, and you’ve even been out to Dinah Shore. Can you talk a little bit about being at those events and boothing?
Yeah, I love having a vendor booth! It’s important to me, not for making money necessarily, but just to have that face time with people. I rarely have that. I get a lot of emails of people saying “I love the brand” or “thank you for what you’re doing,” but it’s different seeing their reaction in real time, you know? You can see the genuineness of it when someone is physically there responding to this thing you’ve created.
SLO Pride in the Plaza is my favorite Pride event. I’ve had a booth at two Pride events, SLO Pride and Palm Springs Pride, which I thought would be a big hit because Dinah Shore is in Palm Springs. But turns out it’s not Dinah Shore, Palm Springs is just 90% gay men, which isn’t necessarily my demographic. I mean, let’s be real, my brand is more geared towards lesbians. But it’s just fun to be out there in the community talking to people.
Dinah Shore is amazing and it’s become like a vacation for us. I think Dinah Shore is a different experience because people are there to party mostly, so most of the people aren’t really there to see vendors. They’re just there for the girls and the booze and the music. We’re kind of on the sidelines like, “hey women.” We’ve managed to get a booth that’s right inside the pool area, between the pool and the stage, so we’re in the whole scene but just kind of hanging out and enjoying everything. It’s nice to have a home base, just sitting there and taking in the scenery while people come to us and we get to interact with them. We definitely get a little more press – I see an increase in sales afterwards because people find out about us for the first time. We get a lot of like snapchats and things, so it feels like a little word bubble kind of spreads after Dinah Shore.
Do you have any plans to go to different Prides, like Long Beach or San Francisco someday?
Yeah, we talk all the time. When I say we, I’m usually meaning me and Lea. We’ve thought about getting a little travel trailer, turning it into a popup shop and doing a pride tour. They’re stacked up in a way where he can hit prides across California or even across the United States. I feel like it’s something that’s going to happen, it just needs to be the right time and place because of the time we’d have to take off and vendor spaces aren’t always cheap. But yeah, a pride tour is definitely in our future.
What social platforms are working best for Androgynous Fox? Is it mainly Instagram you’re using?
We’re on Instagram, Pinterest, tumbler, Facebook. I am terrible at social media. Eventually I’d love to hire somebody just to do social media for me.
Really? I think you’re so good at it!
Haha, well thanks. Good to hear. It takes me a lot to think of something to post, though. It’s funny, Lea will totally know that I’m posting something because I’ll be buried in my phone, looking kind of aggressively at it, and she’ll ask slyly, “what are you doing?” And I’ll say, “I need to post something!” And then trying to find the right thing…it takes me a while to do a post. If I was better at social media, I would be posting more frequently on the other platforms, too. Pinterest actually does pretty well for me, so I think I should put more time into that because that seems to have a pretty good conversion rate. But I feel like I can only handle so much with social media.
I noticed on Instagram that you have people from all over the world wearing Androgynous Fox stuff and they look amazing. Are they models or just user generated content that you curate?
Yeah. I mean, I’ve not actively tried to reach out to a worldwide demographic. I just put stuff out there, people find Androgynous Fox and they’ll email me. I’ve only hired one model ever, Mickey Pancake, who’s a pretty famous androgynous model. I wanted her to be part of the Curve magazine spread. Everyone else just tags Androgynous Fox in photos or emails them to me saying, “hey, thanks for the clothing. Love it.” And so I’ll just share that content.
I think people get the wrong idea about how I go about finding models. I get at least one email a day asking, “how can I be a model for you guys?” And we don’t really hire models – these people are just customers who really like our product. It’s great for our exposure to grow organically that way because people hear about how they can be that person in our feed and people just keep sending me photos.
I try to tell people to send me tasteful, high quality photos because I don’t want somebody to send me a bathroom selfie with a dirty mirror and they’re like showing their nipple and expect to get featured, you know? I really honestly believe that anybody could be a model. It just depends on your ability to express yourself and compose a photograph. It has nothing to do with your looks or your body type. For me, it’s all about whether or not you can you rock this shirt and do a good job taking a photo. It’s been fun to see people’s different creations and get to connect with customers from everywhere.
