White Plum

White Plum, www.whiteplum.com, an online women's clothing retailer, was recently acquired by Stikeleather Apparel Holdings. Ian Stikeleather of Stikeleather Apparel Holdings was attracted to White Plum for a number of reasons. The company, founded by Hilary Zwahlen in 2012, had grown rapidly by offering a high quality fashionable women's clothing line that doesn't break the bank. These garments also span multiple seasons and generations. Ian's two sisters, mother and grandmother, all Indianapolis residents, are White Plum customers. His plan is to grow the company in multiple ways: by expanding the current marketing program, taking the product into retail outlets, adding a children's line, Sugar Plum, an upscale line, the White Plum Collection, a plus-size line, and adding new products in line with the customer's interests and passions of the young mom on the go. Stikeleather Apparel Holdings began in Ian's parent's basement in Indianapolis. He started by prototyping a contemporary menswear label, Stikeleather, which explores the border between street wear and sportswear with minimalist style lines and an inventive approach to its closure... a proprietary neodymium magnetic closure, Magnex™. This was after graduation from the Art Institute of Indianapolis where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Fashion/Apparel Design following receiving a Ball State University Bachelor's degree in Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies. After attending the MAGIC Show in 2012, where he learned that many of the private label manufacturers he wanted to work with were in Los Angeles, he moved here.