Despite being a STEM school, UTD has no shortage of creatives selling everything from stickers to charms to custom shirts at events like Cometville and CometCon. With so many Comets running their own small businesses, UTD’s art community is a treasure trove of knowledge for hobbyists and hopeful entrepreneurs alike looking to sell their wares.
RM Stitches is one of these businesses, a custom design embroidery shop run by two sisters: CITS junior Mayeda Laeeq and CITS senior Rehma Laeeq. They started their business two and a half years ago, when Mayeda decided to mess around with her sister’s embroidery machine and made her very first design: the words, “HOPE WORLD” in rainbow letters inside a white heart, referencing K-pop idol J-Hope’s 2018 EP of the same name.
“During the pandemic, I really wanted to start a way to represent my interest in a creative manner,” Rehma said. “Kind of on a whim, I saw that this embroidery machine was on sale, but that machine ended up collecting dust in a corner for a bit. Then one day my sister, she just decided to mess around with it and created a design.”
RM Stitches was the Laeeq’s sisters’ first venture into the world of entrepreneurship. Rehma said they encountered difficulties with running a business in the beginning, between handling shipping, production costs and operating an online shop. To become better acquainted with how to run a business, they consulted other business’ blogs and sought out organizations like Islamic Relief, which hosts a yearly bazaar where the sisters were able to sell some of their premade items. RM Stitches has since stabilized and expanded its customer base, though Rehma said running a business and being a student simultaneously can still be difficult to manage.
“Even though it’s been two and a half years, it’s still pretty difficult for us because at times we take more orders than we can actually handle,” Rehma said. “We tell people that it’s gonna take this amount of time. We try to divide it equally, like we’ll do two [orders] a day or three a day. But still, we have some trouble with that, so when we know we’re gonna be busy, we don’t take orders because we don’t want people to be disappointed.”
Part of RM Stitches’ growth has been adapting their products to each season. Mayeda said they plan according to what their customers want to buy at different times of the year.
“In the summer we had more free time, but we also knew that sweatshirts weren’t going to sell as well,” Mayeda said. “So we just [sold] casual T-shirts. And now IR is gonna have their bazaar again so, [since] it’s gonna become fall season, people wanna wear cozy sweatshirts.”
Another Comet-owned business is Lentilcharms, an online shop that makes handmade clay charms, keychains and trinkets run by computer science and biology junior Saher Kamal. Kamal said she started Lentilcharms in January but has been an entrepreneur since she was 11 years old, when she would sell handmade trinkets at the open house carnival at the private school where her mother works under the name “kawaii by design.”
“I have been making stuff since I was a little kid,” Kamal said. “I think when I was in fourth or fifth grade, I got really into making things out of modeling clay, and at that point I wasn’t allowed to use the oven so it was just the type of clay that air dries. And then, I think when I was in sixth grade, I started making things out of polymer clay and then baking those things.”
Kamal said the name “Lentilcharms” came from an inside joke between her and her siblings. “Lentil” was the name they gave to an evil creature in the imaginative and fantastical worlds they would create as kids, and later became used in place of curse words.
“[My sister would say] ‘You’re such a lentil’ and I just thought it was the funniest thing ever,” Kamal said. “So, she would start calling me that as a nickname, and over time, as we grew up, it kind of became more affectionate … I just thought [Lentilcharms] sounded really cute together.”
For those wanting to start their own business, Rehma and Mayeda recommended researching beforehand and understanding the complexities behind starting and running one. They said not to be discouraged by a lack of knowledge or experience because the necessary skills to run a business can ultimately be learned with time. Kamal said to use social media to garner an audience.
“Don’t be intimidated by … any big accounts that you follow because they all started from posting a picture of their crafts online,” Kamal said. “Don’t worry about what other people will think about your craft or your art and just start posting it online. There’s pretty much something for everyone on the internet, and a small business that someone out there is gonna love.”
Kamal said Lentilcharms will continue to be a side hustle for her and willkeep coming out with new designs. As for RM Stitches, Rehma and Mayeda said they are looking to expand their business nationally by setting up a website. Both businesses, whether locally or nationally, want to continue to serve their customers and see people wearing their creations while out and about.
“One of the most heartwarming moments as a business owner is seeing people come up to our booth and seeing things that actually represent their interest,” Rehma said. “What we do on our Instagram [is] we have a story called “(a)RMy!” [and] whenever we see any of our customers wearing our stuff, we take a photo of them, and it’s become a small community for us.”