Morris small business caters to modest women around the world

CATHY WURZER: We're going to move next to Morris. Morris is in West Central Minnesota. It's kind of a small town. It has a population of about 5,000 people, surrounded by farms. Morris is probably best known for its University of Minnesota Liberal Arts Campus.

In downtown Morris, we have the Inherit Clothing Company. Inherit curates, designs, and sells modest, feminine, on-trend styles for its customers. MPR Senior Economics Contributor Chris Farrell was fascinated to learn in a recent visit that Inherit is largely an e-commerce business with global sales. Hey, welcome back.

CHRIS FARRELL: Ah, good to be here.

CATHY WURZER: Tell me about your visit to Morris.

CHRIS FARRELL: OK, so the company is housed in this remodeled brick building. It's painted white, black trim, large windows overlooking the street. And when I parked in front of the building, several models were taking a break from a photoshoot. This is not something that I expected in downtown Morris.

So I met with Chief Executive Officer Amy Ekron, and she took me through this well-lit, spacious store, a large e-commerce warehouse in the back. And we sat down in a remodeled conference room. There's a lot going on in the building.

AMY EKRON: The studio is where we shoot photoshoots, we do our content for YouTube, Reels, TikTok, all of that. So that's where that is, and then our offices. And then the behind the store is our warehouse, where we ship everything out. And then the building that we're sitting in currently is office space, a design room, conference room. And then upstairs is another shooting space that actually simulates a home. So we can do lifestyle photos up there.

CATHY WURZER: Wow, OK. A lot going on there in downtown Morris. So the business of Inherit is modest women's clothing.

CHRIS FARRELL: That's right. So Amy and her husband, Anthony, they took over an existing business that was mostly brick and mortar in 2018. He's the chief financial officer and warehouse director for the company and has some 20 employees currently. Cathy, about 98% of the sales are online. And they saw that the market wasn't meeting the needs of women who wanted modest, but attractive clothing.

AMY EKRON: So it's really hard to find modest women's clothing out on the market. And so, as a modest dresser, I would have to piece it from, like, 50 different stores to try to make an outfit that felt like me. And so that is what I do here, is I curate a modest closet. And it's people who want to dress modest for either religious purposes or their own personal convictions or like a teacher or for business professional purposes.

CATHY WURZER: Hmm, OK, because I was just thinking to myself, what does modest mean? I have an image in my head here. But in this context, what does it mean?

CHRIS FARRELL: Well, I had the exact same question, and here's your answer.

AMY EKRON: I think it actually means something different to everybody. So my hope is that people can come to Inherit and find whatever their modest means to them and have it fit them. So I have my teenage daughter help me buy. She wears clothes completely different than what I would wear. And so, to me, modest is not revealing of skin, is more of where I go with it. And so it's all over, though. So I think it's different to everybody.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah, OK. Got it. All right. Why is the operation based in Morris?

CHRIS FARRELL: So Amy was born and raised there, so Morris is home. And here's the thing, Cathy. With the opportunities opened by e-commerce, entrepreneurs don't have to build their business in, say, major metropolitan areas.

AMY EKRON: And so the beautiful thing is, with e-commerce, you can have a platform for your heart belief anywhere. So that's been really awesome. So we are global. We have over 100,000 customers and growing. And so it's just so neat to see that there is a need for this worldwide.

CATHY WURZER: Where does she get her clothing?

CHRIS FARRELL: So she says that 75% of the inventory are her designs. So she finds inspiration following what's hot at Fashion Week in New York. And she attends the fashion market in Las Vegas. Her family is a creative wellspring. And perhaps, most importantly, she gets many of her clothing and design ideas from customers.

AMY EKRON: I love fashion. I would say my family, my sisters are my inspiration, my mom, and then also just nature, and then just the market in general. So I love shopping, but it's so hard because you go, and there's all these cute, trendy clothes, but they're not modest. And so it's like, how can I make that fit that for me? And so that's been like my inspiration. And then trial and error. Just getting in there and getting it done and trying different things. And then the customers also help with ideas.