Can you tell us how you go about building a collection, like ‘Human Like You’ or the ‘Stick and Poke’ collection – what is that process like for you and how do you get inspired to come up with those design ideas?
I want to say that I have this glamorous brainstorming event, but really it’s just when something pops into my head. I’m really into button ups – the look of them, not necessarily the formality of button up sometimes. So I kind of wanted to mix the two. I know there’s a lot of button ups out there that do the same thing, but I wanted to take it another step further and have it be more of a fun, more rudimentary design. I’m also really into tattoos. It’s probably obvious, and a stick and poke is a style of tattoo. It’s also a design that I could draw myself because I can pretty much strictly draw stick figure type doodles. So Stick and Poke was something I could get behind artistically and do myself.
I literally sat there one day and did close to a hundred little doodles of random things and then just figured out which ones I wanted to have in the design. I even had my girlfriend’s kids do one. Luke did a little boat and Ginger did a lightning bolt. I told them just draw as many of these as you can on this page, and I picked which one I wanted to design. They were super stoked to see all these button ups come in and were like, “there’s my boat, there’s my lightning!” It was cool for them to be a part of that.
And then to make it a series, I love everything together and the idea of exploring one thing more deeply instead of just having a one-off design. So I hope to do more of that, but it has to be the right thing that can be embellished on.
Can you talk about your experience with the Women’s Business Center and what it’s like to be an out business owner in San Luis Obispo County?
When I was first starting out, I would literally Google “what does it take to start a business” because I knew absolutely nothing. I knew there was a business license involved, marketing, accounting – I had all these puzzle pieces that I knew had to happen, but I didn’t know how they all fit together and the sequencing. So, I went to the Women’s Business Center and was paired with a mentor who helped guide me through the startup process. I had five sessions with her where we’d go through my questions and she would help me figure out which steps to take next. It was super helpful and they’ve been great. They call me probably once a year to check in and hear about any milestones.
As far as my involvement in the community, I’m so online-based that there is a bit of a disconnect between me and the downtown community. I don’t do brick and mortar, so I almost don’t feel like I am a part of the local community in that way, which is a bummer. I would love to have more of a presence one day, but for now I’m online-based and don’t feel like I have like a set community – it’s more worldwide, which is cool, but it would be nice to have more involvement locally.
Do you have any favorite LGBTQ-supportive spots or hangouts in SLO County? It could be a restaurant, winery, brewery, local business – anywhere you feel especially comfortable.
Novo is a good one. I feel like Novo is probably the biggest supporter of the queer community. I feel pretty good around Luna Red, too. Were you ever around here when we had Tortilla Flats?
Yeah.
You were?
Yeah, I wasn’t out yet.
Yeah, we need another Tortilla Flats situation. That was a good one. I think it was like every Thursday night maybe, or something like that, there was a gay night. But yeah, I don’t think we have a gay night anymore anywhere.
Is that something you’d like to see in Downtown SLO?
Oh, for sure! Before I moved my studio to Grover Beach, there was this tiny little place in San Luis Obispo that was around what I could afford. It was big enough where I could have my operation in the corner half and have the other half be just like a hangout, like have a projector screen with some movie playing or some music. I dreamed of setting up some couches and have it be a place where the queer community comes by and just hangs out. We were so excited about that idea, but I didn’t end up getting that spot. That idea still lingers around me – I love the idea of having some business / hangout operation where it just has that cool community vibe but it’s also where operations happen. I think it’s possible. I just don’t know how it would logistically work out yet, but I love that idea.
Well, you know, you’re putting it out there, so don’t be surprised when the universe is like, “boom”!
I know. Yeah, I feel like one day if I ever had a brick and mortar, it would be that sort of environment, like loitering would be a thing. You could loiter all day long.
I would definitely loiter. I think a lot of people would. That’s awesome. Any other more immediate plans or dreams, or even forecasting further ahead? Where would you love to see Androgynous Fox go?
Oh, man. I primarily just see the clothing line expanding. I would love to be a full outfitter with suits, swimsuits, everything under the sun. It’s going to take some time to get there, but that’s my biggest goal, to be a complete outfitter. A brick and mortar would be great. I don’t know if San Luis Obispo is the spot for that – maybe like LA or San Francisco realistically. I think that I’d to be a full outfitter product line first, then brick and mortar, in that order…mostly so I have enough products to actually fill the brick and mortar.
