Six Years In: How Allie + Bess Has Grown Up (But Stayed the Same at Heart)

Allie + Bess didn’t begin with a polished plan or a five-year vision board. It started with a spark—impulsive, messy, a little wild—and the crazy thought that maybe, just maybe, we could build something bigger than we ever imagined.

Six years ago, I was a stay-at-home mom with a six-month-old baby on my hip, and Allie was balancing life as a part-time home health therapist. We weren’t talking strategy or scale. We were two friends who found a bead we loved and decided to see what would happen if we elevated it. No roadmap. No rules. Just curiosity, creativity, and a little magic.

I’ll never forget those early months: beads scattered across the kitchen table, nap schedules and snack times woven in between designs. Shipping meant standing in line at the post office with babies on our hips, praying we didn’t mix up orders. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was ours. Every tiny win felt massive.

I’ll also never forget our very first pop-up at a big department store. We had spent weeks beading, making sure we had enough inventory. That first night, we sold through everything. When the buyer asked us to bring more the next day, we looked at each other, said “of course,” and then stayed up all night stringing more product. That’s the kind of grit this brand was built on.

Back then, fearlessness was our only option. We tried it all. If it failed, we laughed, learned, and tried something else. We wore every hat—design, production, shipping, customer service, accounting—and in the process, we figured out what mattered most. That’s how our first stretch bracelets came to life: quick, easy, elevated pieces that made us feel pulled together in the middle of mom-life chaos.

What we didn’t expect was that while we were building jewelry, we were also building a community. From the very first women who wore our bracelets and shared them with friends, to the dinners where everyone showed up in Allie + Bess—not just to support us, but because it was the piece they naturally reached for on their way out the door. That’s when I knew we had something special. Jewelry was the product, but connection was the heart. And over time, that community has become just as much a part of our brand as the designs themselves.

Now, six years in, both Allie + Bess and our community have grown up. The scrappy hustle of our early days laid the foundation, but today, intention leads the way. We know who we are, and we know who we’re designing for. Every collection, every piece, every detail is created with purpose: to inspire, to connect, and to celebrate the women who wear them.

We’ve also grown as a team. Allie and I aren’t juggling every role anymore, and that’s been such a gift. We’ve built an incredible team of experts who each bring their own talent and perspective, and together they make us stronger. With that support, we’re able to be far more intentional about every product we create. Now, when we dream up a new piece, it doesn’t just stop at an idea. We bring it to life as a sample, wear it, refine it, and make sure it fully aligns with our vision and values before it ever reaches you. From the way it’s designed to how it launches, how it lives in your everyday life, and—most importantly—how it makes you feel, every step is done with care.

And yet, through all the growth, we’ve held onto that original spark. The spontaneity. The courage to take risks. The joy of trying something new just because it feels right. That’s where the magic was born, and that’s what will always keep Allie + Bess alive.

-- Bess