CATHY WURZER: I'm liking this a lot. OK, I'm curious, what is the bestseller?

CHRIS FARRELL: OK, so I learned about what's called a Remi skirt. So the online description is that the skirt is comfortable, casual, and it comes with pockets.

AMY EKRON: So it was the first skirt that I designed, and it's a midi skirt. And we carry it in different lengths so that different heights, like, you do you, whatever height works for you. And then it's colored denim, lightweight. We've sold over 100,000. It's our bestseller.

CATHY WURZER: Yes, yes. It's got pockets. We love pockets.

CHRIS FARRELL: Look, pockets are great.

CATHY WURZER: Yes, true. OK, so it's great that they're based in Morris. I think that's amazing. What comes next for this company? I mean, where is the growth opportunity for them?

CHRIS FARRELL: So they're really focused on building this brand. They're on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok-- you name it.

AMY EKRON: We did a lot of fun collaborations with people with design lines. So that's always in the works, which is really fun. Yeah, and then I would love to get into a department store with our brand possibly. Or also, we do B2B, so we also sell to other businesses. So currently, we're in over 350 brick and mortars, and I want to continue to grow that brand. So then we sell the other brands that don't necessarily tote themselves as modest, but how can we get in there and make it mainstream?

CATHY WURZER: Gosh, you listen to Amy-- she sounds like she's been a businessperson from, like, day one. Has she always been an entrepreneur?

CHRIS FARRELL: Yes, she says she comes from a family of entrepreneurs. And you're right, Cathy. You can just hear that. And it's also the company has evolved into a family business.

AMY EKRON: Entrepreneurial spirit is in my family's blood. And I owned a wedding and photography business before this, so I had photo skills. So then when the business was presented to me, it was a natural fit, because in order to grow that, I had to duplicate myself. And so this felt like, oh, I can do this. My husband came on board and helped after two years. My sisters helped my family. So it's just really felt like a good fit.

CATHY WURZER: So you mentioned that Inherit is largely an e-commerce company. Does it have a brick and mortar presence in downtown Morris? I mean, it would be kind of cool to go out there and see it.

CHRIS FARRELL: Oh, it is. It has a real presence on Atlantic Avenue. That's the street that it's on. It's really Morris's main street. And you won't be surprised about this, Cathy, but everyone I talked to in Morris, they knew about the company. And the company also, in its brick and mortar place, collaborates with local talent. For instance, the evening my visit, they were going to have a live cooking show at their building with a local food blogger.

AMY EKRON: We are actually doing a collaboration with a local food blogger, and we're selling her cookbook here. And so she's a Midwest mom, and she shops with us. And really, it's just building a community of women to live positively together. That is our mission here. And we do that through clothes. And so it's just so fun to be able to tie the two together.

And then as far as our local community, huge support. We love working with the school. The advanced marketing class comes in, and it's just fun to work with the local community as well.

CATHY WURZER: You and I have talked in the past about various businesses throughout greater Minnesota that serve the community, and they do really well with online sales.

CHRIS FARRELL: Oh, they're right. For example-- I'm trying to think. So, entrepreneurial gems like Frost River and its handmade bags, that's in Duluth. They have heritage companies like Red Wing Shoes and Red Wing. And so one of the questions I asked Amy is, was there some kind of secret sauce that we should know about that makes e-commerce work in more rural communities?

AMY EKRON: That's the thing. I don't think there is a secret sauce. I think there's like 40 things that you need to do consistently every single day, and that is wearing and hard. And you might not see progress right away, but if you keep it up, that's when you start to gain traction.

And there's things like Google crawling you and SEO and how you title things, renaming your photos. There's all these steps within listing a product that are really important that you need to stick with. And then, two, word of mouth referral is so good. And so we really love our community for that, too.

CATHY WURZER: What a great story. Chris Farrell, thank you so much.

CHRIS FARRELL: Thanks a lot, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Chris is MPR's senior economics correspondent on assignment in Morris, Minnesota.