Twenty-nine-year-old Christina Fagan sells hand-knit hats, and she has built a million-dollar business out of it using Instagram. She was hit with the idea of selling hats during a snowstorm in Boston in March, 2018. She named her hat busines Sh*t That I Knit. It all started when she posted a photo of herself wearing a bikini and knit hat on Instagram, and then challenging her fans to do the same to win a free hat.
Fifty of Fagan’s followers took the challenge within a few hours. They posted photos of themselves wearing beanies and bikini tops. She reposted many of the photos of her customers wearing her hats and weaved stories of her products into the posts. Within a few months, 27,000 followers spread the message and Fagan became an instant Instagram influencer.
One of her followers said Fagan gravitated from creating a brand to building a community. She did it so naturally that people who had never met her in person interacted and bonded with her online, translating into a brand obsession for her budding business.
With more sales coming her way, Fagan recruited local women from Peru to knit her hats. And today, she sells $125 hats and $185 wraps made by the women collected in Peru. She pays the women daily living wage for them to knit the hats and wraps out of their homes. She even resigned from her day job in advertising to focus more on her business.
During winter when demand for knit hats skyrockets, Fagan hired more hands to help with the sales and set up retail storefronts to reach more customers. She also did unconventional marketing by sending samples of her hats to other Instagram influences – and with the viral marketing made more money. Then she connected with her customers via photos, contests, video stories and other interactive means.
Following the viral marketing, Fagan’s followers began to take notice of her hair and earrings, and went as far as asking who does her hair and where she bought the earrings. This brought recognition and more business to her male hairdresser and the fashion store where she bought her earrings. Many of her followers believe they are on to something big by following her on Instagram.
“Yes I could go and buy a cheaper hat that was made in China…or I could use my money to invest in a young woman working hard and choosing to do good with it,” said 28-year-old Lucie Corkery who follows Fagan and had bought four hats and two ponchos from her.