Be You Apparel is a local at-home business located in East Haven, established in January of 2014, which sells customizable apparel at a reasonable price. Be You Apparel has a large
selection of different types of clothing, such as tank tops, T-shirts, sweatpants, and many more. Christina Eligio, founder of Be You Apparel, discussed her career transition from teaching to entrepreneurship. Christina grew up in East Haven, Connecticut, and attended East Haven High School. After graduating from high school, she majored in Elementary Education, with a minor in English and Public Health at Southern Connecticut State University. After five years of studying and hard work, she earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and her master’s degree in education, then became a kindergarten teacher. She taught kindergarten and first grade at Nathan Hale Elementary School before transferring to Hamden Elementary. After having her third child, Alyssa Eligio, she decided to resign from teaching and open her own customizable clothing business so she could have a steady income while doing what she loves and being present in her children’s lives.
Be You Apparel started making small creations, such as customized hair accessories and tutus for children as young as infants. To accomplish the customization process, she uses a range of equipment, including a heat press, multiple printers, cutting machines, computers, and a variety of advanced design software to ensure precision and quality of every product. The next step Christina took to grow her small business was working on her latest project and making an outfit to match the accessories, which eventually led to matching outfits with their parents’ clothes. There are seasonal themes and designs created for every occasion, and customers have the choice of submitting their own design request. The name of her business sprang from Christina’s motto, “be you, be bold, be trendy.” Her motto then inspired her to expand her collection to include customizing every kind of apparel for people of all ages and sizes to express themselves and their creativity through a different form of art. Be You Apparel also recently opened a new customizable clothing line targeted for those who are religious; Christian-themed Leotards and Apparel for all.
Christina faced and overcame several obstacles while building and expanding Be You Apparel, especially time management issues. Finding time to work on her products was tough when her children were young, having to work efficiently and quickly to customize as many items as she could during their nap time or bedtime. Another obstacle is constantly keeping up with what’s trending, such as new slang and styles, keeping her apparel at the right price point, and creating designs that could potentially attract new clientele of all ages. “There are a lot of obstacles, but if you can overcome them, the outcome is [rewarding].” As her children grew up, it was easier to find time because they started looking after themselves and sometimes even helped her with work. By mutual agreement between all of her children, Nathan, Dylan, Alyssa, and Katelyn, they cherish the experience and memories of customizing shirts not just for the work itself, but for the meaningful time spent with their mother and the opportunity to contribute to the success of Be You Apparel. Mark Eligio, Christina’s husband, also had a huge role in contributing to Be You Apparel’s success by helping her customize countless amounts of orders, sometimes even leaving early from work with the intention of coming home to help her.
It typically takes about ten to twenty minutes to make an item that is already listed or printed in her shop. However, custom orders require significantly more time — sometimes even several hours or days — because she has to create a design based on the customer’s requests and wait for their approval before completing the order. Christina’s favorite part of her job is the opportunity and flexibility to work from home, which allows a comfortable and productive work environment. She truly enjoys the creative process of designing new things, not only for her clients but also for herself and her family. This combination of creativity and flexibility makes her work stand out to others and is especially fulfilling. Christina’s advice to those interested in starting their own business was: “Start it. It doesn’t matter what experience you have; just get started and ask questions, and try trial and error. Don’t give up, you’ll fail a bunch of times, but you will eventually get it, and it’s worth it.”
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