I started selling wholesale recently, which has been so cool. The name of the store is called Boichick and it’s in Massachusetts, so I’m excited to see how that angle goes. That could be a cool growth area.
Amazing. How did they find out about you?
Just the website. She had ordered clothing and wants to carry the things that her and her girlfriend love to wear. They had to order a certain amount to make the price break that I could offer, which isn’t much because I’m a small operation. But, you know, for the right fit…like Boichick seems like it’s the perfect fit. She really wanted to have Androgynous Fox clothing in her store because it’s more specialized to exactly what her store sells and customers come to buy.
That’s so cool. So now you have new friends in Massachusetts.
Yeah. We’re going to Boichick one day!
Any parting advice for any other would-be queer business owner hoping to follow what excites them in life? What would you tell those folks?
Yeah, on the business side, bootstrap as much as you can and keep overhead down on whatever operation you’re starting. Figure out a way to be resourceful and make whatever it is you’re doing work from really, really low overhead and just manage your growth. Baby steps on growth.
From an inspirational standpoint, what helped me with achieving this is the decision not to set limitations on yourself. Realize that you can do this thing, you can learn new things, you can figure it out and you can do it. I was the one setting my own limitations, not the world. Overcoming that is important. And then once you’re in it, don’t just say, “let’s see how this works.” Instead say, “this is going to work.” Make the decision and just make it happen.
Love that. My last question – what can Queer SLO and the local LGBTQ community do to help you?
Oh, that’s a cool question. I would say the best thing that queer people can do, and this sounds totally cliche and cheesy, is to not hold back from being themselves. I think the more presence we have, the more comfortable youth feel to be themselves. The more we can be visible and true to ourselves and our style and our identity, the more we can do for younger generations. And the more companies like Androgynous Fox can grow because it expands the market and makes people comfortable with choosing clothing they feel comfortable in and just being themselves. We need to make ourselves seen more and not hold back from what we’re comfortable in.
On that note, I feel like that was something that was lacking in my childhood – representation of androgyny. I was born in the 80s, so I was born before the Internet was a thing in a really small town. I didn’t even know androgyny existed. It wasn’t until I saw the representation of that in my college years that I felt comfortable and knew that was an option. So I think for youth that are struggling, to see someone they look up to looking the way that they want to look or resonating with their identity, I think that helps them hugely. I wish I had that when I was growing up.
I think that spirit comes across in what you’re doing.
I hope so. Yeah, that’s the goal. Making people feel visible and themselves.
Beautifully said. Final thoughts?
Oh, one thing I wanted to ask you actually. So I told you that I have underwear now. I am in need of models of various shapes and sizes. Do you know, through Queer SLO, if you have anyone in mind or anyone who might be interested in participating in that? It’s the most, like…how the heck am I going to do this? I have all this underwear now, I love it, but what the hell? I don’t want to model it myself, and I’m wondering how do I find people willing to model underwear?
That is really a fantastic question. I’m happy to put a call out (hint hint, lovely Queer SLO readers).
I mean, how do we even advertise for this without it feeling weird? ‘Cause it’s going to take the right personality who wants to represent and has that confidence. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m kind of in a pickle. The only thing I can think of is to just be dependent on user generated content like I am with everything else…probably.
Right. Yeah, that could get sticky.
Yes! I want us to keep things tasteful, and underwear opens up…yeah, it’s gonna get sticky. It could get weird. Product shots are easy enough. But seriously, my thing is I don’t want to have a full figure model wearing the underwear until I can have more representation of different body types, you know? I don’t want to do too much with too little representation.
Yeah, that’s really cool. I’m sure people appreciate that approach.
Yeah, and I think it’s important. I just need to figure out how…I mean, I don’t want to just ask individual people. It needs to be sent out to a group like, “hey, if anyone’s interested”. Like I can’t just say, “hey buddy, you want to?” Yeah…
Haha! And on that amazing note…Renee, thank you so much. Love Androgynous Fox. You’re really inspiring, friend, thank you.
Thank YOU! That was so fun.
See you at Pride?
Definitely, see you at Pride.