Gorjana's founders on growing a profitable jewelry business: 'No home runs here'

Jewelry company Gorjana is growing, self-funded and profitable, but its founders insist that it was a slow and tricky road. "No home runs here," Gorjana Reidel said on the Glossy Podcast.

She and her husband, Jason Griffin Reidel, first sold their jewelry in small boutiques before partnering with Nordstrom in 2014. "We were kind of the pioneers of the category that you see so many people getting into now, of gold, delicate, layering jewelry," Griffin Reidel said. Early on, Nordstrom partnered with the brand, launching it in 25 stores at a time (the Reidels got to pick which ones), and Gorjana Jewelry is now available across the chain's approximately 120 outlets.

But despite its success with Nordstrom, in recent years Gorjana has made the shift to selling direct-to-consumer via its own stores and e-commerce site. Three years ago, 90% of Gorjana’s sales were coming through wholesale channels and only 10% from DTC. Today, 80% of sales are direct-to-consumer.

Gorjana has nearly 200 employees and, by the end of May, the company plans to have 16 stores across California, New York City and Arizona -- the coronavirus pandemic notwithstanding.

Gorjana Reidel and Jason Griffin Reidel talked about the benefits of boot-strapping a business, their secret to growing steadily even through the financial crisis of 2008 and their advice for entrepreneurs.