“Our success proves that you can start small and make it.”
Emily Wickard
Founder and CEO
Avara
.…on leading her company to become the fastest-growing e-commerce business on the 2023 Inc. 5000 list.
in August, Dallas-based women’s clothing retailer Avara was ranked the No. 1 fastest-growing e-commerce business in the U.S. on the 2023 Inc. 5000 list. Achieving 1,089% three-year revenue growth, Wickard’s company made the list for the second year in a row, Avara also ranked as the No. 4 fastest-growing women’s retailer in the nation and the 20th fastest-growing among Dallas-Fort Worth companies overall.
But when Wickard launched all this in 2018, she began with the smallest step an entrepreneur can take: She Googled something.
“When I started Avara, I didn’t have a grand business plan with five-year goals,” Wickard told Dallas Innovates for a story we published earlier this month. “I’d worked in corporate finance for 20 years and was looking for a lifestyle and career change. I’ve always loved clothing, so I decided to open an online boutique. It was a very grassroots approach and, honestly, I Googled how to start an online clothing boutique and went from there.”
You can look back at our story and check out Avara’s Fall 2023 clothing collection by going here.
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Five years ago, Emily Wickard launched Avara with a Google search and a "showroom" in her dining room. In August, her company made the Inc. 5000 list as the No. 1 fastest-growing e-commerce business in the U.S. Wickard tells Dallas Innovates how she got from there to here—and how Avara's success proves "you can start small and make it."
