The iPhone cases that started off as Easter presents in 2012, have turned into a booming business one year later. Wildflower cases have grabbed the attention of not only Moorpark College students, but also many celebrities like Miley Cyrus.
“I never thought this would blow up as big at is has,” said student Devon Carlson, 18, Social Marketer. Carlson and her family; Sydney, Michelle, and Dave are the creators of Wildflower, making this company a lot closer to Moorpark College than some may realize.
For Sydney’s birthday, President of Wildflower cases, Michelle wanted to get her a phone case. But everywhere she went, she couldn’t find anything original that she would want to giver her daughter. She decided that she was going to make Sydney one herself. But by the time she got everything together, it was too late to make them for her birthday. So she decided that she would just make a few and put them in Easter baskets for her daughters and family friends.
Both Devon and Sydney got a lot of attention from classmates, curious about where they had gotten the cases. But at that point, the cases were not being sold. It was not until a run-in with a celebrity that wanted to purchase them that the idea of a website came into play.
“So, one day after shopping with Syd and my mom, we decided that we would go to dinner,” said Devon. “When Syd and I went to the bathroom, we ran into Miley [Cyrus], who is my IDOL! She saw our cases and asked where we got them and where she could buy them.”
At that point, the cases were made for friends and family and there was no way to buy them. But by chance, there were a batch of phone cases in the car, so Miley and her friends got a Wildflower case, and the madness began.
“Right when we got home from dinner Dave and I decided to make a website to sell the cases,” said Michelle. “We were up all night getting it ready, and maybe five minutes after it was up, we saw a picture that Miley had posted on twitter with our case and we went nuts.”
The Carlson’s had no idea how big the site could get. All they knew was that they had a new idea and high hopes that it would be able to become something more than a mere 15 minutes of fame.
“I had three goals that I wanted to accomplish with this company; to pay off debt, get a new car, and be able to quit my job that I had been working for five and a half years,” said Michelle. “Its amazing to think that I have been able to do all three within this year.”
The family agrees that being able to work together has brought them all a lot closer. They get to collaborate on there home made cases, deciding on which print will come next.
“The goal now is to expand,” said Devon. “We want to take Wildflower into clothing and accessories, we started our own site on YouTube, and we cant wait to see where it all goes. Wildflower will take over the world.”
Wildflower cases are available for purchase on wildflowercases.com. They average about 35 dollars each.
