The Levi's® Tailor Shop
Floral Dreams With Christina Stembel of Farmgirl Flowers™
Campaigns /
August 2021
If there’s one thing that Christina Stembel has never been short on, it’s ideas. “I was the dork that carried a notebook around in my purse at all times and just annoyed every single person in my life,” says the founder and CEO of Farmgirl Flowers. Iron-on pockets for suits? Here, I made these, now go try them out. Of course, what she’s describing, with cheerful deprecation, is the most important ingredient for every great entrepreneur—imagination. It may take a thousand ideas before a good one sticks. And with Farmgirl Flowers, Stembel has fortunately landed on a very good one.
What began in 2010 as a small business selling floral arrangements around the San Francisco area has grown into a $60 million enterprise shipping curated flower arrangements throughout the U.S. And all without sacrificing the quality and artistry that made Farmgirl Flowers™ such an initial word-of-mouth hit to begin with. Of course, as Stembel will be the first to admit, such success was far from a sure bet when she launched.
“A lot of the American flower farms wouldn’t sell to us because there’s a very tried and true wholesale chain that people don’t want to break,” she says. Also, while her male counterparts with younger ecomm companies had no issue buying from suppliers, a female run company was finding the path much thornier. “I’m a female founder that’s unfunded, and so they weren’t going to take a chance on me.”
Despite the obstacles, Stembel persevered, guiding her company from a small business run out of her apartment to a major player in the flower market. An even more impressive feat given her, what she calls, “lack of pedigree.” “I didn’t go to college, so I worked as a barista, and worked in hospitality, front desk agent stuff. I worked a lot of wage level jobs.” And 40 hours a week inevitably turned into 80 hours a week as she honed her entrepreneurial skills, all while saving up the $49,000 she would eventually need to launch her business.
It’s just the sort of bootstrap story that fits in well at Levi’s®, a company launched by an entrepreneurial German immigrant who, while tending the multiple streams of his dry goods business, patented a copper riveted denim overall that would go on to change the way the world dressed. Add to the fact that both Levi’s® and Farmgirl Flowers™ are from San Francisco, and it makes for a perfect match for this special edition collaboration.
Levi’s®, I mean, talk about an aspirational brand for someone who grew up on a farm.
“Levi’s®, I mean, talk about an aspirational brand for someone who grew up on a farm,” says Stembel. In her small Indiana town, Levi’s® was the cool brand. “I remember wanting them so bad in seventh grade. I wanted to fit in and I wanted Levi’s®.” But at $29.99 a pair at the Scottsdale Mall, they were just out of reach for her. “I just worked any job I could get to save up.” Tasseling corn, babysitting—her neighbor had a noodle shop and would pay her a few dollars to pack boxes. Eventually, by the start of her seventh grade school year, she’d saved up just enough money to get her coveted Levi’s® 501s. “I got two pairs, a black wash and a blue wash. And I wore those jeans into my mid-twenties.”
Apart from the glimpse it offers of Stembel’s incredible work ethic, it’s a story that perfectly illustrates why Levi’s® x Farmgirl Flowers™ is a such a special collaboration for her. A chance to add a touch of her own creativity to an icon that she has loved since she was a kid living on a soybean farm in Indiana. “I think I’ll probably cry when I get it,” she says of the collection’s launch. “I can’t believe that seventh grade girl who went to L.S. Ayers to buy those pairs of jeans now has her own Farmgirl Levi’s®.”
