Viral Growth Without Abandoning Your Joy or Values with Kelsey Campion of Fringe + Co.
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fitsShow Notes
If there is one thing that entrepreneurs face every day, it is choices. Some choices are deliberate and planned in advance. Others are made last-minute when something unexpected happens – like a 13 second video going viral when the featured product is already sold out. With every choice, you get to choose the type of life and business you want to run.
This is just what Kelsey Campion has been doing for the past 10 years. She is the founder and Chief Sequin Officer of Fringe + Co and my guest in this episode 131. What started in her spare bedroom, grew into a thriving brand that supports color, celebration, and her local New Orleans community. With each stage of her business – even when the decisions haven’t been so sparkly and fun – Kelsey has chosen to transparently live by her values.
Kelsey Campion is the founder and Chief Sequin Officer of Fringe + Co., a New Orleans–based fashion brand rooted in celebration, color, and community. She started Fringe + Co. over 10 years ago out of her 200-square-foot spare bedroom, building the business from the ground up with creativity, grit, and a belief that getting dressed should feel like a party.
As the brand grew, Kelsey faced a turning point: scaling production without sacrificing her values. Determined to keep manufacturing local and ethical, she partnered with a New Orleans manufacturer for four years. In 2021, a single viral video changed everything — accelerating the business and creating the opportunity to purchase that very manufacturer in 2022.
Today, Kelsey not only produces Fringe + Co. locally, but also manufactures for other brands, helping founders bring their ideas to life while keeping production ethical, transparent, and community-driven. Her work and story have been featured on The Today Show, she’s been scouted by Shark Tank, and she continues to advocate for small-batch manufacturing, creative entrepreneurship, and building businesses that don’t require burning out or going it alone.
This episode explores:
Fitting the customer
How Kesley designs pieces that go beyond parades and special occasions
Why Kelsey is super transparent with her customers about the behind the scenes of her business
Why Kelsey describes herself as a “selfish creative” and how that has served her business
How Kesley makes Fringe + Co more accessible to people despite a higher price point
Fitting the lifestyle
Why Kelsey has been feeling a bit bored in her business right now and what she’s doing to bring creativity back
How going viral forced Kelsey and her team to systematize the business
How the city Fringe is part of (New Orleans) influences the brand
How running a fashion business for over a decade transforms your lifestyle
Fitting the values
The values Kesley will never leave behind as her business grows
How Fringe customers became some of the biggest advocates for Kelsey’s business values
The points where growth can test your values
People and resources mentioned in this episode:
Fringe + Co. website
Fringe + Co. Instagram
Fringe Factory Instagram
Kelsey’s email
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More from How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
If we’re talking about how values show up in the creation of specific clothing styles, you won’t find a better example of this than fair trade fashion. For fair trade fashion brands, the process is just as important as the product. Collections don’t begin with design inspiration, they stem from family-owned production partners, long-term boutique relationships, cross-cultural collaborations, and a commitment to each person involved.
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